How Far Have Electric Cars Come in the Past 15 Years?

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been around for well over a century, but have only started to see mainstream adoption quite recently. In 2011, the electric car market looked extremely scarce, with only two models available: the quirky Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Nissan Leaf. The following year, the Tesla Model S would be released, signifying a turning point for the EV industry. In the 2010s, many automakers made fringe attempts to sell EVs to test the waters or simply to comply with increasingly strict emissions regulations. Most of these early attempts were short-lived and saw very little success. 

It is important to note, however, that this was the first time in history that EVs were affordable enough for mainstream consumers. This, combined with the fact that EVs could now be driven at highway speeds and the technology was advancing exponentially, indicated that the wheels were in motion for EVs to continue their evolution. 

Today’s EVs are technological marvels, a big contrast to how they started. Here’s a look back at early EVs to see how much the industry has advanced in the past 15 years.

Early Mass-Market EVs 

Mitsubishi i-MiEV 

The i-MiEV was the first true electric car offered in North America, making its first appearance for the 2009 model year, despite originally being a Japanese Kei car. It had a 16-kWh battery and produced only 66 hp with a range of 100 km (62 miles). An i-MiEV was only capable of Level 2 charging at most. An iMiev would set buyers back $33,000 in 2011, while a base-level Honda Civic started at just $15,000. The i-MiEV suffered from the same problems all early EVs had: limited range, high cost, and oddball looks. 

Nissan Leaf 

Right around the same time the i-MiEV debuted, Nissan showed off the Leaf. The Leaf was a little more competent than the i-MiEV, with 160 km (100 miles) of range and 110 hp. For a compact hatchback with limited range, the Leaf was expensive, costing $38,000 when new in 2012. At the time, the similarly-sized Nissan Versa cost under $12,000, making the original Leaf a hard sell. 

Volkswagen e-Golf and Ford Focus Electric 

Other automakers decided to reengineer some of their existing gas-powered models into battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with limited success. The issue with this tactic is that cars that aren’t designed from the ground up to be EVs have the task of shoehorning a battery pack into a small, existing platform, which doesn’t deliver optimal results. 

The Volkswagen e-Golf and Ford Focus Electric were examples of this. The e-Golf had 198 km of range and produced only 200 hp, while the Focus Electric had 143 hp and a range of 185 km. The Focus Electric started at $34,998 in 2018, and a 2019 e-Golf had an MSRP of $37,895. 

Both of these EVs were significantly more expensive than their gasoline-powered counterparts, all while having less range and power. With these early EVs, drivers had to make many compromises compared to gas cars. 

The First Hyundai Ioniq 

Even ground-up attempts at making EVs sometimes fall short. The Hyundai Ioniq lineup was designed to focus on alternative powertrains with primarily hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric operation. Despite this, the electric version of the Ioniq only managed to get about 200 km of range and had just 120 hp. In 2021, the Ioniq Electric had an MSRP upwards of $40,000, making it expensive while not delivering exceptional performance. 

Offering just 200 km of range when there wasn’t a strong charging network made selling EVs with limited range rather difficult. 

Early Performance EVs 

Today, it’s commonplace for modern EVs to have 1,000 hp and accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in under three seconds, and they don’t even need to be sports cars. Prior to this, there were some odd attempts at making performance EVs. Mercedes and Audi attempted to make very limited production runs of electric performance cars that were also based on existing gas-powered platforms.

Mercedes launched the SLS AMG Electric Drive in 2013, with only nine ever being sold to the public. The electric SLS was quite competent, producing 740 hp from four electric motors. Meanwhile, range was still limited: the electric SLS only had 250 km from a 60-kWh battery. Price was also an issue. In 2013, an electric SLS cost $540,000. 

Audi also attempted an electric supercar with the R8 e-tron. Unlike the SLS, the R8 e-tron was slower than its gasoline counterpart, only making 456 hp, whereas gas-powered R8s made over 500 hp. It could still achieve a zero-to-100-km/h time of around 3.2 seconds, however. Its 450-km range is still considered a strong figure even by today’s standards. Less than 100 R8 e-trons were said to be sold, but Audi never released official sales figures. The R8 e-tron would set buyers back $1.1 million, which is likely why it was considered a sales flop. 

Vast Improvements 

Going into the 2020s, the biggest shift in the automotive industry was to design EVs from the ground up on dedicated EV platforms. This is far more costly than converting an existing platform to accommodate batteries, but it yields much better performance. 

Designing dedicated platforms allows for larger battery packs, the ability to fit multiple electric motors, and to design a body to maximize aerodynamic efficiency, creating faster vehicles with more range. 

The best example of how far EVs have developed can be seen with the Kia Soul EV. The Soul EV was one of the longest-running EVs on the market, making its debut in 2014 and being discontinued in 2023. 

The original Soul EV had 109 hp and 150 km of range and came with a 27-kWh battery. In 2020, the second-generation Soul EV was released and brought massive improvements. Battery size increased to 64 kWh, power nearly doubled to 201 hp, and most importantly, the range increased to 390 km, nearly triple what was possible several years prior. 

Today, the best EVs are capable of over 500 km of range (some even offer 600 km+) on a single charge and can add hundreds of kilometres of range in under an hour of fast charging.

The industry-wide improvement in range performance coincided with government incentives for EVs and a rapid growth in charging infrastructure, spurring their popularity. 

In 2018, there were just over 7,000 public chargers in Canada. That number grew to over 26,500 in 2023. 

Today’s EVs have become so well-rounded and competent that drivers no longer need to compromise to own one. With lots of range, style that’s actually desirable, the ability to charge quickly, a charging network that’s constantly improving, and the availability of a variety of body styles from tiny city cars to three-row family SUVs to full-sized trucks, EVs are more practical, realistic, and compelling than ever. While EVs can still be more expensive to buy than a gas-powered counterpart, the gap is closing, and the technology is improving to the point where EVs offer many benefits over gas vehicles. Automakers continue to address EV shortfalls, and the vehicles are getting better with each new generation.

It’s incredible to see how far EVs have advanced in such a short time, but it will be even more interesting to see what the industry will look like 15 years from now.