The best electric sports cars - driven, rated and ranked

Porsche has hit the EV market with exactly the sort of impact you would hope that an industry powerhouse of its stature might make, even if it wasn't with the sort of car you would expect it to make that statement with.

Instead of being a true sports car in the traditional sense, the Taycan is a four-door fast grand tourer that's slightly smaller than the existing Panamera but is certainly not the lesser car of the two.

The Taycan possesses fine body control, rare balance, superbly calibrated operating controls and palpable steering precision. That it rides extremely well on its air suspension only adds to its appeal and was a key factor in our decision to award the Taycan the full five stars after an exhaustive road test.

In fact, were it possible to drive blindfolded and with noise-cancelling headphones on, you would still know instantly that the Taycan was a Porsche. From the steering weight and feel, to the unerring agility and expensively calibrated damping, the Taycan marks itself out as a true son of Zuffenhausen.

There are now several models in the range, although the best elements of the package are evident even in the 532bhp 4S, which despite its lower-level status is still supercar-grade accelerative.

The top-ranking Turbo S musters 751bhp, costs almost £140,000 and is surely one of the quickest real-world cars on the planet, especially when you factor in its 2.6sec 0-60mph time. There are also Sport Turismo and Cross Turismo versions, which add estate and off-road flavours respectively to the Taycan recipe.

However, our money (quite a large chunk of it in fairness) would go on the 590bhp GTS, which combines more than enough poke with suspension settings designed to delight keen drivers. It will also travel the best part of 300 miles on a charge, which means more time driving.

The first electric car to wear Audi's RS initials is, deep down, the Taycan in a different suit.

It uses the same powerful electric motors (one per axle) and the same three-chamber air suspension and, of course, the underlying architecture is shared. As such, the battery pack is also carried over, resulting in a WLTP range of up to 285 miles and the potential for 350kW ultra-rapid charging.

What this all means is that, firstly, the RS E-tron GT is enormously quick. In fact, the flagship version develops 612lb ft and 637bhp and will accelerate to 62mph in comfortably less than 3.5sec.

Better still, it handles well, albeit not with quite the same level of panache and engagement as its Porsche cousin, particularly in terms of steering.

Yet it's not far off, and the trade-off is a more relaxed gait than the Taycan when you're mooching, which, considering the refinement benefits of an EV, makes the Audi an equally appealing proposition.

Few car makers have made such a big impression in such a short space of time as Rimac. In little more than a decade, the Croatian firm has grown from the garage of Mate Rimac into a company that's now partly owned by Porsche and planning the future of Bugatti. That's quite a meteoric rise.

The crowning achievement of the young Rimac empire is the Nevera, which is the follow-up to the Concept One and C_Two show cars, the former having arguably kick-started the electric hypercar trend with its 1073bhp output and £670,000 asking price when it made its debut in 2017.

Just 150 examples of the Nevera will be made, almost all of which are apparently spoken for. Its appeal has only been enhanced in the eyes of many people by its recent record-breaking EV top speed run, when it topped 256mph.

The hardware is compelling, if somewhat eye-watering. The car is built around a composite tub, and there's an electric motor for each wheel, with independent single-speed gearboxes at the front and two two-speed dual-clutch 'boxes for the back axle.

All this means the Nevera boasts 1888bhp and a mountainous 1696lb ft, which allows it to hit 0-62mph in just 1.95sec. Its 120kWh battery also allows for up to 340 miles of range. 

With double-wishbone suspension, torque vectoring, and the potential for level-four autonomous driving, the car has the works - and an eye-watering £2.4 million price to match. 

Many recent Lotus headlines have been about the Emira, the British brand's Porsche 718 Cayman-chasing sports car.

Yet this machine is also being heralded as the firm's last to feature a petrol engine, with future models favouring ultra-rapid charging over unleaded. The first hint of what we can expect has already been given by the Evija, an electric hypercar being produced in a limited run of 130.

The bald statistics are somewhat mind-numbing. Lotus itself was recently surprised to find that the car's four motors together deliver 2011bhp, rather than the 1973bhp it had previously quoted.

That propels 1680kg, which is relatively light in EV terms, so performance will feel like freefall, we imagine. Actual performance figures are thin on the ground, but Lotus expects a sub-2.0sec time for the 0-62mph sprint and a top speed the naughty side of 200mph.

That said, Lotus is tuning the car more for handling and dynamism than raw statistics, so the power delivery is said to crescendo, rather like any naturally aspirated engine would.

Just how much the Evija bottles traditional Lotus traits remains to be seen, but if any of the upcoming electric hypercars can truly appeal as a driver's car, Hethel's effort is probably the best bet.

Much like the relationship between the Porsche Taycan and Audi RS E-tron GT, the Pininfarina Battista shares much hardware (and software) with the Rimac Nevera, but for the purposes of differentiation, it's being presented as the more outwardly luxurious, more GT-oriented machine of the pair.

Even so, this is no soft-centred cruiser, as the raw statistics reveal. With 1900bhp and 1696lb ft on offer from its four motors, it's perhaps no surprise to find it can do 0-186mph in less than 12sec and 217mph all out - although even these numbers pale into insignificance alongside the £2 million asking price.

Yet there's more to it than just statistics, because the Battista handles with surprising delicacy and poise too, feeling every bit as thrilling through the corners as it does down the straights.

It even managed to encourage our inscrutable editor-at-large, Matt Prior, to laugh out loud when he sampled it on track, which says a lot about its considerable abilities.

In the metal (and carbonfibre, obvs), the Battista is beautifully wrought both inside and out and largely Italianate, despite the fact that the company is now based in Munich and the parent company - Mahindra - is Indian.

The engineers and trimmers themselves, however, include alumni from Pagani and the Mercedes-AMG Project One hypercar, meaning there's no lack of talent on display here.

Over the decades, there have been many false dawns for Maserati, but somehow the iconic Italian brand has failed to move out of the shadows of its early-1950s heyday, when its cars were winning Formula 1 world championships on the track and the hearts of enthusiasts on the road.

Yet while this recent attempt to reset and go again could ultimately flatter to deceive once more, there are reasons to be hopeful that this time the Modenese maker is finally on the path to success. 

First up, there was the launch last year of the sensational MC20 supercar. Then it pulled the covers off a new mid-sized SUV (crucial for sales success) and now there's the all-new Granturismo, a coupé that's designed to do exactly what it says on the tin.

More importantly, it's the first Maserati to get the all-electric treatment. Known as the Folgore (that's thunderbolt in English), it's based on an all-new, largely aluminium platform that's designed to work with both ICE and BEV powertrains.

It has the raw statistics: with a tri-motor set-up (two at the back for torque vectoring and one at the front), it delivers 751bhp for 0-62mph in 2.7sec and a 199mph top speed.

What's more, its battery (83kWh for a claimed range of 280 miles) has been designed in an elongated H-shape layout, with the centre section slotting down the spin of the car. Not only does this deliver a lower seating position, but it also centres the masses and helps to give the car greater agilty.

We've only driven the car on track so far, but the results are extremely promising. The incredible acceleration you expect, but it's the car's ability to turn in sharply, rotate quickly around the apex and exit with a delicious rear-biased attitude that means it's good to drive.

The MG Cyberster is an important car for the Chinese-owned Britsh brand.

Not only does it mark the brand's 100th anniversary since its initial founding, but it's also the first electric convertible to go on sale in the UK. 

Powered by a 77kWh battery, it promises around 276 miles of range. It sends its energy to two electric motors, which combine to offer 503bhp and 535lb ft, covering 0-62mph in 3.2sec. Alternatively, you can select a single-motor set-up, with power sent to the rear wheels only. 

While its weight means it's not quite as pure and zippy as a Mazda MX-5, MG has gone to great lengths to ensure the Cyberster drives with the zest and enjoyment of a more traditional sports car.

Its handling is engaging, which partners well with the Cyberster's supple and controlled ride if you're not looking to hustle it. 

It marks a superb return for MG into the sports car market, but the real trump card is its price. The single-motor model kicks off from £54,995, rising to £59,995 for the all-wheel-drive variant. 

BMW is no stranger to electrified sports cars: its ill-fated i8 combined daring supercar looks with a powerful, high-tech, plug-in hybrid powertrain and a genuinely entertaining driving experience. However, the i4 is the firm's first stab at a proper high-performance electric car - and it's not a bad effort.

Unlike the i3 and iX, the i4 isn't built on a bespoke EV platform but instead uses a version of BMW's CLAR architecture (in essence, this is an electrified 4 Series Gran Coupé).

There's an entry-level rear-drive eDrive40 model that's brisk enough, but for true bar-room bragging rights, you need the M50, which features a twin-motor set-up that packs a hefty 536bhp punch for a M4-baiting 0-62mph time of 3.9sec.

Despite a kerb weight that's 300kg the wrong side of two tonnes, the BMW handles with surprising agility and control, its powerful motors and clever software allowing some tail-happy action if you're in the mood. It's not as fun as an M4 Competition, but it feels just as fast and what it lacks in outright poise and precision it gains in comfort and refinement.

As a first attempt at a fully electric driver's car, the M50 is pretty much on target, but bear in mind that the cheaper and slower (but lighter and with less adhesive tyres) eDrive40 actually has the sweeter and more approachable handling balance, plus it will go further on a charge (367 miles).

As a driver's car, the eDrive40 the better bet, and the fact that you're saving a few quid only makes the deal more appealing.