13 Of The Best-Looking Electric SUVs On The Market

As our roads are populated by increasingly more electric cars, we've seen a variety of new designs come with them. Unfortunately, many of these EVs lean far into their futuristic novelty, and while that might be some's ideal car, it misses the mark for many others.

Those bold designs are made possible by the fact that electric cars don't have many of the hindrances that gas-powered cars do. For example, electric car put their batteries low on the floor, with motors by the wheels and axles. This creates a flat shape, allowing designers to play with proportions in ways previously not possible. This leads to emphasized aerodynamic efficiency, which also plays a role in the shape of many EVs. Countless hours in a wind tunnel can be beneficial to a car's range, but painful to the human eye.

The lack of an air-hungry combustion engine also eliminates the need for a front grille, whose absence can be disconcerting to a population so used to seeing cars with mouths. The problem gets particularly tricky with SUVs, as designers try to balance aerodynamic efficiency with larger interior spaces and generally bigger and taller cars. Luckily, some designs manage to be quite stunning. Here are 13 of our favorite examples.

Although Rivian's cars have only recently hit the roads in 2021, the California EV manufacturer has actually been around since 2009. Rivian currently offers two models: the R1T, a pickup, and the R1S, a three-row SUV. While both follow the same design principles, the R1S is the prettier sibling, thanks to its more balanced proportions. The R1S is big, measuring a little over 16.5 feet long, 6.5 feet wide, and just under 6.5 feet tall. This is a big car, but the lines on the R1S do a fantastic job of maintaining this SUV's road presence without making it overbearing.

The side profile of the R1S is smooth and flat, with one simple crease on the lower third of the doors that is partly blacked out, to create the illusion of a slimmer midsection. The windows run a continuous black section, only broken by the C pillar, which brings the body color of the car to the upper half. The front features a light bar — a design trend we see a lot these days — but the two ovular headlight cutouts help make this version stand out. The Rivian R1S sports an agreeable profile that has helped it earn its place among other electric SUVs.

Initially, the Polestar was associated with Volvo's performance oriented models. Now, it is a different company that split up from the Swedish giant in 2017 and is mostly dedicated to making electric cars. The Polestar 1 and 2 came in coupe and sedan forms respectively, and it wasn't until 2022, at the premier of the Polestar 3 that we saw how the brand would take on an SUV. The company's first car, the Polestar 1, looked like a two-door version of Volvo's S90. As it previewed and released more models, the company managed to evolve its identity into something new.

The Polestar 3 exemplifies this evolution, as its only true shared design feature is the sideways T-shaped headlights, which Volvo calls "Thor's Hammer." Beyond this, the Polestar 3 has run with the look of minimal Scandinavian luxury, and popped it into a time machine. The Polestar 3 is an SUV, but its proportions indicate something sportier, with its swooping rear roofline. The black cutout beneath the doors slips down towards the wheels, and the windowline pulls upwards at the rear to give the impression of a car with wider hips, making the whole thing feel streamlined. The silhouette is angular yet smooth, while the design cues feel futuristic without tackiness. The Polestar 3 looks so good that it might leave you with excitement for the future of electric cars.

Kia isn't generally known for making pretty cars, but since Karim Habib was appointed as the Head of Kia Global Design in 2019, the brand has been transformed. Many new models from the Korean brand punch well above their weight in looks, and the new Kia EV9 electric SUV is one of the brand's more handsome recent creations. The EV9 is a three-row SUV meant not just to carry your family and friends around, but to do it with style.

For a long time now, electric cars have been perceived as the future of the auto industry, and the EV9 looks like the future. It's a boxy car, but it retains a dynamic feel thanks to its many angled lines. The headlights reach low onto the front bumper and back above the front fender with a sharp finesse. The wheel arches and lower side sections also feature these angular lines that help make the EV9 look more aggressive. At the rear, the taillights stretch up and down the sides and onto the trunk. The EV9 widens just under the lower windowsills, which helps give it a squatted and ready stance. The EV9 is a testament to Kia's new direction, and it forecasts a bright future for the brand's reputation in design.

The land yachts of the 60s are now gone, but Cadillac continues to make cars that drip American opulence. Much of that historical opulence went hand in hand with colossal V8s and absurdly long sedans that look like they've been through a fun house mirror, but in the modern day, these just don't translate. To keep up with the times, Cadillac unveiled their first electric car, the Cadillac Lyriq, in 2020. As an electric SUV, the Lyriq is quite different to what we see in Cadillac's heritage, but its looks remind us that it's still a part of the family tree.

As we mentioned earlier, electric cars don't need open grilles to feed an engine, but the Lyriq features a large black panel just under the hood that simulates a grille perfectly. It's accompanied by tall headlights that help extend the car's height to preserve an imposing road presence. From the side profile, the Lyriq keeps standard SUV proportions, with few angles and creases to disturb the sleek silhouette. Turning to the rear, the main taillights serve almost as accent lights. Beginning at the C pillar, these red bands come down and back around the rear end to create a dynamic array of light. Everything on the Lyriq is in tune with Cadillac's spirit, and yet the company managed to make it feel like something new.

If it isn't broken, don't fix it. While most of the entries on this list are about embracing the future through design, Mercedes-Benz has taken the opposite approach. Although the introduction of an electric-powered G-Class is a huge step for the German brand, the G-Class EV doesn't want to make a big deal out of it. The boxy shape of the G-Class has remained largely unchanged over its 45-year tenure, and it's proven to be one of the most recognizable silhouettes in the car world, so why change it?

At first glance, the G-Class EV might look like one of its gas-powered siblings. It looks like it scoffs at the concept of aerodynamics, and it wears its tall and square angles with pride. However, upon closer inspection, we can start to pick up on some new elements. Its big circular headlights are familiar, but the G-Class EV introduces an illuminated outline around the space the grille used to be, and its iconic spare tire case at the rear is boxier, as it now holds a charging cable instead. These small details help differentiate the G-Class EV from other G-Wagons, but at the end of the day, that's what it is.

Lucid is a new player in the EV game, but it has already been making waves thanks to its shining star: the Lucid Air. After the success that was the Air, it only made sense for the California-born brand to try their hand at an SUV. The result is the Lucid Gravity. The Gravity takes much of what made the Air so great, and transfers it to the body of an SUV, and that includes design language.

Aerodynamics are the name of the game for an efficient EV, and many electric SUVs can end up looking like amorphous blobs as they chase low drag coefficients. However, the Lucid Gravity manages to reach a drag coefficient of just 0.24 Cd, while maintaining the luxurious maturity that made the Air so handsome. The side profile is smooth, with the roofline swooping out and over the rear to help aerodynamic efficiency, creating a streamlined, sporty look as a byproduct. The rear features a light bar, and the conclusion of the few but tasteful smooth body lines. The Gravity is graceful but confident, making it an absolute treat to see on the road.

When Ford realized the future was electric and decided to produce an EV, it chose to place it under the Mustang umbrella. This left it in a similar situation to Mercedes with the G-Class EV, but Ford picked a different path. Rather than a car that was a Mustang before an EV, the brand built a car that was an EV before a Mustang, and the result was the Mach-E.

First and foremost, the Mach-E is an SUV, but not all Mustang charm is gone, luckily. The tail lights feature the triplet of vertical lines on each end that we've become used to on modern Mustangs, and the headlights angle up towards the front fenders, giving it a poised look. The Mach-E makes use of a sloping roofline, and a black cutout above the side skirts, which helps slim its figure. The designers at Ford have carried the spirit of the Mustang into the Mach-E so effectively that purists might forget to scoff when they see it.

The Audi Q8 is the top dog of the gas-powered Audi SUV range, and its electric counterpart, the Q8 E-Tron serves the same purpose for the EV world. A halo car for any range should be the best of the best in a wide range of areas. The Q8 might not be the fastest, the most powerful, or have the finest interior, but one thing's for certain: It looks the best.

The Q8 E-Tron comes in two body shapes. The regular Q8 E-Tron retains a classic SUV silhouette, and the Q8 E-Tron Sportback, which employs a sloped roofline for better aerodynamic efficiency. While the Sportback looks good, its more traditional partner looks even better, thanks to its familiar SUV proportions done so elegantly by Audi. Audi also makes use of a simulated grille up front, which helps preserve the authoritative sureness the gas-powered Q8 enjoys. The side is simple, with one line running the length of the car at the height of the door handles, and a black accent mark at the base of the doors drawn in a slight upward angle. The rear is clean, with a light bar and a black diffuser unbroken by exhaust pipes. The Q8 E-Tron inspires respect without demanding it, in a way that is unmistakably Audi.

Similar to Kia, Hyundai has had a design renaissance over the past few years. Their electric line already boasts two lookers with the Ioniq 5 crossover and the Ioniq 6 sedan, and the newest edition, the three-row Ioniq 9 SUV, might be their best work yet.

The Ioniq 9's shape is big and tall, with slightly boxy vertical lines, albeit with a smoothly angled windshield and roofline. The real magic comes from the retro-inspired design cues that the Ioniq line is recognized for. The horizontal light bar up front is formed by a straight cluster of small, squared, pixel-esque lights, a theme that is continued in the tail lights whose squares stack vertically on the side edges of the car's rear.

At a profile view, the Ioniq 9 does a wonderful job of slimming itself as you get closer to the rear. The bottom windowline angles upwards after the C pillar, and a black line running the side of the car curves up towards the rear, where it ends at the base of the tail lights. The Ioniq 9 perfects the balancing act of utilizing retro charm without overdoing it, to create something fresh yet familiar.

Since its inception, Jeep has been known for its ability to make cars that can conquer and thrive in even the most rough and rugged landscapes, and much of its  design language has followed that principle. However, as its portfolio has expanded into cars made more for the city than the wild, the company had to learn to make cars that appeal to the human eye, and not just the adventure-craving heart.

As an electric SUV destined to live in the city, the Jeep Wagoneer S has to be pretty, and it is. Up front, a light bar runs the width of the front fascia and a set of rectangular indents sit just beneath it to simulate the modern Jeep grille we're so used to seeing. The light bar transfers into the main headlights, which turn upwards near the ends at a slight angle, and a slight bulge on the hood hints at a more than capable powertrain, despite no engine living under the hood. The sides feature two main creases that help streamline the car's large body, and a minimal roof wing hangs off the edge where the roof slopes down. The Wagoneer S is simple and surprisingly elegant, making it a certified competitor in the EV SUV pageant.

Where some design teams may be looking to start the next trend or finish the current one, the team behind the Honda Prologue seems not to be concerned with turning heads and dropping jaws. It kept its head out of the clouds and produced something with no frills or gimmicks, just an example of car design done well.

The Prologue looks like your standard electric SUV, and that's not a bad thing. The company decided to forgo the current trend that is the light bar in the front and the rear in favor of more traditional lighting arrays, and there are no extreme angles or proportions that make it look like it's trying too hard to look like the future. Up front, a black bar bearing the Honda logo connects the two headlights, and the lower half of the bumper is blacked out to help visually shrink the front end. The sides are smooth and there's only a slight pinching of angles near the rear, which help give it a fresh and sporty look.

The end wears a pair of long and thin tail lights with the Honda name spelled out between them. Nothing feels like it's out of place, because there's nothing extra that doesn't have a natural place, making the Prologue a simple but desirable electric SUV.

Although Chevrolet has had experience with electric vehicles for a while now, what with the Volt and the Bolt, it didn't seem to hit its stride design-wise until the introduction of the Blazer EV. The Bolt was retired in 2023 as Chevy prepared to introduce its new EV architecture platform, dubbed "Ultium," which would be the foundation for the Equinox EV, Silverado EV, and the Blazer EV. This trio has set the standard for future Chevrolet EVs, at least as far as looks go, with the Blazer EV being the strongest of the three.

Up front, the Blazer features a light bar that spreads into the T-shaped headlights, each accented by a black patch to add some depth. Underneath this light bar is a textured black panel meant to simulate a grille. The whole front end inspires a sense of quiet aggression that is continued by the rest of the car's design. At the sides, a large chunk of the lower portion is blacked out, and the combination of an angled black cutout to simulate a vent behind the front wheels and a body line that pulls up by the rear haunches helps continue that aggressive look. The D pillar is also blacked out, which gives the illusion of a floating roof near the end of the car. These clever design cues help give the Blazer EV an assertive road presence that's hard not to like.

Ever since the H1's debut in 1992 as the civilian version of the U.S. army's workhorse, the name Hummer has become infamous. You might think that the Hummer is synonymous with a gigantic size, a planetary weight, shameless looks, and a gas-hungry engine. Save for the last, the electric Hummer brings all those characteristics back.

The new Hummer EV is colossal, measuring up to nearly 6.5 feet tall (over 17 feet long) and a little over 7 feet wide, meaning the designers had a big canvas to work with. The huge front end features a heavy-duty bumper and a pair of thin horizontal headlights, separated by the name "Hummer" spelled out one letter at a time. The sides are bulky and boxy, invoking the militaristic utilitarianism its predecessor was known for, and the rear carries a spare tire that partially obstructs the extremely short and wide rear window. The EV Hummer looks like something out of a Micheal Bay movie, and in a world of automotive homogeneity, that is a trait that is often respected.