The latest figures put the number of dogs in the UK at 13 million – an astonishing amount. So it’s no surprise that the question the Electrifying team gets asked most (after “Can you move your car please?”) is “What’s the best electric car for my dog?”
We have many dogs between us here, so we’re in a good position to speak with authority on which cars have gone down well with our pooches. Here’s a list of the best EVs for you, your family and your furry friends – the best cars offer a winning combination of space, practicality, comfort and value for money. (You can also watch this video on the best EVs for dogs on our YouTube channel – not for the winning consumer advice, it was from 2022, but to get a good look at Ziggy, Frank and Tocks)
Kia’s new PV5 Passenger certainly has the bold looks that we were promised when carmakers started to move towards bespoke electric platforms for their cars (everything can be built down low, which means you’ve got great flexibility for arranging things on top) – but dogs tend not to respond to styling. Thankfully inside the PV5 there’s plenty of space for everyone, excellent all-round visibility thanks to the big windows and storage everywhere, with lots of cubbies and bins around the place. Presumably to keep balls, leads, treats and other things in.
We’ve seen lots of vans turned into passenger carrying MPVs before (indeed, see the Citroen e-Berlingo below), but the PV5 doesn’t betray any commercial roots with firmness, rattles and echoes – it’s smooth and comfortable, and with its wide boot opening and low entry point it’s a great option for dog owners. It also comes with Kia’s ‘pet mode’, which keeps the cabin at a comfortable temperature and pops a message on the infotainment screen so no one smashes your windows.
Small dogs will enjoy the comforts of Skoda’s Enyaq electric SUV – one of our favourite family cars, which was given a fresh look in 2025. If you’re mostly looking for a bit of family space or your dog prefers to travel in a crate, the Enyaq could be the best choice for you. At 585 litres, the boot's large enough for small crates even without dropping the seats, but if you do fold them down, the 1,710 litres of space allows for much larger crates. Of course, best double check that your crate is small enough to pass through either the rear door or the boot.
If you have crate trained your dog and they feel safe in one, using it to transport them in the car could decrease their anxiety. It also keeps you all safe while on the move, but you will need to find a way to secure it to the car however, especially if you are using it with the rear seats folded. The dog might not be so happy with the range – the Enyaq can manage 359 miles of WLTP range with the 77kWh battery fitted, which means further between walks.
The danger with a pleasant retro design is that suddenly a carmaker abandons all sense and practicality goes out of the window. But that is emphatically not the case with the 4, which is the more spacious, family friendly version of the Renault 5 electric supermini. The 4 is fun, charming and manages almost 250 miles of WLTP range, but best of all it qualifies for the full £3,750 of the government’s electric car grant, which makes it extra good value (and the reason why we named it our Best Value EV for 2025).
But dogs don’t care about the running costs (just the running), so what’s in it for them? The 4’s boot opens with a wide, square (ish) aperture and a boot lip that takes a little nibble out of the bumper, making access to the back nice and easy. Certainly the boot feels more practical and spacious than its 420 litres might suggest. Some might prefer a frunk under the bonnet (you can stash your charging cables under the boot floor to be fair), but dogs generally aren’t too keen on those either.
The Tesla Model 3 is a fine family car, but it’s the bigger Y that your dog will really appreciate. Possibly not the electric folding rear seats, unless they work out how to press the button, but rather the roomy 450-litre boot (or so – Tesla quotes to the roof rather than the parcel shelf like most others) that expands to allow 2,000 litres of space once the seats have all been tipped down.
Tesla’s dog mode was the real game changer, though – you can set the car to keep the cabin cool enough for your pet to be comfortable inside and it’ll put a message on the infotainment screen to let passers-by know what’s going on. It was a good enough idea that others have started copying it (check out Hyundai and Kia), and it’ll give you peace of mind while you’re out and about. The Tesla app is also useful here, it allows you to monitor the temperature and set dog mode on or off when you’re away from the car.
You’ll appreciate the Model Y as an owner – not just for its 2025 refresh, which has reintroduced indicator stalks to the cabin – but also for the £49k long range version of the car that will go up to 387 miles on a full charge.
Another car that will appeal to owners thanks to its ease on your wallet is Citroen’s new e-C5 Aircross. The long range version of the car qualifies for the full amount of the UK government’s plug-in car grant thanks to it being built regionally at a Stellantis factory in France, so that’s a welcome £3,750 off the list price. And a welcome 421 miles of range, too.
Dogs will appreciate the delightfully comfortable ride, and the spacious boot – 565 litres of space with the seats up (though those seats do slide, so you can create more space). The boot opening is nice and wide, with a flat lip on the way in, even if it isn’t too low. Another nice thing about the e-C5 Aircross is that there’s a healthy aftermarket supply of accessories to make your dog more comfortable, things like trays for the boot floor, guards for behind the seats and crates.
A £70k electric seven seater from Kia might take a little getting your head round, but spend any amount of time with the EV9 and it will win you over with its charm. It’s a useful seven seater, which there aren’t too many of when it comes to electric options. It’s also got more appreciably SUV-like styling, if the PV5 Passenger (above) is a bit too challenging to look at.
It’s got a flexible interior, the EV9, with a third row that drops neatly into the floor and a middle row that swivels round. Plenty of room for a dog to sit in the back, then, and a decently comfortable ride to boot (no pun intended). The EV9 also benefits from Hyundai/Kia’s pet mode (which as well as the PV5 you’ll also find on the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and the Kia EV5), where the car maintains a controlled temperature inside the cabin while you’re parked up.
The new iX3 is our 2026 Car of the Year for good reason (obviously, we wouldn’t pick it for bad reasons) – there’s the impressive new battery tech and eye waveringly impressive 500-mile range, but it’s also a great car to drive and thoroughly refined to sit in. But none of that matters to your dog – the boot has a lovely square lower aperture that leads in to a flat loadspace, and there’s a big frunk under the bonnet for you to stash anything muddy after a particularly filthy stroll.
The iX3 doesn’t come with a pet mode, but you can remotely turn on the air conditioning and also monitor the cabin via the integrated cameras, which is useful. Cleverly though, the BMW will automatically detect if you’ve left anyone in the car and turn the AC on for them if temperatures start to climb. Nice work. We’re not sure how the white leather interior of the car we drove will hold up to dog life, though, we’d probably opt for one of the other colour schemes.
Citroen e-Berlingo
Citroen’s e-Berlingo is admittedly not the most stylish way for you and your passengers to get around, but sometimes practicality and space trump any style concerns. And budget obviously comes into play too – the little Citroen hits hard for the money, starting from a smidge under £30k.
The boot is big and square, with a low load lip and huge hatchback opening (that might not be so practical if you’ve got restricted parking) that even big dogs will love. The e-Berlingo gets up to 213 miles of WLTP range, so it’s not the most long distance cruiser on our list, but that means the dog will be able to get out for a walk while you’re charging.
The Ford Puma Gen-E is a great all rounder, as proven by the fact that it and the combustion powered models in the range have consistently sat at the top of the UK bestseller charts since the car went on sale. It’s a bit smaller than the likes of the Skoda Enyaq, which makes it great to squeeze around town.
Ford’s so-called GigaBox (a big underfloor storage compartment) is a fun little addition to the car – it adds 145 litres of storage to the car, but the neat part is that it has a drainage plug in the middle, so you could use it for rinsing the dog off after a particularly muddy walk or pop all of your muddy towels and boots in there.
The rest of the boot offers 378 litres of space, which is more than enough for the dog to enjoy. The Gen-E also qualifies for Band 1 of the UK’s electric car grant, which means a decent £3,750 discount off the purchase price.
The Peugeot E-5008 would be a great option for anyone trying to lump around something like a Great Dane, Newfoundland or similar. Anything short of a horse, essentially, though sadly the back of the E-5008 isn’t waterproof, so you’ll still need a boot liner to counter the slobber.
The E-5008 is another seven-seater on our list, though you’ll only have room for a Pekingese if you’re going to travel around with seven people on board. The seats do at least fold away neatly to offer a massive boot with around 750 litres of space. There are two options when it comes to e-5008 batteries – the 98kWh car offers up to 405 miles of WLTP range, but we think that the smaller batteried 73kWh model is probably the better bet. It offers better value and still manages 306 miles of WLTP range.
