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The Tesla Model 3 has played a major role in normalizing electric vehicle ownership in the United States. First hitting the streets in 2017, it's come at a price point that has made keeping an EV in the garage possible for a wide range of consumers. The 2026 standard model sees a starting price of $36,990, and Consumer Reports considers the Model 3 to be among the market's cheap electric vehicles actually worth buying still today.

The standard Model 3 model comes with the performance of a 5.8-second 0-60 time, plenty of interior technology to play with, and a sleek design that makes it easy to spot on the road. On the more practical side, the standard Model 3 has 24 cubic feet of cargo space and an EPA-estimated range of 321 miles per charge. That range is pretty impressive, and even competes with what many gas-powered vehicles get out of a tank of gas.

But while the Tesla Model 3 has spent much of its existence ahead of the market in certain regards, many EV manufacturers have caught up. It may be no surprise to hear that luxury automakers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW make electric cars that deliver better range than the Model 3, but there are several other electric vehicles on the market that can make it farther on a single battery charge.

The Lucid Air offers much better range than the Model 3, though you could add a lot of vehicles to such a list, as the Air is the longest-range vehicle you can buy. Lucid makes the Air in four different trims, with the base model Air Pure able to reach 420 miles per charge. More expensive trims include the Air Touring and Air Grand Touring, which can reach 431 miles and 512 miles of range, respectively. One of the more impressive features of the lineup is its fast-charging capabilities. The base model Air Pure is able to go from a dead battery to 200 miles of range with just 16 minutes of charging time.

The Lucid Air, however, is priced much higher than the Model 3 at all trim levels. It starts at $70,900, which is approaching twice the starting price of the Model 3. A fully equipped, top-end Lucid Air Sapphire even manages to hit a price of $249,000. Additionally, Consumer Reports considers the Lucid Air to be among the least reliable EVs for 2026. While the Air may not provide the most overall value among electric cars, the 100 miles of range the base model offers over the standard Tesla Model 3 is pretty substantial for drivers who have range as a top priority in an EV.

With a starting price of $99,900, the Mercedes-Benz EQS is another electric car that lives in a much different price range than the Model 3. It's a full-size luxury sedan that comes in three different models, though the base-model EQS 450+ gets the best range of the three. While the mid-range EQS 450 4MATIC can get 367 miles of range and the premium EQS 580 4MATIC can get 371 miles of range, the EQS 450+ further outperforms the standard Model 3's 321 miles of range with up to 390 miles per charge. It also has fast-charging capabilities that can take it from a 10% charge to an 80% charge in just 31 minutes.

That estimated 70 miles of range difference comes at a steep price with the Mercedes-Benz EQS. But it is a luxury vehicle, after all, and many Mercedes-Benz shoppers aren't likely to be looking at range as the vehicle's primary differentiator. The EQS has a uniquely designed interior and ambient lighting arrangement that are likely to be more appealing, as well as a rear cabin with a massive amount of legroom and comfort. Mercedes-Benz also packs the EQS lineup with technology features, including face and fingerprint recognition and a total of 56 inches of screen real estate across three displays.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a vehicle with as much intention for mass appeal as the Tesla Model 3. The two vehicles are priced similarly across different trims, with the Ioniq 6 SE Standard Range starting at $37,850 and the high-end Ioniq 6 Limited starting at $51,100. U.S. News & World Report named the Ioniq 6 the best electric car for 2025, and it has also received praise at Consumer Reports, where it's among the electric vehicles that owners actually love. It has a lot of color options and features that can be added across its wide variety of trim levels.

While the Ioniq 6 starts at just $37,850, it doesn't officially start outdistancing the Model 3 until the second-tier SE model. This version of the electric car has a starting price of $42,800. The base model Ioniq 6 comes with a rear-wheel drive motor that only gets 240 miles of range, but upgrading to the Ioniq 6 SE gets you 342 miles of range. That's not a particularly massive improvement over the standard Model 3. In fact, it might be more fair to compare it to the Model 3 Premium, which starts at $42,490 and has a range of 346 miles, showing how closely these two lines mirror each other in terms of price and range.

One model of the BMW i4 outperforms the Model 3 in range, but in a more general sense, this electric vehicle outdoes a lot of others. The i4 is among the best electric vehicles according to Consumer Reports, and with a C/D rating of 9.5 out of 10, it's a 2026 Editors' Choice among EVs at Car and Driver. It has a variety of technology features available, including a multi-camera parking assistant and entirely keyless operation, allowing drivers to leave their keys at home and control engine starts and door locking and unlocking through their smartphone.

BMW offers several models of the i4, with the i4 eDrive40 outperforming the Model 3 at up to 333 miles of range. More expensive i4 models drop off in range quickly, with the xDrive40 option reaching up to 287 miles of range and the M60 option reaching up to 278 miles of range. Despite having the BMW logo on the hood, the i4 isn't as significant of a price jump over the Model 3 as EVs from Mercedes-Benz and other luxury brands. The BMW i4 eDrive40 starts at $57,900 and slightly outperforms the standard Model 3 with a 5.5-second 0-60 time.

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The Model 3 is one of the best value EVs when considering all it has to offer relative to its starting price. Because of its positioning within the market, it's a natural vehicle to compare to others. Our comparison here starts with the standard Tesla Model 3. This is a rear-wheel-drive configuration that has an EPA-estimated 321 miles of range. We made that our benchmark as we set out to find electric cars that outperform it in range.

"Cars" is an important word in our selection process as well. There are plenty of electric vehicles on the market that offer more than 321 miles of range. The Chevrolet Silverado EV gets 478 miles of range, for example, and the Cadillac Escalade IQ reaches up to 380 miles. But these are much different vehicles than the Model 3, with the Silverado EV meant to appeal to truck owners and the Escalade IQ geared more toward the luxury SUV market.

Our intention with this article was to present a more apples-to-apples exploration, so each of the electric cars we've selected looks and feels like it's in a similar class to the Model 3, even if that's not the case officially. We also sought out electric cars that don't depend solely upon upgrading to premium model tiers in order to outdistance the Model 3.