The most popular electric and hybrid cars on Instagram

If you head to your Instagram app right now, there’s a good chance one of the first few pictures you’ll see will be of a car. People love to show off about their motors, sharing pictures of new models, scenic drives and even fresh cleans. 

But there’s one car trend that looks to be taking Instagram by storm, an electric storm in fact. 

Electric and hybrid cars are some of the most stylish on the roads, which means they get shared a lot on social media. We wanted to see which models get shared the most, from make of car through to colour.

Plug in, charge up, and get ready to see your grid glow. 

Top 10 most instagrammable electric and hybrid cars

Fast car fans flood the gram

Fast cars have always grabbed the headlines, and it’s no different when it comes to electric and hybrid models. The top three most popular electric and hybrid cars on Instagram are also some of the speediest, with the BMW i8 taking first place with a top speed of 155mph. 

The i8 has over 970,000 hashtags in use, all showing off the car’s sleek lines and sporty design. Equipped with butterfly doors, this model offers  the wow-factor that makes it one of the most popular with motoring fans across the world. 

In second place is another speed demon, this time the Tesla Model S. Some versions of the car claim to be capable of a whopping 199mph, leaving the BMW i8 eating its dust on a flat track. 

The Model S is hashtagged 509,000 times on Instagram. The coupe-style design looks almost as futuristic as the batteries that power it, and Tesla fans can’t get enough of flaunting the brand.. 

This is proven by the car that completes the top three - another Tesla, this time the Model 3. Capable of top speeds up to 161mph, the Tesla Model 3 is around £30,000 cheaper than the Model S, making it a slightly more accessible form of green transport. 

That doesn’t stop it looking stylish, though, as 474,000 hashtags are shared on Instagram.  

Hyundai’s Kona Electric costs a little but gets shared a lot

At the other end of the price scale, the all-electric version of the Hyundai Kona Electric will only set you back around £24,995 at least (or as little as £256.92 a month if leased through us[1]). A much more sensible choice for a family car than the Porsche, the Kona electric is one of the most affordable pure electric cars available to the mass market and has remained a firm favourite since its release in 2019.

On Instagram it racks up more than 9.4k hashtags, showing that a small price doesn’t mean you won’t get a big impact. 

Renault Zoe gets shared 42,634 times

Pitched as a practical and versatile city car, the Renault Zoe might not pack the same supercar punch as some of its rivals, but it still has over 42,000 hashtags on Instagram. The Zoe reflects Renault’s urban style and is popular with city workers and young drivers. 

It’s in impressive company at the bottom of our scoreboard. Just above it with 47,243 hashtags is the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, a true sporting icon capable of 211mph on battery alone. Costing £376,048, the Ferrari is certainly more expensive than the Zoe’s £28,795 price tag, but that money doesn’t buy it much more Instagram popularity. 

The top 10 most Instagrammed pure electric cars 

Aston Martin’s ‘Valkyrie’ is the most expensive hybrid supercar on Instagram 

Coming in at a cool £3.0 million, Aston Martin’s foray into the electric car market is the most expensive in our top 10. Designed to look just like the famous supercars of Aston Martin’s history, and coming in four luxury colours, the Valkyrie really is a sight to behold. 

It’s hashtagged 14.7k times on Instagram, which is no surprise; if you see it, you’ll want to photograph it too. 

McLaren P1 is Instagram’s most popular hybrid supercar 

It’s no surprise to see that the McLaren P1 is hashtagged more than any other hybrid supercar on Instagram. With a price tag of £866,000 and its concept car style look teamed with streamlined racing chassis, it’s a car made for motor heads, and they certainly love sharing it. It’s been hashtagged 427,243 times so far, with the likes rolling in almost as fast as its 217mph top speed. 

Ferrari’s LaFerrari comes in second place in the popularity stakes, with 229,880 hashtags showing that expensive cars are nice to look at, even if you can’t afford to touch them. 

Another Ferrari completes the top three, this time the SF90 Stradale. This was the first ever Ferrari to feature plug-in hybrid technology, and with 47,243 hashtags its novelty clearly hasn’t worn off. 

Pure electric supercars are becoming more popular thanks to Aston Martin and Pininfarina

Although they’re few and far between there are pure electric options available for the more eco-conscious supercar lovers out there. Our top ten most popular features are two of them. First up is Aston Martin’s pure electric offering, the Rapide E. In 2019 Aston Martin announced that they were designing a pure electric model to rival those by Porsche. Estimated to cost just under £200k this model was designed to be sleek and aesthetically pleasing. Although it is still unconfirmed when, or if, mass production will commence the Rapide E still garnes almost 25,000 hashtags on Instagram.

The second pure electric vehicle to make the top ten is German manufacturer Pininfarina with their Battista model. With sleek lines and beloved German craftsmanship, the Battista will set you back a whopping £1.7 million. Despite its price tag, it is less insta-worthy than it’s British counterpart with just 4,393 hashtags. 

The top 5 most expensive hybrid and electric cars on the road 

While electric and hybrid cars might save you money on tax, some certainly make up for it in other areas. If you fancy getting your hands on the Lotus Type 130, the supercar capable of over 200mph, you’ll have to fork out £2.4 million. With its sleek silhouette and racing lines, it wouldn’t look out of place on any race track, although the price tag might make it more suitable for a millionaire's driveway.  

Another car coming in at £2.4 million is the Mercedes-AMG One. Also known as the Project One, it utilises the same technology that Mercedes put in their F1 cars and can reach speeds of up to 217mph. 

If £2.4 million isn’t lavish enough, the Aston Martin Valkyrie will cost you a cool £3 million. The car looks like something out of a Batman movie, and with top speeds of 250mph, it’s certainly capable of a superhero performance.  

It doesn’t matter if it’s black or white 

The two most popular colours of electric cars on Instagram are black, with 6,600 searches, and white at 12,100 searches. 

A white Tesla Model 3 has seen a 49% increase in popularity over the past 12 months, while the black Tesla Model S beats it slightly with a 50% increase. 

The least popular colours for electric cars seem to be silver for the BMW i8, down by 18% over the last year, and orange for the McLaren P1. Searches for that are down by 19%, with classic monochrome colours looking like the most popular choices for charged up cars. 

Want an electric car of your own to hashtag?

Worried you’re missing out on all the electric Instagram action? Fret no more. We’ve got a fantastic range of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars available for affordable monthly prices. 

With free delivery available across mainland GB, you could be plugging into the fun in no time. 

Methodology 

Nationwide Vehicle Contracts compiled a list of 108 electric and hybrid models from across the world. 

Instagram hashtag data was then analysed for each model to discover the most commonly posted car on the platform. Google search volumes were also investigated for the most popular colours in the hashtags to find the most in demand colours for the top five models.

Manufacturer’s data was used to document the OTR cost of the cars from new. 

[1] Prices of rental subject to change frequently