It's as if the Smart EQ Forfour escaped its cage at Mercedes HQ in Stuttgart, to be brought up by a pack of Berlin-based, craft-beer swilling hipsters. Everything about it – from its dinky looks to its trendy interior – screams urban dweller. 

Its rear-mounted motor means it's ultra manoeuvrable because, with no engine in the way, the front wheels can turn to greater angles than usual. Its raised driving position gives you a great view of the road  ahead, and it is also very cheap to run. However, it's the Smart's super-low insurance groupings - which run from 9 to 11 - that win it a place on this list. 

Mind you, not everything is great. Its 85-mile range is about half what you can expect from a Volkswagen e-Up – so it's a city car that really is best kept within city limits – and, while it has room for four people, they'll feel pretty hemmed in. 

If the standard Volkswagen Up is a black belt in city motoring, then the e-Up electric model is its all-knowing sensei: it's an even better town car. Unfortunately, it is inevitably quite pricey compared to the standard model. 

On the bright side, though the e-Up is cheap to insure for an electric car, and free from paying emissions charges. It drives like an automatic because it has only one gear, and its regenerative brakes mean you barely have to press the brake pedal when pootling around town. The battery, meanwhile, gives the car a 161-mile range, and the torquey motor means it feels quick in the city.

Meanwhile, everything we like about the standard Up stands in the e-Up. It's nice to drive for a small car, its cabin has VW's classic feel of solidity and, considering how tiny it is, it's surprisingly roomy inside. This may be one of the cheapest electric cars to insure, but it's also one of the best. 

Like the standard version of the SEAT Mii, the SEAT Mii Electric is heavily based on a Volkswagen equivalent: the e-Up electric in this case. As usual, it's slightly cheaper to make up for the fact that the SEAT badge isn't quite so desirable as a Volkswagen's, and it's not quite so smart inside.

More or less everything else is identical, mind, which means the Mii has room for four adults inside and a bigger boot than most other city cars. Just like the e-Up, the Mii Electric is a city-centre specialist with a pokey electric motor and a 161-mile range, while its regenerative brakes (that slow the car when you take your foot off the accelerator) and single gear means you can get away with using one pedal most of the time. 

The only oddity is that it sits in insurance group 12, two groups higher than the identical VW. 

Up until this point, the cars on this list have been electric versions of a conventional model, but the Renault Zoe is a car that has been designed from the ground up to be electric: not that you'd know it because there not much that's strikingly space-age about its design.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll find there's a lot to like about the Zoe, such as its range of up to 245 miles, and its ability to recharge its battery to 80% in around an hour using a rapid charger. A full charge at home will take nine hours, but save you a fortune of petrol or diesel.

It makes a lot of sense if you live in town thanks to effortless acceleration at low speeds and the B driving mode, which means the car's regenerative brakes slow the car when you lift off the accelerator. It's not as fun-to-drive or as trendy inside as a MINI Electric, but it is more practical.

Be careful when buying a used Zoe to minimise insurance costs, as most versions sit around groups 19 or 20, and if you're unlucky with the version you pick, it could go as high as group 25. However, keep your eyes peeled for a version badged i-Expression or i-Expression Nav, though, and you'll pay an impressive group 14 premium.

The Fiat 500 name has been kicking around since the 1950s, and the reimagined modern take on the classic car is still soldiering on in the new car market despite being with us since 2008. However, the car we're talking about here is a different car altogether, because it's the very latest version of Fiat's dinky city car, and this one is all-electric. Importantly, it has every ounce of style that has become synonymous with the 500, and despite modernised looks, still has plenty of retro charm.

For the cheapest insurance, you'll need to go for the entry-level Pop version with the smaller of the two battery options, and the weaker of the two power outputs, but that will still get you decent city-friendly performance and a driving range of around 118 miles. It's no biggie if you feel like splurging a bit more on the version you really want, though, because all versions of the Fiat 500 Electric sit in group 18 or below, regardless of power or battery capacity.

If imitation is the greatest form of flattery then, jeez, Toyota must be feeling pretty blooming flattered – the Hyundai Ioniq Electric is almost a carbon copy of its Prius. Slinky, aerodynamic body? Check. Slightly boring interior with high-tech drivetrain readouts? You betcha. Tiny fuel-sipping hybrid engine? Well... Kinda.

Sleuths will have spotted a hole in the argument because while the contemporary Toyota Prius is available in hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms, the Ioniq goes one better by offering pure electric power, too (which is just as well given the title of this list). 

In this configuration, the Ioniq has a range of up to 183 miles and (for all the same reasons other EVs on this list are great in the city) is an ideal town car. It's also pretty practical, with the slightly tight rear-seat headroom balanced out by the fact the car has a big boot. Perhaps the Hyundai's biggest selling point is that it comes with a five-year warranty with no mileage limit.

It's is fair to say the Volkswagen e-Golf isn't perfect: its performance (0-62mph in 13.4 seconds) and range (120 miles) now look lacklustre compared with newer EV offerings, and its boot is smaller than in the regular car's. But the fact this is a Volkswagen means the usual impressive build quality shines through, while refinement and comfort are both very impressive.

And being a Mk7 Golf, you get a superb infotainment system that is an absolute joy compared to the newer incarnation in the Mk8 Golf. Practicality is also strong, with a spacious back seat and a boot that – while smaller than the standard model – is still bigger than in plenty of the VW's contemporary rivals. 

Again, though, you need to be a little careful when buying a used e-Golf to minimise insurance costs. It had a group 19 classification initially, but then for some reason, that jumped up to group 26 in March 2017. Buy one registered before this date for the lowest premiums.

The Volkswagen ID.3 is the reason that there was no all-electric version of the Mk8 Golf: indeed, VW says that because the ID.3 is the company's traditionally popular Golf-sized entrant into the all-electric age, it's probably as significant a car to the company and the Beetle and the Golf.

So should you buy one? Well, number one its list of enticements is an infotainment-laden cabin with a large centre screen, a digital dashboard and the option to have a head-up display with augmented reality that interacts with your car's surroundings. You also get lots of passenger space thanks to the neat packaging of the battery and motor.

That motor is actually found under the boot floor and drives the rear-wheels. For the cheapest insurance, you'll need to go for the 45kWh battery model in City Pure Performance form, which has a group 18 rating. Do beware with other ID3s, as most sit a lot higher. Our chosen version has a range of more than 200 miles and gets from 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds, both decent figures.

If you want to buy the Kia Soul with the lowest insurance premiums, you need to know exactly what you're looking for. There have been three generations of the Soul: the first one wasn't offered as an electric car at all, while the third one was only offered as an electric car. However, the latter has relatively high insurance groupings and is relatively pricey to buy, so for the best value and lowest premiums, you'll want the electric version of the Mk2 Soul, known as the Soul EV. It was sold as a new car between 2014 and 2019, so confine your search to cars built then.

The numbers don't look immensely compelling by modern standards, but in its day, the car's facts and figures were among the best you could get from an EV. The 111PS electric motor was fed by a 27kWh battery for a range of up to 132 miles. The Soul has a very cheerful look inside and out, and there's plenty of room inside it, too. The driving experience is quiet and relaxing, meanwhile.

While most of the other cars on this list are small, compact and not hugely roomy, the Citroen e-Berlingo is about as spacious and as practical as cars of this size get. The boxy dimensions derived from the Berlingo's van-based body give huge amounts of headroom and legroom for passengers, and the cargo bay is similarly huge for the same reason. You can even get the e-Berlingo in long-wheelbase XL form with seven seats, but for the lowest group 18 insurance grouping, you'll need to stick with the standard M five-seat model (although with a group 20 classification, the XL isn't exactly expensive to insure, either).

You get 136PS from the electric motor, which is fed by a 50kWh battery pack, giving a maximum official range of 174 miles. The car can be charged on a 7.4kW home wallbox charger in 7.5 hours, or if you can find a powerful enough DC public rapid charger, a maximum charging speed of 100kW will take you from empty to 80% in just 30 minutes.