Lexus introduces the all-electric front-drive ES 350e and all-wheel-drive 500e. A hybrid ES is coming soon.
The ES 350e has a 307-mile EPA-estimated total driving range, Lexus says.
Pricing starts at $50,090 for the ES 350e Premium.
EVs may have hit a plateau in the US market, at least for the moment, but that hasn’t stopped Lexus from making one more conversion.
Lexus just launched an all-electric model of the entry-level ES sedan here for the 2026 model year. It will join a new version of the ES hybrid that’s been on-sale here for four years. Both get new sheetmetal and updated interiors. (The electric Lexus RZ EV has been for sale here for the last four years.)
The new 2026 electric model you see here is being offered in front-wheel-drive ES 350e and all-wheel-drive ES 500e models, available in Premium and luxury trims.
The 2026 ES 350e is powered by a single electric motor driving the front wheels; the ES 500e has dual electric motors (one in front, one in the back) and all-wheel drive; both ES BEV models share a 74.7-kWh lithium-ion battery recharged via a NACS port.
The ES 350e has a 307-mile EPA-estimated total driving range, Lexus says.
Lexus
Both electric and hybrid ES models share the same “multi-pathway” take on the previous ES’ Toyota New Global Architecture K (TNGA-K). The new architecture is adapted to support ICE, hybrid, and EV powertrains. The battery packs in the ES 350e and ES 500e are in the floor beneath the passenger compartment and drive motors at the front and (on ES 500e trims) the rear axles, Lexus said.
The coming hybrid ES 350h, due soon after the EV, includes a fuel tank, hybrid battery beneath the rear seat, and Lexus’ sixth-generation gas-electric hybrid system powering either the front wheels or, with available all-wheel drive, all four wheels.
That exterior is surely the most “intriguing” of any ES yet made. All the previous models were very much Camry-derived. This one features its own take on car design, with lines where you didn’t expect them and a big flat spindle grille where you did expect it, albeit a flat spindle grille with no air flowing through it. The styling comes from the Lexus LF-ZC concept, Lexus says.
The whole thing is considerably larger than the car it replaces: 6.5 inches longer, 3.1 inches more wheelbase, 2.2 inches wider, and 4.5 inches taller than before. That means more space inside, where all measurements went up by an inch or two.
It rolls on standard 19-inch aluminum wheels, but 21s are available.
Lexus
Inside, it packs all the features you’d expect on a Lexus, from NuLux-trimmed seating and embossed door panels to bamboo trim on the center console and dual wireless phone chargers and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.
Pricing starts at $50,090 for the ES 350e Premium and goes all the way up to $58,490 for the hybrid 350h Premium+ AWD.
Sales of the ES dropped a few thousand last year to just under 40,000 in 2025, down 3,230 units from 2024. The ES has functioned as an entry point to the luxury Lexus brand for over eight generations, since its introduction alongside the LS 400 at the Detroit auto show in 1989. The electric ES you see here debuted a year ago at the Shanghai auto show. Has it arrived too late for the electric car boom, if that was a boom? Or will it draw buyers looking for even more of the quiet they crave in a Lexus?
