Alpine A290 vs BMW i3 (60Ah)

The Alpine A290 costs £1,645 more than the BMW i3. For that premium it adds 116 miles more WLTP range, 50 kW faster peak rapid charging and 66 litres more boot space. The BMW i3 is not just cheaper - it also offers lower energy use, 129 versus 165 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Alpine A290 comes out ahead overall.

The BMW i3 is £1,645 cheaper to buy. The BMW i3 is cheaper to charge, roughly £144 a year versus £184 for the Alpine A290, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW i3 comes out roughly £1,845 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 155 miles for the Alpine A290 and 75 miles for the BMW i3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Alpine A290 goes roughly 80 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 24-30 minutes.

The BMW i3 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 48 mm narrower than the Alpine A290. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 625 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3 and about 577 mm of total clearance for the Alpine A290.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alpine A290 and 87% for the BMW i3. That gives the BMW i3 a modest edge in retained real-world range. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.