Alpine A290 vs Kia EV2

The Alpine A290 costs £6,000 more than the Kia EV2. For that premium it adds 30 kW more power and a 2.1s quicker 0-62mph time. The Kia EV2 is not just cheaper - it also offers 47 miles more WLTP range and 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Kia EV2 comes out ahead overall.

The Kia EV2 is £6,000 cheaper to buy. The Kia EV2 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 Kia EV2 comes out roughly £6,200 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 234 miles for the Kia EV2 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Kia EV2 goes roughly 80 miles further between charging stops.

The two are within 23 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 600 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV2 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 84% for the Kia EV2. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.