Alpine A290 vs Volvo EX30

The Volvo EX30 is £935 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £184 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Volvo EX30 comes out roughly £935 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 149 miles for the Volvo EX30 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 26-30 minutes.

The two are within 15 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 577 mm of total clearance for the Alpine A290 and about 562 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EX30. The Alpine A290 also turns in a 0.8 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alpine A290 and 90% for the Volvo EX30. That gives the Volvo EX30 a modest edge in retained real-world range. The Volvo EX30's LFP-type pack tolerates daily 100% charging, while the Alpine A290's NMC-type pack lasts longest kept to about 80% for everyday use.