Alpine A390 vs Mercedes-Benz GLB

The Alpine A390 costs £15,290 more than the Mercedes-Benz GLB. For that premium it adds 94 kW more power and a 3.5s quicker 0-62mph time. The Mercedes-Benz GLB is not just cheaper - it also offers 35 miles more WLTP range, 130 kW faster peak rapid charging and 2 more seats (7 versus 5). On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mercedes-Benz GLB comes out ahead overall.

The Mercedes-Benz GLB is £15,290 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Mercedes-Benz GLB comes out roughly £15,290 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 288 miles for the Alpine A390 and 268 miles for the Mercedes-Benz GLB - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Alpine A390 goes roughly 19 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 20-25 minutes.

The two are within 24 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 539 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz GLB and about 515 mm of total clearance for the Alpine A390.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alpine A390 and 84% for the Mercedes-Benz GLB. 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.