Audi A6 Sportback e-tron vs BMW i5

The Audi A6 Sportback e-tron costs £2,105 more than the BMW i5. For that premium it adds 106 miles more WLTP range, 65 kW faster peak rapid charging and 30 kW more power. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron comes out ahead overall.

The BMW i5 is £2,105 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £144 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW i5 comes out roughly £2,025 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 386 miles for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 297 miles for the BMW i5 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Audi A6 Sportback e-tron goes roughly 89 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 21 minutes in the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 30 in the BMW i5, so the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron loses less time at each stop. That makes the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 18 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 518 mm of total clearance for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and about 500 mm of total clearance for the BMW i5.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 84% for the BMW i5. 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. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.