BMW i3 (60Ah) vs VW e-Up!

The BMW i3 costs £9,155 more than the VW e-Up!. For that premium it adds 64 kW more power, a 4.7s quicker 0-62mph time and lower energy use, 129 versus 144 Wh/km. The VW e-Up! is not just cheaper - it also offers 43 miles more WLTP range. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BMW i3 comes out ahead overall.

The VW e-Up! is £9,155 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 VW e-Up! comes out roughly £9,075 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 75 miles for the BMW i3 and 116 miles for the VW e-Up! - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The VW e-Up! goes roughly 41 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 24 minutes in the BMW i3 and 49 in the VW e-Up!, so the BMW i3 loses less time at each stop. So the VW e-Up! stops less often while the BMW i3 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The VW e-Up! is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 130 mm narrower than the BMW i3. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 755 mm of total clearance for the VW e-Up! and about 625 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 87% battery health for the BMW i3 and 84% for the VW e-Up!. 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. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.