BMW i3 vs BMW i3 (94Ah)

The BMW i3 costs £2,110 more than the BMW i3. For that premium it adds 34 miles more WLTP range. The BMW i3 is not just cheaper - it also offers lower energy use, 136 versus 152 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BMW i3 comes out ahead overall.

The BMW i3 is £2,110 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £152 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW i3 comes out roughly £2,190 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 129 miles for the BMW i3 and 104 miles for the BMW i3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BMW i3 goes roughly 25 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 42 minutes in the BMW i3 and 28 in the BMW i3, so the BMW i3 loses less time at each stop. That makes the BMW i3 the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 0 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 625 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3 and about 625 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 88% battery health for the BMW i3 and 87% for the BMW i3. 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.