BMW i3 vs Honda e

The BMW i3 costs £4,465 more than the Honda e. For that premium it adds 55 miles more WLTP range, 89 litres more boot space and a 1.7s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Honda e comes out ahead overall.

The Honda e is £4,465 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Honda e comes out roughly £4,425 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 115 miles for the Honda e - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 42 minutes in the BMW i3 and 31 in the Honda e, so the Honda e loses less time at each stop.

The two are within 23 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 648 mm of total clearance for the Honda e and about 625 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3. The Honda e also turns in a 1.3 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 88% battery health for the BMW i3 and 84% for the Honda e. 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.