BYD Seal vs Mercedes-Benz GLB

The BYD Seal is £370 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 BYD Seal comes out roughly £330 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 244 miles for the BYD Seal 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 Mercedes-Benz GLB goes roughly 24 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 37 minutes in the BYD Seal and 20 in the Mercedes-Benz GLB, so the Mercedes-Benz GLB loses less time at each stop. That makes the Mercedes-Benz GLB the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 14 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 525 mm of total clearance for the BYD Seal.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the BYD Seal and 84% for the Mercedes-Benz GLB. That gives the BYD Seal a modest edge in retained real-world range. The BYD Seal's LFP-type pack tolerates daily 100% charging, while the Mercedes-Benz GLB's NMC-type pack lasts longest kept to about 80% for everyday use.