Kia EV6 vs Volvo EX40

The Kia EV6 costs £6,025 more than the Volvo EX40. For that premium it adds 58 kW faster peak rapid charging and 80 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Kia EV6 comes out ahead overall.

The Volvo EX40 is £6,025 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £160 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Volvo EX40 comes out roughly £5,905 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 301 miles for the Kia EV6 and 242 miles for the Volvo EX40 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Kia EV6 goes roughly 59 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 18 minutes in the Kia EV6 and 28 in the Volvo EX40, so the Kia EV6 loses less time at each stop. That makes the Kia EV6 the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 17 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 527 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EX40 and about 510 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV6. The Volvo EX40 also turns in a 0.6 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 89% battery health for the Kia EV6 and 84% for the Volvo EX40. That gives the Kia EV6 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.