Nissan LEAF vs Volvo EX40

The Volvo EX40 costs £3,611 more than the Nissan LEAF. For that premium it adds 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Nissan LEAF comes out ahead overall.

The Nissan LEAF is £3,611 cheaper to buy. The Nissan LEAF is cheaper to charge, roughly £136 a year versus £184 for the Volvo EX40, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Nissan LEAF comes out roughly £3,851 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 313 miles for the Nissan LEAF and 242 miles for the Volvo EX40 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Nissan LEAF goes roughly 71 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 28-30 minutes.

The Nissan LEAF is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 63 mm narrower than the Volvo EX40. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 590 mm of total clearance for the Nissan LEAF and about 527 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EX40.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Nissan LEAF and 84% for the Volvo EX40. 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.