Alpine A290 vs Renault Megane (2022-2024)

The Renault Megane costs £2,000 more than the Alpine A290. For that premium it adds 45 miles more WLTP range, 30 kW faster peak rapid charging and 114 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Renault Megane comes out ahead overall.

The Alpine A290 is £2,000 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 Alpine A290 comes out roughly £1,960 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 155 miles for the Alpine A290 and 193 miles for the Renault Megane - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Renault Megane goes roughly 39 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 30-32 minutes.

The Renault Megane is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 55 mm narrower than the Alpine A290. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 632 mm of total clearance for the Renault Megane and about 577 mm of total clearance for the Alpine A290.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Alpine A290 and 84% for the Renault Megane. 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.