Audi A6 Sportback e-tron vs BMW i4

The Audi A6 Sportback e-tron costs £16,495 more than the BMW i4. For that premium it adds 96 miles more WLTP range, 70 kW faster peak rapid charging and 30 kW more power. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron comes out ahead overall.

The BMW i4 is £16,495 cheaper to buy. The Audi A6 Sportback e-tron is cheaper to charge, roughly £144 a year versus £176 for the BMW i4, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BMW i4 comes out roughly £16,335 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 386 miles for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 261 miles for the BMW i4 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Audi A6 Sportback e-tron goes roughly 125 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 21 minutes in the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 31 in the BMW i4, so the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron loses less time at each stop. That makes the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron the stronger long-distance car.

The BMW i4 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 30 mm narrower than the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 548 mm of total clearance for the BMW i4 and about 518 mm of total clearance for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron and 84% for the BMW i4. 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. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.