BMW i3s vs Nissan LEAF

The BMW i3s costs £1,671 more than the Nissan LEAF. On the headline specs that premium buys little measurable advantage - the two are closely matched on range, charging and space. The Nissan LEAF is not just cheaper - it also offers 198 miles more WLTP range, 100 kW faster peak rapid charging and 177 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Nissan LEAF comes out ahead overall.

The Nissan LEAF is £1,671 cheaper to buy. The Nissan LEAF is cheaper to charge, roughly £136 a year versus £184 for the BMW i3s, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Nissan LEAF comes out roughly £1,911 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 118 miles for the BMW i3s and 313 miles for the Nissan LEAF - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Nissan LEAF goes roughly 194 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 42 minutes in the BMW i3s and 30 in the Nissan LEAF, so the Nissan LEAF loses less time at each stop. That makes the Nissan LEAF the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 19 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 609 mm of total clearance for the BMW i3s and about 590 mm of total clearance for the Nissan LEAF. The BMW i3s also turns in a 0.9 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the BMW i3s and 84% for the Nissan LEAF. 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.