BYD ATTO 3 vs Polestar 2

The Polestar 2 costs £6,220 more than the BYD ATTO 3. For that premium it adds 27 miles more WLTP range. The BYD ATTO 3 is not just cheaper - it also offers 40 kW faster peak rapid charging, 30 kW more power and a 0.9s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BYD ATTO 3 comes out ahead overall.

The BYD ATTO 3 is £6,220 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 BYD ATTO 3 comes out roughly £6,220 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 263 miles for the BYD ATTO 3 and 231 miles for the Polestar 2 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BYD ATTO 3 goes roughly 32 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 35 minutes in the BYD ATTO 3 and 26 in the Polestar 2, so the Polestar 2 loses less time at each stop. So the BYD ATTO 3 stops less often while the Polestar 2 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 16 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 541 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 2 and about 525 mm of total clearance for the BYD ATTO 3. The BYD ATTO 3 also turns in a 1.1 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the BYD ATTO 3 and 90% for the Polestar 2. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use LFP-type cells, which are happy charged to 100% every day. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.