Hyundai IONIQ Electric vs VW ID.3

The Hyundai IONIQ Electric is £310 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £136 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Hyundai IONIQ Electric comes out roughly £350 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 161 miles for the Hyundai IONIQ Electric and 201 miles for the VW ID.3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The VW ID.3 goes roughly 40 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 57 minutes in the Hyundai IONIQ Electric and 25 in the VW ID.3, so the VW ID.3 loses less time at each stop. That makes the VW ID.3 the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 11 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 591 mm of total clearance for the VW ID.3 and about 580 mm of total clearance for the Hyundai IONIQ Electric. The VW ID.3 also turns in a 0.4 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 Hyundai IONIQ Electric and 87% for the VW ID.3. That gives the VW ID.3 a modest edge in retained real-world range. 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.