Kia Soul EV vs Mercedes-Benz EQA

The Mercedes-Benz EQA costs £6,200 more than the Kia Soul EV. On the headline specs that premium buys little measurable advantage - the two are closely matched on range, charging and space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Kia Soul EV comes out ahead overall.

The Kia Soul EV is £6,200 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 Kia Soul EV comes out roughly £6,280 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 234 miles for the Kia Soul EV and 219 miles for the Mercedes-Benz EQA - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Kia Soul EV goes roughly 15 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 47 minutes in the Kia Soul EV and 30 in the Mercedes-Benz EQA, so the Mercedes-Benz EQA loses less time at each stop. So the Kia Soul EV stops less often while the Mercedes-Benz EQA stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The Kia Soul EV is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 34 mm narrower than the Mercedes-Benz EQA. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 600 mm of total clearance for the Kia Soul EV and about 566 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz EQA. The Kia Soul EV also turns in a 0.8 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 Kia Soul EV and 84% for the Mercedes-Benz EQA. 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. The Mercedes-Benz EQA has the longer battery warranty at 8 years, versus 7 for the Kia Soul EV.