MG S5 EV vs Volvo EC40

The Volvo EC40 costs £15,365 more than the MG S5 EV. For that premium it adds 61 kW faster peak rapid charging. The MG S5 EV is not just cheaper - it also offers a 1.0s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the MG S5 EV comes out ahead overall.

The MG S5 EV is £15,365 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the MG S5 EV comes out roughly £15,445 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 208 miles for the MG S5 EV and 206 miles for the Volvo EC40 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 26-28 minutes.

The two are within 24 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 551 mm of total clearance for the MG S5 EV and about 527 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EC40. The MG S5 EV also turns in a 0.5 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 MG S5 EV and 84% for the Volvo EC40. 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.