Renault Scenic vs Volvo EX40

The Volvo EX40 costs £2,615 more than the Renault Scenic. For that premium it adds 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. The Renault Scenic is not just cheaper - it also offers 37 miles more WLTP range and 135 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Renault Scenic comes out ahead overall.

The Renault Scenic is £2,615 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £184 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Renault Scenic comes out roughly £2,615 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 274 miles for the Renault Scenic and 242 miles for the Volvo EX40 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Renault Scenic goes roughly 32 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 37 minutes in the Renault Scenic and 28 in the Volvo EX40, so the Volvo EX40 loses less time at each stop. So the Renault Scenic stops less often while the Volvo EX40 stops for less time - pick on which you would rather do.

The two are within 9 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 536 mm of total clearance for the Renault Scenic and about 527 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EX40.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Renault Scenic and 84% for the Volvo EX40. 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.