Subaru Solterra vs Volvo EC40

The Subaru Solterra costs £5,645 more than the Volvo EC40. On the headline specs that premium buys little measurable advantage - the two are closely matched on range, charging and space. The Volvo EC40 is not just cheaper - it also offers 50 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Volvo EC40 comes out ahead overall.

The Volvo EC40 is £5,645 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 Volvo EC40 comes out roughly £5,565 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 241 miles for the Subaru Solterra and 206 miles for the Volvo EC40 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Subaru Solterra goes roughly 35 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 20-26 minutes.

The two are within 13 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 540 mm of total clearance for the Subaru Solterra and about 527 mm of total clearance for the Volvo EC40.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Subaru Solterra 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.