New Hyundai Kona Electric & Peugeot e-2008 vs Smart #1: costs

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security

Our contenders are very close on list price, but you can get the biggest cash discount on the e-2008 if you buy online through our free New Car Deals service, or if you haggle with the dealer yourself.

By a considerable margin, the Hyundai Kona Electric is the cheapest to buy on PCP finance, helped in part by a £1000 manufacturer deposit contribution at the time of writing. On a three-year deal with a £4000 deposit and an 8000-mile annual limit, the Kona will cost £399 per month, compared with £552 for the e-2008 and £591 for the #1.

The Kona is predicted to shed value at a slower rate than its rivals, helping to make it the cheapest to run for private buyers over three years. The Peugeot e-2008 will cost you by far the most in depreciation and will therefore be the most expensive to run overall. The Smart #1 is somewhere in the middle, in part thanks to the fact that you get three years/30,000 miles’ worth of free servicing (including wear-and-tear items such as brake pads but excluding tyres) when you buy a new one.

For company car drivers, our contenders fall into the same benefit-in-kind tax bracket and therefore cost virtually the same per month in salary sacrifices. If you pay for your own electricity, the more efficient e-2008 makes the most financial sense as a fleet car, saving you a few hundred quid over three years.

All three cars come with climate control, automatic windscreen wipers and keyless start, as well as heat pumps to warm up the interior more efficiently in cold weather. The Kona and #1 add keyless entry, dual-zone climate control (so the driver and front passenger can set different temperatures) and adaptive cruise control. The #1’s kit list goes even further, with heated front seats, a head-up display and an electric tailgate. You can add a few of these to the Kona and e-2008, but you’d have to move up to a pricier trim to match what you get on the #1.

The #1’s ability to rapid charge at rates of up to 150kW means you’ll spend less time waiting for its battery to be replenished than with the Kona (102kW) and e-2008 (100kW). If you can find a public charger that delivers that sort of power, the #1 can take as little as 27 minutes to boost its state of charge from 10-80%. The e-2008’s smaller battery means it takes only a few minutes longer than the #1 to achieve the same top-up, while the Kona requires at least 41 minutes. Plug them into a typical 7kW home wallbox and the Kona again takes the longest to charge from 0-100% (10hr 30min), while the #1 requires 10 hours and the e-2008 7hr 30min.

Our contenders are all too new to have featured in the most recent What Car? Reliability Survey. However, the Kona Electric’s predecessor did appear, ranking 11th out of 20 models in its class. Hyundai fared better in the brand league table, coming seventh out of 32, while Peugeot ranked 21st. Smart didn’t feature.

The Kona’s five-year warranty is more generous than the e-2008’s and #1’s three-year cover (all with unlimited mileage). The batteries are covered for eight years/100,000 miles in Kona and e-2008, with the #1 extending this to 125,000 miles.

The #1 achieved the maximum five-star safety rating when tested by Euro NCAP in 2022, while the Kona scored four stars in 2023; it didn’t provide as much protection for occupants in a frontal impact as the #1. The e-2008 hasn’t been assessed specifically. On top of the driver aids that are standard on all three (such as automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance), the #1 comes with blindspot monitors and a rear cross-traffic alert system.

Used alternative

2023 Kia EV6

For similar money to any of our new EVs, you could put a one-year-old example of the excellent Kia EV6 on your driveway. It’s a step up in size, so you’ll find bags of room inside, as well as a smart interior that’s loaded with kit. It’s great to drive and has a long range (officially up to 328 miles), while ultra-fast charging means you could be topped up and on your way within 20 minutes.

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