The Leapmotor B10 offers up to 270 miles of range, rapid charging, an enormous standard specification and a retail price below £30,000. After driving one for nearly 600 miles, including a return journey from Brighton to Manchester, does it deliver more than just an impressive list of figures?
New electric car brands seem to be arriving in the UK almost weekly. Some disappear into the background almost as quickly, while others are beginning to make established European manufacturers look rather nervous.
Leapmotor has one important advantage over many of its fellow newcomers. The Chinese manufacturer is supported by Stellantis, the group behind brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat and Jeep.
Stellantis owns around 21% of Leapmotor, while the international operation responsible for selling the cars outside Greater China is a separate joint venture owned 51% by Stellantis and 49% by Leapmotor. That gives Leapmotor access to an established European sales, servicing and parts infrastructure rather than requiring it to build everything from scratch.
That does not automatically make the Leapmotor B10 a good car, of course. But it does provide some reassurance for anyone wondering whether buying from a relatively unfamiliar brand is too much of a risk.
Leapmotor B10 price, battery and range
The B10 is a fully electric family SUV positioned alongside cars such as the Kia EV3, Skoda Elroq, Ford Explorer, Omoda E5 and BYD Atto 3.
The UK receives one highly equipped version with a 67.1kWh battery and a rear-mounted 160kW electric motor. That produces 218PS, or roughly 215bhp, alongside 240Nm of torque.
Official figures include:
- Up to 270 miles of WLTP range
- Rear-wheel drive
- 0 - 62mph in 8.0 seconds
- A 106mph top speed
- Maximum 168kW DC charging
- 30 to 80% charging in 20 minutes
- 11kW AC charging
The official on-the-road price is £31,495, but private retail customers currently receive Leapmotor’s £1,500 self-funded LEAP-GRANT, bringing the price down to £29,995. Most equipment is included as standard, with paint being one of the few additional-cost choices.
That immediately makes the B10 interesting. Plenty of electric SUVs promise value before you discover that the heated seats, panoramic roof, parking camera or larger infotainment screen require a higher trim level. Leapmotor has taken a much simpler approach.
Exterior design
At 4,515mm long, 1,885mm wide and 1,655mm tall, the B10 sits firmly within the family SUV class. It is slightly longer than a Kia EV3 and occupies roughly the same territory as a Skoda Elroq or Ford Explorer.
The design is clean, smart and unlikely to offend anyone. Slim daytime running lights give the front a recognisable signature, while flush door handles, relatively uncluttered bodywork and a full-width rear light bar follow the current electric SUV rulebook.
I actually think it looks good out on the road. It is not particularly adventurous, and you are unlikely to find yourself staring back at it every time you walk away, but the proportions work well.
There is something to be said for a car that does not appear to be trying too hard. Some new manufacturers seem determined to use every available crease, vent and strip of lighting at once. The B10 is more restrained and should appeal to a broader range of buyers as a result.
Standard exterior equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic LED headlights, heated and folding door mirrors, rear privacy glass, rain-sensing wipers and an electric tailgate.
Starry Night Blue is the standard colour. Dawn Purple, Galaxy Silver, Metallic Black, Gloss White and Tundra Grey complete the UK palette.
Interior quality and design
Inside, the B10’s value positioning becomes more obvious.
There are some padded sections and the major controls feel reasonably well assembled, but there are also plenty of hard plastics. The design running across the top of the dashboard includes several slots and mounting points, giving it a slightly rugged look that reminded me of something you might find in a Land Rover Defender.
I am not convinced it matches the otherwise clean and technology-led design of the cabin.
It does not feel especially luxurious, but that needs to be judged in the context of a car costing less than £30,000 after the retail contribution. More importantly, nothing felt badly put together during my time with it.
The panoramic glass roof makes the cabin feel bright and open, while ambient lighting runs around the air vents. You can select a single colour or allow it to change through different shades.
There is also a clever use of that lighting when parking. As you reverse towards an obstacle, the lights change colour and flash with increasing intensity alongside the usual audible and on-screen warnings. It is a small feature, but one I genuinely liked.
Seats and long-distance comfort
Both front seats are electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated, while the steering wheel is heated. These are features you would normally expect to find much further up another manufacturer’s price list.
The side bolsters hold you in place nicely and help the seat feel secure rather than completely flat. However, this was also the area where I found the B10 most disappointing.
There is no adjustable lumbar support, and you cannot raise the front of the seat base to provide more support beneath your thighs. I prefer a seating position where the base is slightly tilted backwards, creating more of a bucket-seat feeling and supporting the legs closer to the knees.
After around 100 miles, I found myself fidgeting and wanting to stop and stretch. That is not necessarily a bad thing on a long journey, but the lack of support became noticeable during my Brighton to Manchester trip.
This is something I have experienced in several Chinese cars. Many European models may not provide a separate seat-base adjustment either, but their seats are often naturally shaped at an angle that provides more under-thigh support.
Seat comfort is personal, so another driver may find them perfectly acceptable. I would strongly recommend spending some time in the seat rather than simply taking the car around the block during a test drive.
Technology and infotainment
Technology is one of the B10’s strongest areas.
An 8.8-inch driver display sits ahead of the steering wheel, while a large 14.6-inch touchscreen dominates the centre of the dashboard. Leapmotor’s OS 4.0 system uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 processor and supports split-screen displays, over-the-air updates, online navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
That might sound like a collection of technical buzzwords, but the important thing is that the system is quick and relatively easy to understand.
Some new cars require a lengthy period of searching through menus before you can perform even basic tasks. In the B10, most of the controls were where I expected them to be, and I became familiar with the system almost immediately.
There are some similarities to the Tesla Model 3 that I normally drive. The display can show the navigation alongside a visualisation of surrounding traffic, while media controls appear over the main screen without completely hiding what was already there.
The integrated navigation was particularly impressive. I used it for nearly all my journeys rather than relying on Apple CarPlay. It provided clear directions, displayed charging information and even warned me that there was a bus lane ahead, including the hours during which the restriction applied.
You can also choose how the car calculates its remaining range. The standard display provides an estimate based on normal usage, while the dynamic setting considers recent driving behaviour. The latter was particularly helpful on the motorway because it adjusted the prediction to reflect how I was actually driving.
Wireless Apple CarPlay was less convincing. When scrolling through my music library, the system sometimes became slow and unresponsive. The car’s own software remained consistently quick, so I cannot say for certain whether this was caused by the B10, the wireless connection or my phone.
Customisable routines
One unusual feature is the ability to build your own automated routines.
These work a bit like smart-home automations. You can ask the car to perform a particular action when a condition is met, such as the driver fastening their seatbelt, the cabin temperature falling below a certain level, the battery reaching a particular state of charge or the vehicle reaching a chosen speed.
It is not an essential feature, and I suspect many owners will never explore it, but it gives those who enjoy personalising their technology plenty to play with.
Leapmotor also provides several preconfigured modes for situations such as camping, carrying a pet or cleaning the car.
Leapmotor app and key card
The B10 can be controlled using the Leapmotor smartphone app, which should allow you to lock the car, precondition the cabin, schedule charging, check the battery, heat or ventilate the seats and send a destination to the navigation system.
Unfortunately, I could not get the app working.
I created an account and received confirmation that the registration had been successful, but it would not let me log in. I reset my password several times without resolving the problem.
That meant relying on the supplied NFC key card. To unlock the car, you tap the card against the driver’s door mirror. Once inside, it must be placed on the centre console before you can drive.
It works, but it becomes irritating because the card naturally lives in your wallet. Every time you return to the car, you have to find your wallet, remove the card, tap the mirror and then place it inside.
This could simply have been an account issue or a problem connected with the particular press vehicle, but the app forms a fairly important part of the ownership experience. It needs to work reliably.
Passenger space and practicality
Passenger space is generous.
There is plenty of room in the back for adults, helped by a flat floor, a 2,735mm wheelbase and the tall roofline. The panoramic roof also makes the rear feel particularly open.
Rear passengers receive air vents and USB-A and USB-C charging connections, while ISOFIX points are fitted to the two outer seats. Storage throughout the cabin is good, with large door bins, cupholders and plenty of space around the centre console.
Boot capacity is 430 litres with the seats in place, folding the 60:40 rear bench increases capacity to 1,700 litres. There is also a useful 25-litre compartment beneath the bonnet, which is ideal for keeping charging cables away from your luggage.
The boot opening is wide and the load area is a sensible shape. Having used it for a weekend away, I found it straightforward to load and more useful than the headline number might suggest.
Vehicle-to-Load is also standard, allowing the car’s battery to power external electrical equipment through a 230V connection. That could be useful for camping equipment, laptops, electric bicycles or a portable fridge.
What is the Leapmotor B10 like to drive?
After covering close to 600 miles, I think the B10 drives very well for the type of car it is.
It is smooth, quiet around town and generally comfortable. The suspension deals with poor road surfaces better than several other Chinese cars I have driven, and it remained composed during the long motorway journey between Brighton and Manchester.
Leapmotor says the chassis was developed with input from Stellantis engineers and specifically tuned for European roads. It uses MacPherson strut front suspension and a multi-link rear arrangement, with the motor driving the rear wheels.
This is not a car you buy for an exciting Sunday morning on a twisting B-road. The steering is light, there is little meaningful feedback, and the B10’s character is firmly focused on comfort rather than entertainment.
But that suits its purpose. It is an easy car to drive, it feels stable at motorway speeds and the 215bhp motor provides enough performance for overtaking or joining fast-moving traffic without attempting to throw everyone’s belongings around the cabin.
Three driving modes are available: Comfort, Standard and Sport. You can also alter the steering weight and the strength of the regenerative braking. I generally found the standard settings suited the car best.
At higher speeds, there is some wind noise around the cabin. It does not benefit from the acoustic double glazing found in some more expensive EVs, but this is one of the compromises that comes with the price.
Excellent headlights
The headlights deserve a section of their own.
I have driven several recent cars fitted with LED headlights that appear incredibly bright to everyone approaching them but somehow fail to provide a particularly clear view from behind the wheel.
The B10’s headlights were excellent. They provided a long, clear view of the road without leaving me straining to see beyond the immediate pool of light.
I could almost see next week’s lottery numbers, although sadly, not quite.
Range and charging on a long journey
The B10’s official 270-mile range is competitive, although your result will naturally depend on speed, temperature, weather and driving style.
I covered the Brighton to Manchester journey at normal motorway speeds rather than attempting an economy challenge. I tend to charge-hop on long trips, stopping roughly every 100 miles or so for a comfort break and a coffee rather than running the battery particularly low.
That approach worked well in the B10. I would plug in, use the facilities and return to find that the car had added enough energy to continue. The claimed 168kW peak charging speed is strong for a car at this price, although the 20-minute figure applies specifically to a 30 to 80% charge under suitable conditions.
The car’s integrated navigation and dynamic range prediction also made planning the journey relatively straightforward.
Driver-assistance technology
The B10 includes 17 driver-assistance systems as standard, including adaptive cruise control, lane centring, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic braking and driver-attention monitoring. It has also achieved a five-star Euro NCAP rating.
On motorways, the adaptive cruise control and lane centring worked well. They helped make the longer sections of the journey more relaxing and generally operated without drawing too much attention to themselves.
The experience was less successful on narrow country roads without clear white lines. The lane assistance sometimes appeared uncertain about where the road ended and tried to pull the car from one side to the other.
You can switch the system off, but reaching the relevant setting while driving down a narrow and bumpy lane is not ideal.
There is a customisable control centre for shortcuts, but I could not add the main lane-assistance setting to it. A permanent physical switch or a clearly accessible on-screen shortcut would make a considerable difference.
One thoughtful safety detail activates the indicator on the relevant side whenever a door is opened. The idea is to alert approaching drivers or cyclists that somebody may be stepping out.
Whether another road user would immediately understand what the flashing light means is debatable, but it shows that Leapmotor has considered situations beyond the usual specification-sheet features.
Ownership costs and warranty
The B10 comes with a four-year or 60,000-mile vehicle warranty, plus separate eight-year or 100,000-mile cover for the battery. That is reasonable, although some rivals offer longer general vehicle warranties.
Electric cars registered in the UK are now liable for Vehicle Excise Duty. From the second tax payment, the standard rate is currently £200 per year. Because the B10’s list price sits well below the £50,000 threshold for electric vehicles, it avoids the Expensive Car Supplement.
For company-car drivers, fully electric cars carry a 4% Benefit-in-Kind rate during the 2026/27 tax year, meaning the B10 should remain considerably cheaper to run as a company car than an equivalent petrol or diesel SUV.
Leapmotor B10 verdict
The Leapmotor B10 is not perfect.
The cabin contains more hard plastic than some of the rivals. The seats did not provide enough support for me during longer journeys. The app refused to let me log in, wireless Apple CarPlay occasionally lagged and the lane assistance became intrusive on narrow roads.
But the fundamentals are good.
It is spacious, comfortable, easy to drive and incredibly well equipped for the money. The built-in navigation is one of the better manufacturer systems I have used, the main touchscreen is responsive, the headlights are excellent and its charging performance makes longer journeys perfectly manageable.
The B10 also benefits from something many new electric car brands cannot yet offer: the sales and aftercare infrastructure created through Leapmotor’s partnership with Stellantis.
I would not describe it as a premium SUV, nor is it an especially memorable car to drive. What it does offer is a great deal of equipment, space and electric range for less than £30,000.
For a family looking to move into an electric car without paying £35,000 or £40,000, the Leapmotor B10 deserves a place on the shortlist. Just make sure you spend enough time in the driver’s seat before signing on the dotted line.
