Volvo XC40 Recharge Makes Its World Debut In L.A.

[TMC Staff]

Volvo crosses over into all-electric territory. Volvo has just officially pulled the silk from its first all-electric vehicle, the XC40 SUV. The automaker has been quite vocal in stating that its future is electric. Today we see the first step toward that goal. If it looks a bit familiar to you, that may be because...
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[CuriousSunbird]

I drive the gas version now. It's a really nice car. Hope Volvo offers the subscription deal on the PHEV versions.

 

[shrini23]

It says 400km or 200 mile range
1 mile = 1.6 km approximately
Does this mean the mileage range should be somewhere 250miles instead of 200
Car looks more practical and wouldn't mind buying it, if Volvo offers 7500 fed rebate coupled with state rebates

 

[JohnSnowNW]

It says 400km or 200 mile range
1 mile = 1.6 km approximately
Does this mean the mileage range should be somewhere 250miles instead of 200
Car looks more practical and wouldn't mind buying it, if Volvo offers 7500 fed rebate coupled with state rebates

The 250 mile figure is WLTP...so if it follows the myriad of other BEVs on the market (other than Tesla) it will achieve around 200 miles EPA.

Apparently, "looking more practical" means that it's less practical as a BEV.

 

[NoSocialism]

The 250 mile figure is WLTP...so if it follows the myriad of other BEVs on the market (other than Tesla) it will achieve around 200 miles EPA.

Apparently, "looking more practical" means that it's less practical as a BEV.

While I agree that it's a bit disappointing that the range isn't as good as Tesla, most people only drive around 30 miles a day. I take my son to a special needs school that's 45 miles from my home and I could drop him off, come back and still have half the battery left. I could then plug in and by the time I need to go back and pick him up, I'm back to full charge. If it works for me, It would work for 90% of Americans.
Also, from what I understand the first models are going to be on par with the Inscription version and considering that those sell for around 47K and the Recharge is going to be selling for around 50K, it sounds like it's a pretty good deal. Sure Road trips are an issue, but as it is, I tend to rent an Yukon or Armada whenever I'm going on a Road Trip (My wife packs EVERYTHING) I just don't want to have something that big for my daily commute.

 

[shrini23]

Any idea on when the projected release date is?

 

[JohnSnowNW]

While I agree that it's a bit disappointing that the range isn't as good as Tesla, most people only drive around 30 miles a day. I take my son to a special needs school that's 45 miles from my home and I could drop him off, come back and still have half the battery left. I could then plug in and by the time I need to go back and pick him up, I'm back to full charge. If it works for me, It would work for 90% of Americans.
Also, from what I understand the first models are going to be on par with the Inscription version and considering that those sell for around 47K and the Recharge is going to be selling for around 50K, it sounds like it's a pretty good deal. Sure Road trips are an issue, but as it is, I tend to rent an Yukon or Armada whenever I'm going on a Road Trip (My wife packs EVERYTHING) I just don't want to have something that big for my daily commute.

I think the XC40 will work just fine as a commuter vehicle. However, the MY will be our family travel vehicle...the 200 miles of the XC40 would not be practical here in the Midwest. Also, here in MN 200 miles of range becomes 150 in the winter...which also limits its usability.

We're getting to the point with battery tech where purchasing a $50k+ BEV shouldn't mean you have to rent a separate vehicle to go on trips, IMHO. The inability to travel just limits pool of prospective owners.

 

[DragonWatch]

My wife and I owned three Volvo's over the years starting in 1983. The first wagon had a paint flaw and clunk in the rear transmission which was never fixed (paint or transmission). The second was one of the first 960 sedan which speed wise gave the best of Europe a run for its money. The engine blew before 50K miles (stateside) and was replaced (engine) and paid for by Volvo including the loaner. The third made it almost to 100K miles before spewing water over my wife's feet when I picked her up from work. In all cases, service/replacement parts were always very expensive. Safety was always built-in and was why we moved to Volvo. We knew two fellow officer families that had their cars totaled in Europe and the families walked away without a scratch. Just a bruise or two from the seat-belts. On the third Volvo it was costing me almost $3K semi-annually on a car valued at less than $3K So, in 2010 I finally convinced my wife to walk away from the Volvo.

Today, it is Tesla all the way. We have not gotten to the point of excessive maintenance costs yet. I knew going in the 12K mile service was just under $1K.

The range is acceptable on the new prototype EV, but how long will it last? Wanting to be one of the first to own a Leaf; I was turned off by how quickly the battery life deteriorated and lack of range to begin with ~ +/- 100 miles.

The charging time of 40 minutes is not any better than Tesla.

And, unless they recharge at Tesla Supercharging locations; they have no in-house capability like Tesla. Yes, I am aware some private firms are attempting to fill the niche.

Tesla is still the big guy on the block.

Car manufactures are going to be forced into creating their own brand travel chargers or private firms will lamely pick up the slack. The big fossil fuel guys are ignorantly leaving a gaping hole, and a ton of money on the table. So much for ignorance; it has worked well in the past.

Out of the fifteen or so (18) cars (mostly new cars) that we have owned over the years have all but three been foreign made cars ~ not US manufactures. Tesla, American made x2

 

[roguenode]

I'm looking for a small electric SUV with adjustable ride height and do like the XC40. Keeping an eye on this since Tesla does't appear interested in putting air suspensions in the 3 or Y.

 

[Darmie]

It will take a good while before we know how the well all the designs are. It appears to be a passive battery management system. As with the Leaf, it is being sold to many buyers without any of these concerns. I believe what they are offering is appealing. It's probably best they hit the street running well before the Model Y though.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

While I agree that it's a bit disappointing that the range isn't as good as Tesla, most people only drive around 30 miles a day. I take my son to a special needs school that's 45 miles from my home and I could drop him off, come back and still have half the battery left. I could then plug in and by the time I need to go back and pick him up, I'm back to full charge. If it works for me, It would work for 90% of Americans.
Also, from what I understand the first models are going to be on par with the Inscription version and considering that those sell for around 47K and the Recharge is going to be selling for around 50K, it sounds like it's a pretty good deal. Sure Road trips are an issue, but as it is, I tend to rent an Yukon or Armada whenever I'm going on a Road Trip (My wife packs EVERYTHING) I just don't want to have something that big for my daily commute.

The problem is that people generally aren't going to pay $50K to $150K for a commuter range vehicle.
And those people have a lot of choice between eTron, iPace and now this Volvo. Unfortunately for the car manufacturers, that's a pretty small market, and increasingly congested.

 

[shrini23]

I would love to get hands on a MY but not sure what or when they will start delivering and Volvo has been traditionally a great company that puts safety first.
Wish they had done an all electric XC60 instead of XC40

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I would love to get hands on a MY but not sure what or when they will start delivering and Volvo has been traditionally a great company that puts safety first.
Wish they had done an all electric XC60 instead of XC40

Traditionally, Volvo has been a good company and has excellent safety scores...but they've been falling in reliability year-over-year until they reached dead last in 2018. I don't know if that has anything to do with Geely's acquisition in the company...but there you go.