The XC40 Recharge, based on the award-winning and best-selling XC40 small SUV, is the first of a family of fully electric Volvos. Not only is the XC40 Recharge the company’s first electric car, it is also the first Volvo with a new infotainment system powered by Google’s Android operating system.
Volvo said in statement that over the next five years, it would launch a fully electric car every year, as it seeks to make all-electric cars 50 per cent of global sales by 2025, with the rest hybrids.
Recharge will be the umbrella term for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrain.
From early 2020, customers visiting the Volvo Cars website would first be asked whether they want a Volvo Recharge car or not. To further encourage electric driving, every Volvo Recharge plug-in hybrid model will come with free electricity for a year, provided through a refund for the average electricity cost during that period.
“We have said this several times before: for Volvo Cars, the future is electric,” said Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson. “Today (Oct 16) we take a major new step in that direction with the launch of our fully electric XC40 and the Recharge car line.”
The XC40 Recharge features a state-of-the-art, fully electric all-wheel drive powertrain that offers a range of over 400km (WLTP) on a single charge and output of 408hp. The battery charges to 80% of its capacity in 40 mins on a fast-charger.
The Android-powered infotainment system is fully integrated with Volvo On Call, the company’s digital connected services platform. Via Volvo On Call plug-in hybrid drivers can track how much time they spend driving on electric power.
To meet the anticipated growth in demand for its Recharge cars, Volvo Cars will triple production capacity for electrified cars and will as of next year prepare a Designer’s Choice selection of popular Recharge models, offering the potential for reduced delivery times. Volvo Cars aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales in 2020.
Every Volvo model in the range includes a Recharge option, from the XC40 via the 60 Series cars to the company’s flagship, the large XC90 SUV. Volvo Cars is the only car maker to offer a plug-in variant on every model in its line-up.
The XC40 Recharge and the Recharge car line are also tangible proof points of the company’s ambitious new action plan, also launched on Wednesday, which represented concrete actions in line with the Paris climate agreement and supports Volvo Cars’ ambition to become a climate-neutral company by 2040.
