EX30, Volvo’s latest fully-electric small-sized premium entry-level SUV with up to 298-miles of range and fastest acceleration, has been launched today and is available to order with prices starting from €36,000, or £33,795, and subscription packages starting at £579 per month.
“Small yet mighty”, is what the Swedish auto company is calling the EX30, revealed in Milan today, with deliveries expected early next year. We reported last month that Volvo was aiming to entice first-time buyers and the younger audience with its latest offering, and with a sleek, stylish, and compact look, seems that Volvo might have pulled it off.
> Volvo to reveal entry-level electric EX30 in June
Jim Rowan, Volvo’s chief executive said: “The fully electric EX30 might be our smallest ever SUV, but it’s a big deal for our customers and a big deal for us as a company. We like to say the EX30 is small yet mighty because it delivers everything you’d want from a Volvo but in a smaller package. Like any Volvo, it’s an outstanding product which is safe and designed around people and their needs.”
The EX30 indeed has got everything Volvo: a long wheelbase, large wheels and equal overhangs bring balance and refinement to the exterior. It’s distinctly electric, with a closed shield and a digital rendition of the Thor’s Hammer headlights. It’s available in five vibrant exterior colours, from stylish Cloud Blue to bright and expressive Moss Yellow – the latter inspired by lichen growing on rocks along the Swedish west coast.
Buyers will have the flexibility of choosing from three powertrain options and two different battery types, whatever suits their needs the best. Volvo says: “If you spend most of your time in the city or tend to travel shorter distances between charges, we’re offering a single-motor option with an LFP battery,” making it the more cost-effective and less resource-intensive to produce, meaning it is the best option if you don’t need maximum range.
However, if you value your long-distance drives and worry about running out of charge (we have something coming for you very shortly on our website), you might want to get the Single Motor Extended Range variant with an NMC extended-range battery. It’s more energy efficiently than the LFP variant and gives you a range of up to 480km (298 miles) between charges.
And finally, if you like living life in the fast lane and performance is your thing, there’s also a Twin Motor Performance variant in which Volvo pairs the NMC battery with an additional second e-motor. This all-wheel drive model of the EX30 provides 315kW (428hp) and takes you from 0-100 km/h in JUST 3.6 seconds – officially making it Volvo’s fastest-accelerating car ever.
In terms of battery, the EX30 charges pretty rapidly, too. The extended-range Twin Motor variant has a charging capacity of up to 153kW, while the standard-range car has a capacity of 134kW. That means you can charge your battery from 10 to 80 per cent in a little over 25 minutes. And you can even control the amperage, maximum charging level and when you want to start charging, all through the car’s centre display and app.
Volvo has not just innovated in terms of overall performance and form factor, last week it announced that EX30 will be its most eco-friendly car to date, with a smaller CO2 footprint than any Volvo car ever before.
> Volvo’s EX30 to be its greenest car to date
By tackling emissions across the entire production and lifecycle, as well as a considerate use of materials inside and out, we managed to reduce its total carbon footprint of over 200,000km of driving to below 30 tonnes.
The EX30 is also designed to be as safe as you’d expect from a Volvo and aims to look after both you and others in hectic urban environments. It includes as standard a special safety feature for bikes that helps to prevent ‘dooring’ accidents, by alerting you when you are about to open your door in front of a cyclist, scooter or runner.
It boasts cutting-edge tech and considerate Scandinavian interior design: You can choose from four distinct interior rooms, each with its own expression, while there are smart storage options throughout the cabin. It has a single-screen infotainment system with Google’s UX built-in.
EX30 will also be the first car to include a new generation of our popular Park Pilot Assist feature. It can handle all types of parking spaces, including parallel, curved, perpendicular and diagonal fishbone-style, making parking in tight spaces a breeze.
Is Volvo’s latest going to be the David in its line-up of Goliaths? Well, there are quite a few Davids already running around. The Swedish company will most likely face tough competition in the compact, two-row electric SUVs which are currently dominating the market — Tesla Model Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and Kia EV6 to name a few, with more models like Chevy Equinox and Blazer EVs, Polestar 3, and Honda Prologue also launching soon.
> The best entry level EVs in 2023
But in another pleasant surprise, Volvo also announced that EX30 will also become available as a Cross Country variant, with orders opening from 2024 and production expected to start later that year.
It’ll come with a range of bespoke features, such as more ground clearance, 19-inch black wheels, the option of 18-inch wheels with bespoke tyres, and of course, Volvo’s iconic Cross Country branding – the small, hood-mounted Swedish flag.
