The electric Volvo XC40 Recharge: impressions from the first drive

After years of waiting, a bevy of new battery electric vehicles will hit stores here in the United States. Ford prepares the Mustang Mach-E. Volkswagen gives the ID.4 the finishing touches. And last month, Volvo started production of the XC40 Recharge in Ghent, Belgium. It is a fully electric version of the popular XC40 crossover that shares its drive technology and the Android Automotive operating system with the Polestar 2.

US shipments are still a few weeks away so a proper first drive where we spend a day with a new car like we did with the Polestar 2 this summer will have to wait a little longer. However, earlier this week I had the opportunity to spend a little time studying a pre-production sample that Volvo made available to those of us who are judging the World Car Awards. The streets of Manassas, Virginia, were my playground, and there was no PR agent, just a request to bring it back after an hour. Here’s what I learned:

From the outside, the XC40 Recharge looks like any other Volvo XC40 – the easiest giveaway you’ll see on an all-electric version is the hidden front, which does better than an open grille for drag coefficient. There are a few more pointers from the driver’s seat. The 12.3-inch main instrument display has a different theme than other Volvos, including an attractive new full-screen map mode. In the middle stack, the infotainment screen has grown from 9 “to 11.2”, and although the tile-based user interface looks pretty similar to Volvo’s with Sensus, it is now running Android Automotive. Thanks to Google’s speech recognition, most of the questions you ask will be understood. The navigation app powered by Google Maps is smart enough to determine the charge level of your battery so that you can be directed to recharge if necessary on road.

There’s also no start button – like a Tesla Model 3 or Volkswagen ID.4, you just put it in R or D and then drive off. All doubts about the drive train of the XC40 Recharge are immediately dispelled. Each axle is powered by an identical permanent magnet AC motor generator unit rated at 150 kW (201 hp) and 330 Nm (243 lb-ft), and the battery can provide enough juice to both of them to power the car every 300 kW (402 hp) deliver once.

In fact, it’s the 660 Nm (486 lb-ft) of torque that you really notice, in large part due to the immediacy with which it arrives. In fact, this feels like the fastest Volvo I’ve ever driven, despite being a couple hundred pounds heavier than the similarly powerful plug-in hybrids from Sweden like the S60 T8 Polestar Engineered or the XC60 T8. For the bank racers out there, it’ll do 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, a few tenths slower than the closely related Polestar 2 but more than a second and a half faster than the gasoline-powered XC40.

You can blame the battery for the XC40 Recharge’s curb weight of 2,188 kg – about 1,000 pounds more than the internal combustion version. It is a 78 kWh pack of which 75 kWh can be used. It was manufactured in-house with LG Chem pouch cells. The EPA official range estimate is yet to be released, and Volvo is currently only saying it will be “more than 200 miles”. 400 to 418 km (249 to 260 miles) were achieved under the European WLTP test regime. Given the pre-production of our test car and the limited time we had, I can’t judge the efficiency of the XC40 Recharge just yet.

However, it is more convenient for me to describe the driving experience. There are no different driving modes, only the choice between forward (D) or backward (R). To toggle single pedal driving on or off, you need to go down a few menu levels in the car’s settings. If I had my Druthers I would like to have the option to turn them on in the same way you can increase regenerative braking in plug-in hybrid Volvos by going from D to B with the gear selector.

Despite its slightly greasy curb weight, it drives well and the suspension cushions the potholes I was looking for. The low center of gravity also minimizes body sway through corners, although the upright riding position reminds you that while the XC40 Recharge is fast, it is not designed for lap times. But it should stand out for the cut and thrust of everyday life. After all, it takes everything we loved about the gasoline XC40, and then it takes the acceleration of the ’90s supercars while at the same time easing our conscience about climate change. $ 53,990 (before the $ 7,500 tax credit) isn’t cheap, but I think it’s actually good value for that mix of Swedish style, crossover utility, and electric performance.

Listing image by Jonathan Gitlin