is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
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Volvo is starting to trickle out some details about its upcoming midsize electric SUV, the EX60, before its official debut January 21st. The EX60 will have an estimated range of 400 miles (or 810km based on the generous WLTP standard in Europe). That’s significantly more range than any previous Volvo EV — at least until the 434-mile-range ES90 sedan comes out. And the EX60 will be the first vehicle to benefit from the automaker’s new megacasting production process to reduce weight and improve manufacturing efficiency.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was to create an electric vehicle with no compromises,” Akhil Krishnan, head of program management for the EX60, told me. “It shouldn’t be a compromise for you to choose to drive electric, so that was very, very important for us.”
To that end, improving the vehicle’s range and charging time were chief among the goals of Krishnan and his team. They wanted to transform “range anxiety” into “range comfort,” meaning the driver would have so much range that it no longer becomes a hinderance — similar to how consumers don’t choose gasoline cars based on tank size.
The interior looks to be as quirky as Volvo’s other EVs, like the EX30 and EX90. Image: Volvo
But range alone is not enough; charging speed was also critical. Krishnan said that Volvo conducted extensive customer research and found that many EV owners felt forced to plan their lives around charging stops, often waiting 40 minutes or more. Volvo wanted the EX60 to fit into natural human breaks instead. For instance, if a driver stops for 10 minutes to get coffee or use the restroom, the car should be ready to go again within that time.
The EX60 should meet that standard thanks to its 800-volt architecture, a first for Volvo. Other automakers, like Hyundai and Kia, have stood out amid cooling demand for EVs thanks to their fast-charging, 800-volt-architecture vehicles, and now Volvo wants to do the same. The EX60 can charge from 10–80 percent in 19 minutes, or add 168 miles of range in just 10 minutes, when using a 400kW fast charger.
But range alone is not enough; charging speed was also critical
Of course, finding a charger that can produce such speeds could be a problem, especially here in the US — but it’s certainly getting better. Krishnan said that Volvo’s aim is to deliver excellent charging performance not only on 400kW chargers but also on more common 250kW units.
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