Volvo Cars has revealed the XC40 Recharge, the company’s first ever fully electric car and the first model to appear in its brand new Recharge car line concept.
The XC40 Recharge, based on the multi-award-winning and best-selling XC40 small SUV, is the first of a family of fully electric Volvos. It represents a true milestone for Volvo Cars: the company’s first electric car and the first Volvo with a brand new infotainment system powered by Google’s Android operating system.
Over the next five years, Volvo Cars will 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 overarching name for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrain.
Volvo NZ general manager, Coby Duggan, says the fully electric XC40 will be a welcome addition to the local market.
“Already one of our most popular models since it's arrival here, the much anticipated electrification of the XC40 will add an exciting new dimension to the Volvo lineup,” he says.
“We have said this several times before: for Volvo Cars, the future is electric,” said Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars chief executive.
“Today 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 is everything customers expect from a Volvo, with the addition of a state-of-the-art, fully electric all-wheel drive powertrain that offers a range of over 400 km (WLTP) on a single charge and output of 304kW. The battery charges to 80 per cent of its capacity in 40 mins on a fast-charger system.
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 radically reduced delivery times.
Volvo Cars aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales worldwide in 2020.
Every Volvo model in the range includes a Recharge option, from the small XC40 SUV to the large XC90 SUV. Volvo Cars is the only carmaker 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 today, which represents concrete actions in line with the Paris climate agreement and supports Volvo Cars’ ambition to become a climate-neutral company by 2040.
New Zealand launch timing and pricing for the XC40 Recharge are yet to be confirmed.
