Indian is a huge automobile market, with a lot of potential. As the world is moving towards a greener future, India too is transitioning towards electric vehicles. However, a lot of manufacturers are still in their research and development phase and the Indian market still lacks proper infrastructure for attracting a lot of EV buyers.
But the journey has begun, and a lot of car manufacturers like Hyundai, MG, and Tata, have successfully achieved a good response to their mass-market EVs like Hyundai Kona, MG ZS EV, and Tata Nexon EV. Some manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda still trust the concept of hybrids as the best option. However, the premium luxury carmakers are yet to capture a major chunk of the Indian market. Understanding this fact, premium carmakers like Mercedes Benz and Jaguar have recently launched their EVs.
Following the same trend, Volvo Cars India, while revealing its new luxury sedan S60 for the Indian market, officially confirmed the launch of fully-electric XC40 Recharge for India in 2021. The upcoming Volvo XC40 Recharge, which was globally unveiled in 2019, will be the carmaker’s first all-electric for India.
The Volvo XC40 Recharge is a sub-compact SUV, based on the standard XC40. Due to this, the EV’s exterior is similar to the standard XC40. The XC40 Recharge is ultimately based on the same Compact Modular Architecture platform. However, under the hood, it gets a new 78kWh battery pack. Technically, the battery pack is actually placed under the front seats, which allows users to get additional cargo space in the front trunk. Speaking about the power and performance, the battery pack powers two electric motors, that together, produce 402bhp of power and 660Nm of peak torque. With this, the Volvo XC40 Recharge can reach from 0 to 100kmph in just 4.9 seconds with a limited top speed of 180kmph.
Speaking about the range, the company claims that the Volvo XC40 Recharge comes with a WLTP range of 418 km, and can be charged by a 150kW DC fast charger from 0 to 80 percent in just 40 minutes. Moreover, there is also an option of another 11kW AC fast charger, which can charge from 0 to 100 percent in eight to ten hours. On the feature front, the EV gets a new nine-inch Android-based infotainment system with some handy services like Google Maps and Google Assistant. Other features on the EV includes a digital driver’s display unit, dual-zone automatic climate control, four USB-C ports, Harman Kardon stereo system and a panoramic sunroof.
Being an EV, the XC40 Recharge gets a host of safety features like four high-definition 360-degree cameras for parking view, blind spot information system, lane aid, cross-traffic alert, and also a set of adaptive headlights. There is also Volvo’s connected car tech, through the ‘Volvo On Call App’, that can pre-heat or pre-cool the car remotely.