Today, Swedish car manufacturer, Volvo, launched its premium, entry-level SUV with a brand new electric powertrain. The new XC40 Recharge is the brand’s first fully electric vehicle, which will feature a state-of-the-art, all-wheel-drive powertrain that offers a range of over 400 km (WLTP) on a single charge and a total power output of 408 HP. The battery on this car will charge from 0 – 80 % in just 40 mins using a fast-charger system. The launch of this car represents the concrete actions taken by the company in line with the new Paris climate agreement to support the ambition of becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040.
The XC40 Recharge is the first electric car from Volvo to be launched under the Recharge division of the brand and over the next five years, Volvo Cars will start launching a fully electric car every year, to convert over 50 per cent of its total global sales to electric by 2025. Recharge will continue to be the umbrella name for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrain. Starting from early 2020, customers entering the Volvo Cars website will first be asked whether they want a Volvo Recharge car or not. To further encourage electric driving, every Volvo Recharge plug-in hybrid model will come with free electricity for a year, provided through a refund for the average electricity cost during that period.
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Also, to meet the anticipated growth in demand for its Recharge cars, Volvo Cars will triple production capacity for electrified cars and will prepare a Designer’s Choice selection of popular Recharge models, offering the potential for reduced delivery times. Volvo aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up more than 20 per cent of total sales in 2020. Every Volvo model in the range includes a Recharge option, from the small XC40 SUV to the XC60 to the large XC90 SUV. Apart from this, Volvo is the only carmaker to offer a plug-in variant on every model in its line-up. “We have said this several times before: for Volvo Cars, the future is electric,” said Håkan Samuelsson, 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.”
