Big things come from small ideas. Word of Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo. This is the concept behind the creation of the new EX30, the fully electric compact SUV that will contribute to achieving the objectives set by the Swedish brand in terms of sustainability. We had the chance to drive the new EX30 around Bologna and surrounding areas: a mixed route composed of hill roads, state roads and highways, with clearly different surfaces, has allowed us to put this battery-powered car to the test. Let's see how she went.
Sustainability in every sense
But first a general overview of the new Volvo EX30. Let's talk about the car most compact and sustainable ever made from the Swedish brand. Sustainable not only because it runs on zero emissions as it is completely electric: its interiors have also been designed in the name of the environment, it is no coincidence that Volvo has decided to use innovative materials with reduced environmental impact. Overall, we are talking about a 95% recyclable car. Recyclable and created from recycled raw materials: in fact we are talking about 25% recycled aluminium, 17% recycled steel and plastics, and so on.
Performance and performance
I am three versions of Volvo EX30s available, two with single engine and rear-wheel drive, and a third with dual engine and all-wheel drive. While the basic Single Motor version is equipped with a 51 kWh LFP battery, what the Single Motor Extended Range and Twin Motor Performance versions have in common is the 69 kWh NMC battery: the battery capacity is the same on both cars, autonomy but no, reaching 480 km in the WLTP cycle on the Single Motor Extended Range and 460 km in the case of the Twin Motor Performance. Let's go back to talking about identical specifications for the last two versions of the compact electric SUV instead on the subject of recharge: the battery can in fact be restored from 10 to 80% of its capacity in 26-28 minutes via a 175 kW DC fast charging column.
The snappiest ever
In addition to the autonomy, the battery life obviously also changes performance: on the all-wheel drive version of the EX30 the presence of an additional electric motor is felt, and in fact system power and torque rise respectively to 420 HP and 543 Nm compared to the 272 HP and 343 Nm of the version with increased autonomy and rear-wheel drive . Different specifications clearly correspond to different accelerations: the Single Motor Extended Range sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds, while the Twin Motor Performance reduces this time to 3.6 seconds. The maximum speed is the same, having been electronically limited to 180 km/h.
Consumption and autonomy on the road
From a point of view of practicality driving, the new Volvo EX30 has nothing to envy of its direct competitors on the market: we are in fact talking about a compact electric SUV that is very easy to handle (it seems to drive itself) and incredibly silent. Our test was conducted at the wheel of the rear-wheel drive and extended range version of the EX30: numbers in hand, in almost 2 hours of driving and over 90 kilometers traveled at an average speed of 48.4 km/h the energy consumption was of 18.1 kWh/100 km. In concrete terms, we started with an 89% charged battery (with 389 km declared by the system) and ended our driving experience at 65% (and 312 km still in the battery). The driving conduct was regulartherefore without particular jerks in speed or sudden braking, despite the various more or less regular road surfaces that we had to face.
Technology and interiors
Among the many hi-tech features of the car, the system stands out Park Pilot Assist: once a free space has been selected, the car is able to park 100% autonomously by interacting with the steering, brake and driving mode (we tested it first-hand and it worked impeccably). The choice to reduce the presence of physical controls inside the passenger compartment to a minimum is approved: except for some functions that can be activated or modified from the steering wheel, such as volume or certain driving assistance systems, just to name a few, everything is managed through the centrally placed vertical display, with which it is possible to interact in an extremely convenient way for both the driver and the passenger.
Prices and sales targets
The price list of the new EX30 it starts from 35,900 euros for the Single Motor version in the basic Core trim and rises up to 50,900 euros for the Twin Motor Performance version in the top of the range Ultra trim (between these two is the intermediate Plus trim, the only one available on all three versions of the SUV). As regards sales objectives on the Italian market, Volvo closed 2023 with 2,050 EX30s in pre-sale, to which another 600 units of the model were added in the first two months of 2024: the Swedish brand's forecasts in terms of annual volume are 4,550 deliveries, equal to 20% of total deliveries.
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