Volvo Cars has introduced 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 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.
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.
The XC40 Recharge is everything customers expect from a Volvo, with the addition of a state-of-the-art, a fully electric all-wheel-drive powertrain that offers a range of over 400 km (WLTP) on a single charge and output of 408hp. The battery charges to 80 % of its capacity in 40 mins on a fast-charger system.
The Android-powered infotainment system is fully integrated with Volvo On Call, the company’s digital connected services platform. Via Volvo On Call plug-in hybrid drivers can track how much time they spend driving on electric power.
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 aim for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales in 2020.
Every Volvo model in the range includes a Recharge option, from the small XC40 SUV via the 60 Series cars to the company’s flagship, the large XC90 SUV. Volvo Cars are the only carmaker to offer a plug-in variant on every model in its line-up.
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