The XC40 Recharge Pure Electric will be launched in Australia in August, Volvo’s Australian arm has confirmed.
The all-electric compact SUV will be launched shortly after the arrival of its plug-in hybrid stablemate, and will be the Swedish-Chinese carmaker’s first electric passenger car to reach the Australian auto market.
With a 72.5kWh battery (usable capacity) offering around 325km real-world driving range, the all-electric XC40 Recharge promises to offer a hefty 660Nm torque from its 300kW motors, and is expected to fall just above the Tesla Model 3 in terms of price.
It will join a limited, but gradually widening, electric vehicle market in Australia to compete against the Mercedes-Benz EQC and the Jaguar I-Pace.
Volvo has five all-electric vehicles planned to date including two Polestars, including the Polestar 2 (which is slated to arrive in Australia in 2022) and another based on the Precept concept.
Volvo sold more than 115,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars in 2020 and in January said it would triple production of its electric models produced in Ghent. Polestar commenced production of the Polestar 2 in March 2020 at the company’s factory in Luqiao China amid the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
European reports say an electric XC20 and XC90 is slated for 2022, and although there is no word yet on if either will come to Australia it is the latter that is more likely as the XC20 is not available locally.
Volvo is not ruling out the possibility of going fully electric from 2030, but for that to work, the portfolio must be expanded quickly.
In January, the first Volvo electric truck – a Volvo FL – arrived in Australia for testing by logistics company Linfox.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.