Volvo is rolling out its fourth electric vehicle in the Australian market, and it turns out to be its biggest, its most powerful, its safest and its most expensive.
This week, I got to spend a day behind the wheel of the EC90, an impressive 7-seater luxury electric SUV around Adelaide and the beautiful Barossa Valley to see what it’s like on local roads.
Has Volvo taken the Scandinavian practical design it’s known for and delivered it in a luxury package with all the benefits of an EV? Let’s find out.
The price certainly puts the EX90 in the luxury car territory. It comes in two variants, starting with the Plus Twin Motor entry-level priced from $124,990 before on-roads. The Ultra Twin Motor Performance variant bumps that up to $134,990.
For this, you get Volvo’s best foot forward when it comes to safety. Volvo has long been synonymous with automotive safety, and the EX90 takes this up a notch and the Swedish brand says it is the safest car it’s ever built.
Both EX90 models will come equipped with a big 111 kWh Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) battery pack, delivering up to 570 km of range on a single charge.
Although it’s a large battery pack, it does offer charging speeds of up to 250 kW on the right DC fast charger. Charging times at these chargers of 10-80% are around 30 minutes.
AC charging of up to 11 kW is also available, which will be helpful for owners who have access to three-phase power at home or at work.
The charge port is also located on the passenger side towards the rear of the car, which will be helpful for those wanting to use Tesla’s V3 supercharger network that’s opened to non-Tesla vehicles.
In the entry-level Plus Twin Motor variant, the 111 kWh battery pack feeds a 300 kW powertrain that can help propel the car from 0-100 km/h in just 5.9 seconds.
This is taken up a level with the Ultra Twin Motor Performance variant. This has 380 kW of power, which brings the same sprint down to just 4.9 seconds.
As mentioned earlier, safety in the car is paramount and the amount of safety tech is quite impressive, with the 3-row 7-seater coming equipped with a LiDAR system that combines with Nvidia Drive hardware and in-house Volvo software to create a 360-degree view of the world around the car.
This system can also help see small objects hundreds of metres away, helping the car and driver avoid or make informed maneuvers.
On the drive along the highway, the safety system was performing all the key tasks without the annoying bings and bongs you hear in some of the other cars.
Engaging autonomous driving is as simple as tapping the gear selector stalk. It is smooth around bends and maintains speed when safe to do so, as well as performing lane changes once the indicator is used to tell the car which lanes to change into.
When driving on curvy mountain roads and around suburban parts of Adelaide, the steering was very responsive in the firm setting. There is also a soft setting, which is ideal for those who prefer a lighter steering.
One of the most important features in any EV is its ability to do one-pedal-driving and Volvo has nailed it on this car. You can have the regenerative braking on or off.
Most of my driving experience was with it on, and it performed well, especially when slowing down to a stop at a set of lights. The auto-hold function also plays its part and will work well for those choosing not to use the high regenerative braking with creep turned on.
The overall ride of the car is quite good on the road, thanks to its dual-chamber air suspension system. It helps keep the 2.7+ tonne car planted on the road and reduces the feeling of body-roll around curves.
Inside the cabin, there is a sense of Swedish minimal design with Volvo engineers using design to highlight the space at hand. There is a panoramic glass roof with high UV protection, giving the cabin a more open feel.
The front seats feel comfortable and quite plushy, while the highlight of the cabin is the big vertical screen.
That is a 14.5-inch touchscreen for the infotainment unit powered by Google’s Android Automotive, making access to Maps and other applications a lot easier. On the journey, it was quite easy to get not only route planning but also see available charging spots along the route.
Google has done some work to ensure the charging locations are easy to spot even along the route if you choose not to stop at them, as well as provide a number of available charging stations in real-time.
This sort of functionality is still not available in many of the rivals, even in the luxury space, so it’s a big plus on user experience in my point of view for new and experienced EV drivers.
Trip planning, of course, is another big bonus that you get with Volvo vehicles, and it’s all done for you once a destination has been selected and charging is required.
On the day, this wasn’t an issue, and we got back from the Barossa Valley with plenty of charge on the battery.
On the entertainment front, there is a Bose as well as a Bowers and Wilkins 25 speaker sound system, which is there to deliver an immersive sound experience.
Playing music in the car shows the effort that Volvo sound engineers have put into making it a memorable experience for the driver and passengers.
Moving onto the rear seats, there is plenty of space, and the third row is quite functional, too.
These third-row seats can also be controlled up or down with the touch of a button, adding convenience for those who may only use the third row occasionally.
In the boot, the third row up does limit the space, but you could fit a few smaller suitcases in. For more space, the third-row seats down would be the way to go.
We didn’t get a chance to test its impressive towing capabilities – which, by the way, is rated at 2.2 tonnes, making it one of the highest ratings in any EV on the market. That will come when we can spend a bit more time with the car.
The drive day in the EX90 really highlighted the direction in which Volvo is going with electrifying its lineup. With impressive tech, a luxurious cabin, a well-balanced ride and minimal Scandinavian design, it could be one of Volvo’s winning products in 2025.
Volvo EX90 Specifications
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.