I was thoughtfully invited to the reveal of Volvo’s newest, cheapest electric SUV, the Volvo EX30, but because we’re kind of short-staffed this week, I had to decline. Besides, I wouldn’t have gotten to drive it or anything, but, still, I’d have liked to have seen it in person, because this is an important car for Volvo. Hell, it’s an important car for everybody because it’s an electric car that’s starting at $35,000-ish, which while not nearly as cheap as I’d like, is way below the average price for a new EV in America, which is alarmingly close to $60,000. That’s too many dollars!
Now Volvo comes sliding in with a quite upscale-looking small SUV that starts at $34,950 and is the smallest SUV they’ve made and is also, somehow, in the AWD variant, Volvo’s quickest car ever, hitting 60 in 3.4 seconds! There’s a lot to potentially like here, so let’s see what we know so far.
The Specs
When I was a teenager, I used to work at a computer store, and when a customer would ask me what the specs were on a computer we were looking at, I’d take my sleeve and wipe off the screen and say “Oh, I’m sure it’s just dust.” GOLD. That was gold! I can’t use that gag right now, but I felt it important that you be aware of its existence regardless.
The specs on the EX30, aside from being dust and squashed bugs, are impressive, especially considering the price. The single-motor version drives the rear wheels with a 268 horsepower axle-mounted motor, and the dual-motor AWD version, the one that’ll do 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, those two combined motors add up to 422 hp. The RWD version should be able to get to 60 in just over five seconds, which is still pretty damn good.
For an EV, it’s not that heavy, really: the RWD one is a bit over 3,850 pounds and the AWD version is around 4,100 pounds. It’s also over a foot shorter in length than a Honda HR-V. It’s actually reasonably small!
All variants of the EX30 have a 64 kWh battery pack, and the single motor/extended range version will have a very reasonable range of 275 miles, according to Volvo. Volvo also says with an appropriate fast charger, going from 10% charge to 80% should take only 25 minutes.
The Look
Most obviously, we can see what the China-built EX30 looks like, and I think it looks really quite good; it’s got a clean, simple design vocabulary, very much fitting with modern Volvo’s extremely Scandinavian Modern-inspired design. The basic body type is small SUV/crossover, but according to the sacrosanct Three Rules of Wagonhood, the car is a hatchback, and not a station wagon-type of SUV.
This is evident because of the lack of a cargo-area side window, one of the requirements for wagonhood.
Even if it’s not technically a wagon, the proportions are pleasing and I think there’s a lot of appealing detailing on the sides, which have some inset intaglio sections to keep from looking too bulky and slabby, and at either end there is some nice lighting design to keep things interesting.
I like the front end especially; lacking a grille to anchor the face, the lighting takes command here, and I think it works. Like the old Volvo 480 I wrote about recently, incorporating the Volvo slash and badge is a challenge on a grille-less face, but I think Volvo’s straightforward solution works.
The headlights are a sort of pixellated adaptation of the Thor’s Hammer design, and are interestingly dimensional as well:
Will they be savagely expensive to replace if you’re in a fender-bender? Probably! Also, I don’t see U.S.-spec side marker lamps on the EX30 that was revealed, so I suspect we’ll see some amber reflectors somewhere around this front corner—perhaps on that little corner that juts out?—by the time it hits the American market in about a year.
Around back, the taillights have been divided into two separate units per side, with [ ]-shaped units below and vertical ones on the C-pillars. The lower lamps enclose a full-width black panel that I briefly but excitedly thought might be glass, but isn’t. And, it’s not always black! It can be body-colored on some variants.
The blacked-out front and rear panels seem to be for a more butch Cross Country version, shown here on big wheels and with a roof rack, going off-road on the ochre low-poly cliffs of Planet Cubicon IV, which really is about as realistic a portrayal of the sort of off-roading these are actually likely to do.
Though the car was only shown in silver and what may be a lightish blue, Volvo has promised a range of other interesting colors:
Five vibrant exterior colors, from stylish Cloud Blue to bright and expressive Moss Yellow – the latter inspired by lichen growing on rocks along the Swedish west coast – give the EX30 character and personality.
Finally, lichen-inspired colors! I know most of you are probably assuming that I’m being sarcastic, but I assure you, I am very earnest about this! I’m earnestly a fan of lichens and mosses and all of the mycological arts, and I think colors based on those sound fantastic. It looks like one of the colors—likely Cloud Blue—is shown in this promo video:
The Inside
Were you wondering what the Volvo EX30 has in common with an old Jeep J10 pickup truck? Sure you were. Well, here it is: they both have a glove box in the center of the dash, as opposed to over the passenger’s legs. Now, I haven’t seen this myself, since I wasn’t on the press trip, but that’s what I’m told. Does it have a real latch, or do you have to go through the touchscreen like some other Volvos I could mention? I’m not sure yet, but I sure as hell hope it’s a physical latch.There’s a large, very tablet-like central touchscreen that seems to house nearly all of the controls, which I suspect was a big cost-savings measure, and, like a Tesla Model 3, there doesn’t appear to be a conventional behind-the-steering-wheel instrument cluster.
The steering wheel is ever so slightly reminiscent of those “squircle”-type steering wheels, or, as Austin called them on the Allegro, “Quartic.” The materials used on the dash look interesting as well, a recycled plastic flecked with light bits that resemble stars in space. The interior space seems good for a smaller car, though the rake of the roofline could mean tight rear headroom for taller passengers:
Four different interior themes are offered: Breeze, Mist, Pine, and Indigo. Indigo has denim panels! Does this count as a return of the Jeans-themed car interiors?
The rear cargo area seems a good size, too:
There’s the expected 60/40 split folding seats that should make a nice flat loading surface, and the cargo volume seems on par with other small crossovers, combustion or otherwise. I saw no mention or photos of a frunk, so I’d guess as part of the cost savings no attempt was made to finish and enclose some usable volume under the hood, which is unfortunate but I guess understandable. I guess.
The Electronic Stuff
A full rundown of all of the EX30’s electronic features wasn’t available, but I’d expect all of the usual stuff like bluetooth and adaptive cruise and Carplay/Android Auto. Many of the safety and driver assist systems offered by Volvo are available as well, like Park Pilot Assist and door opening alerts and Volvo’s Level 2 semi-automated driving assistance system, Pilot Assist:
You can see how the instruments like the speedometer are displayed in the upper part of the center display there, too, and always-on controls are placed by the bottom. You know what’s a clever cost-saving measure? Instead of wiring speakers into the doors with all that associated hardware and wiring, there’s one Harmon Kardon soundbar with five speakers that mounts under the windshield. That’s smart, and it also means if you clip off a door or two backing out of a narrow garage, at least you can still listen to music.
The Skinny
Overall, I’m very impressed with what I’m seeing so far. The Volvo EX30 looks to be a master class in clever cost cutting that doesn’t really feel like cost-cutting, leveraging good design to turn de-contenting into deliberate and stylish minimalism. The price is right, the specs are good, the look is great. I think Volvo has the potential to have an actually appealing, affordable, and practical EV here, and I’m excited to try one out in person.
I may even forgive the lack of a frunk.
Charge an extra 500 bucks and add physical controls and I would love it. I hate the way automotive design is heading.
Can we start having some context in our ‘EVS ARE SO HEAVY’ complaining here? An AWD Ford Edge weighs 4500 lbs. The nearly identical dimensioned Model Y weighs 4550 lbs. A model 3 (3900-4050) is the same size as BMWs 3 series, which weigh anywhere from 3600 to 4150 lbs.
The Bronco Sport (stupid as that vehicle is) is probably a direct ICE competitor to this EX30, and it weighs as much as 3700 lbs itself.
Seriously… cars are heavy these days. Badly designed EVs certainly make it easy to add shitload of pounds, absolutely, but the ‘ev weight penalty’ is a lot lower than people generally expect. As has been routinely demonstrated in restomod conversions these last few years.
Instead lets call out direct competitors and indeed cheer when well designed savings have been accomplished.
The speckled plastic dash reminds me of the pattern you sometimes see on the linings of fridges, or Eskys even. It doesn’t scream “upscale” to me.
If all automakers are going to keep attaching what resemble tablets to the middle of the dash, why don’t they just sell cars with a blank spot on the dash where we can mount our own tablet, with a superior UI and use that? It could be replaced easily when the tech goes out of date. Have it somehow link in with an amp concealed in the dash and speakers where they are now. Each automaker would have an app you download that would enable you to control the functions you need it too. I suppose the dealbreaker would be that they don’t want to have to provide a backup physical gauges and HVAC controls. It negates the cost cutting benefits of touch screens.
This works out to an energy consumption of 232 Wh/mile. Consider me skeptical that this represents in any capacity a “real world” efficiency and range figure, because this is a 4,000 lb CUV. I suspect this quoted range figure is for the Euro testing cycle. The Tesla Model 3 AWD, while similarly heavy, consumes about 235 Wh/mile at 70 mph, and it has a drag coefficient of 0.23. I highly doubt this CUV is as slippery(although the potential does exist for it to be more slippery than the Model 3 if designed for it, and the grille-less design with minimal creases/edges/vents undoubtedly does it some favors).
Real world on U.S. roads, I suspect that highway range for this EX30 will be closer to 200 miles than 275 miles. Cut that down to 160-180 miles if you add a bunch of luggage or some bicycles on the roof.
Correct me if I’m confused, but isn’t what really matters for efficiency the drag area(Cd*A) rather than the simple Cd? I’ve always felt a bit annoyed that everyone gives the Cd of vehicles but since different cars have different frontal areas, one with a lower Cd could still have more drag if another has a smaller area.
Thanks, I’ve been raving about this for years too. But I guess it’s easier to market the low Cd and make it seem like the giant blob is actually good idea for highway speeds.
This is true. I didn’t quote the CdA of the Model 3 because I didn’t remember the A figure off the top of my head, as it is less often published, and usually has to be estimated based upon width and height.
Yeah, that’s my issue with the whole thing from the manufacturers. Who cares if there is a ~5% lower Cd if the area is ~5%(or more) larger. I have no idea if the Model 3 or Ioniq 6 actually has less drag in the real world. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, but especially when comparisons are made between Cd it sets off my engineering sensibilities.
Given the slight efficiency improvement, I suspect the Ioniq 6 has a slight CdA advantage over the Model 3.
What we really need is for manufacturers to start releasing cars with the same frontal areas as today, but Cd values into the mid or low 0.1X range. This is how we get sub-150 Wh/mile EVs for 3,000 lb cars, and 200 Wh/mile for 4,000 lb CUVs/SUVs. This allows a significant cost reduction for a 200+ mile range vehicle due to battery pack size reduction, with the added bonus of chopping off hundreds of lbs of weight, to the point where EVs could weigh the same as or even less than a comparable ICE.
Also opens the door to EVs that get 500+ miles range, while weighing the same as ones that get 300 miles range today.
I’m glad this exists, and a little intrigued, but the Bolt already exists and is considerably less expensive…why is this thing getting so much love?
Like, I don’t like tesla, but you can get a model 3 for cheaper than this.
The more the merrier in this segment of the market, don’t get me wrong…
The Bolt is slightly cheaper. It’s also soul crushing. It just screams GM “car”. It’s perfectly adequate in almost every way(except they didn’t add ACC as an option till 22 and apparently it is atrocious). We test drove one a couple weeks ago and it just made us feel like buying it would signal our loss of will to live.
I went from a Leaf to a Bolt. I can tell you all about a boring-ass car that saps your will to live. The Bolt was like a defibrillator. It may not be as slick as a Tesla or Volvo but it is a whole lot more fun and useful than the Leaf. I have always been a GM hater but I really like my Bolt, against my own expectations.
Glad to hear it. I think our perceptions were colored by two things; one, we used to own a Volt and it felt way more premium than the “premium” trim of Bolt, and two, we had just ridden in an i3 which has tons of character and also feels premium. I haven’t had Leaf on the list at all because I can tell that’s its MO. Also I don’t think the Leaf Plus is old enough yet to qualify for the federal used EV incentive, and regular Leaf doesn’t have enough range for us.
I definitely hear you. Everybody has different standards and starting places. I will admit there is still a lot of “GM-ness” to the Bolt, and I do have the Premium trim. There is a lot of hard plastic, and while I like the speckled white dash trim, I HATE how I have to look “through” it when it reflects in the side mirrors. My situation is unique – I had a 15 Leaf with a useable range of about 60 miles and I haven’t driven a newer one. So honestly anything was a step up in my eyes. The i3 definitely has a cool interior but I couldn’t get past the exterior look of it. If I’m going EV I don’t want to rely on a gas-powered range extender either or ese I’d just get a plug-in hybrid.
Yeah, we were looking at a full EV i3(which without the REX has an amazing amount of depth in the trunk space) but at only 120ish miles real-world we couldn’t do it. Mostly the anti-bolt sentiment boiled down to features. At the same used price point and mileage, we could get a Kia Niro EV or Hyundai Kona Electric with ACC and ventilated seats. But, we still haven’t pulled the trigger and may give the Bolt another chance yet. I appreciate hearing your experience.
I drove a ’15 Volt for about 7 years, and drove a Bolt EUV for about a year or so. The Volt was pretty base trim, and the EUV was more premium. To me, the EUV was a pretty nice car – nice interior, snappy infotainment, and an array of tech (heated seats/wheel, cooled seats, safety stuff, etc).
Looks were nothing special, and it’s size/proportions limited it to some degree. But it was plenty quick, and definitely didn’t strike me as cheap or anything. I have sat in base models of the Bolt and Bolt EUV, and can definitely see how they might tho…
Plus Chademo, so forget the Leaf.
It’s $15k cheaper when factoring in the tax credit.
True, it’s possible they will find a way to do final assembly in NA and use recycled battery packs or something to get the tax credit. But it’s also just as likely that $35k is optimistically low.
Did you see the interior of this thing? Tell me that’s not soul-crushing. It looks like it was designed by someone who had completely given up on imparting any style whatsoever. Jason’s Changli had more effort put into its interior design.
For me it’s the RWD. I like the bolt a lot, but they are hard to get your hands on right now, are headed (temporarily) out of production, so this fills the same niche, but with RWD and available AWD vs the FWD only bolt. Plus, while I do not mind the bolt interior, the significantly more customization of the interior and stuff makes this more appealing to me as well. Green interior with yellow paint? Yes please! haha
I wonder about the Service network. Who will be able to fix ’em? Around me I can’t even get a Chevy EV worked on.
Day 1 reservation holder here. My sales guy at the local Volvo dealer tells me it will have a small frunk. I wouldn’t take that as gospel though.
Well, I am now instantly vastly less interested because of the ‘one giant ipad glued to the dash that controls everything’ control layout.
No thank you. Studies have proven those to be VASTLY inferior to physical buttons in efficiency and ease of use.
One of the YouTube channels (can’t remember which) I subscribe to showed how the center glove box opens. Jason will be disappointed.
The only question is how many menus you have to dig down.
I’ll have trouble thinking of it as a real Volvo unless it’s built in the Netherlands.
You misspelled Halifax.
Isn’t it spelled Belgium?
Such language! You watch your mouth.
(Unless you’re writing a Serious Screenplay, of course.)
The speckled dash has a “rest stop bathroom countertop” vibe to it.
Fuck center-mounted tablets as automotive controls.
Look I have a tablet and a hot glue gun! What should I make? A DASHBOARD!
I like it in concept. If I were in the market right now I’d be taking a look at one of these. 0-60 in the 5 second range for the RWD version is more than adequate and I’ll get over the stupid Tesla-style screen. The styling is attractive, it’s in a nice hatchback form factor, and it looks usable.
Not so keen on it being built in China. That might be a deal-killer.
I put the $500 deposit down a month ago so keep writing about these!
You gotta tell us about it when it arrives!
Wow the rear visibility must be absolutely abysmal. No rear side windows and the rear windshield is nearly nonexistent as well.
The small greenhouse seems to be the most un-Volvo-like thing about this car. I hope they don’t eliminate the boxy aesthetic on all of their vehicles.
Is it as good as the EX35?
Me thinks it’s Infiniti-ly better.
I just can’t get excited, even though I like what I see.
A) I don’t really believe that this will be 35k out the door until I actually see it happen. I just don’t trust these press events regarding pricing after years of bait-and-switch tactics.
B) I’m not so sure I’m ready for the Chinese-owned and Chinese manufactured car yet. Yeah, good luck finding an ethically made anything these days but I think buying this would make me feel a little extra icky.
C) Screen hell.
After a couple of decades of trying and failing, Chinese cars are starting to become almost mainstream here in Australia. Tesla Model 3s and Ys sold here are built in China and every EV that sells in meaningful numbers here is from a Chinese manufacturer. Chinese made utes (sorry, pickups) were the butt of jokes for a long time but are becoming increasingly accepted as people’s budgets get tighter. I’d hazard a guess that the US won’t be able to fend off the coming of Chinese built cars for ever.
On point C, yes, the screen situation sucks.
I’m not saying Chinese cars in the U.S. won’t happen, I’m saying I don’t really want it to happen.
People in the U.S. are completely dependent on cars to go just about anywhere. I’m not sure it’s a great strategy to basically hand over our entire means of travel to China. We’ve lost a lot of manufacturing power in the U.S. This might be something that we should be willing to hang on to, whatever that cost of protectionism might be.
I totally get that sentiment. Australians overwhelmingly live in sprawling suburbs, distances between cities are huge and public transport is patchy – cars are a necessity here too.
Also, once you’ve lost that manufacturing capability, it’s difficult, nigh on impossible to get it back. We went from having a thriving auto manufacturing sector here just a couple of decades ago, to our last car plant shutting shop in 2017. We still assemble heavy trucks and busses here but in the case of the latter, more and more Chinese busses are appearing on our roads. I wonder how long our bus body builders will survive.
I think any country with an auto industry has to be at least a little protectionist. When the US and Japanese automakers were threatening to close their local plants I thought the government were crazy not coming to the negotiating table. That’s all history now though.
I’ll be curious to see how it prices out with options/trim levels. We are kind of waiting for the right hot hatch-ish EV to appear and if the price is right for the spec we would want this could work.
I appreciate the minimalist design aesthetic. However, I still haven’t come around to the “all cabin controls on a tablet” thing.
Have you tried one yet? I’m a designer and a lot of my job focuses on ergo/hmi/uxui, and I thought it was a horrible decision on the model 3. Then I rented one. The steering wheel scroll wheels were actually really good, and I didn’t touch the screen a whole lot. The HVAC I never bothered with, it just did it’s job. Have a screen for the glove box was super dumb tho. Point is… it’s not as bad as it seems when coupled with steering wheel scrolly things.
When you use the steering wheel scrolly things do you have to look at the screen to see where the cursor is? If so that’s a big no to me.
Generally not. They do the same things under most circumstances, and only really switch to other functions when you’re already using the screen to do something not specific (eg. Position side mirrors). I might glance across at screen if I’m using the right wheel to adjust follow distance, just to check the selected value, but not something I normally change anyway.
Only real gripe is the windscreen wiper controls, but that’s mostly because the Tesla rain ‘sensor’ is garbage, not the control method itself.
I personally couldn’t get to a point with the Model 3 where I liked it. I’ve rented the Model 3 three times and each time I’ve found it unintuitive, even after a weekend of fiddling with it. That said, the main killer for me on the Model 3 was the lack of CarPlay.
With the EX30, the tablet makes it so that there’s no way I’d just go plonk down a deposit and buy it–I’d need to drive it and see what the experience is like. Seeing how cars are lately (there’s no cars to test drive), just makes it seem like I won’t be getting one of these any time soon I guess! Just gonna buy out the last on my Kona Electric instead.
The question is will it be built in North America or in China?
7 paragraphs’ in has the answer you’re looking for.
This is an extremely important car and I’m drunk on how much I like it…so much so that I’m willing to overlook the tech hell interior. I’ll be interested to see how much the more powerful one will cost. If it starts at 50 or less it’ll definitely be on my personal list the next time I’m looking.
I think it could be a great EV for the general public. I do wish it had some physical controls.
Consider me also interested in this. I’ll be in the market for an EV daily in the next few years, and my only real requirements are RWD, 4 miles/kWh, and an out the door price well under $40k.
Still: I get that sedans are out of vogue, but Volvo would absolutely shitkick the Model 3 into the ground if they just repackaged this car as a sedan. For exactly the same base price, they’d likely hit 300 miles of EPA range just from the better CdA of a sedan, all without sacrificing cargo room (sedan trunks are just CUV trunks turned sideways, fight me).
They wouldn’t do that because Polestar already has a Model 3 competitor, but I get where you’re coming from.
At risk of stealing Toecutter’s bit: the Polestar 2 is too big, too heavy, too inefficient, and too expensive. And if automakers are willing to sell me 7 slightly different sizes of CUV and four different sizes of sedan across an enormous size spread, there should be room for multiple EV sedans from the same brand at drastically different price points.
The front fender-to-A pillar area makes my eye twitch. Why couldn’t they line that up?
Damn, now I can’t unsee that. It does look much less jarring in the picture of the white one where the A pillar is body colored instead of black. But yeah, it makes it look like one of those Playskool cars where you have been up all night on Christmas Eve trying to put it together and at 4:55 am you finally give up on the misaligned parts and leftover screws, hoping your kid doesn’t notice or care.
Apparently part of how they hit the price point was by skipping the design phase. This and basically everything about the interior are inexcusable.
Which is weird because Volvo has generally been making attractive cars lately. I don’t even think this was their B-team, more like their Y-team as in “Whyyyyyy Volvo?”
Watching the YouTubers review this, the best part of the reveal were the design shadow boxes with adorable little model EX30s and bits of interior and paint chips. And the upholstery thrones! This is indeed a really cool little car and I hope they sell like hotcakes.
Are those stylist holders on both side of the tablet?
Stylists can sit in the seats.
I genuinely would love to buy this thing, but the Tesla-style center screen speedometer is an absolute deal-breaker for me. A simple HUD bolt-on would genuinely upgrade this to a “buy.”
(The id.4 style window controls aren’t great either.)
Seriously, how is that even legal? You can’t tell how fast you’re going without taking your eyes off the road, wtf. With the amount of speed traps in cities around here I’d be driving blind 75% of the time.
Yeah, I’m really hoping that the NHTSA or other regulatory body produces some guiding principles (or straight up regs) regarding what are safe functions that can be controlled via touch screens and what should be left to tactile buttons. Maybe in another 1 or 2 generations the haptic button tech will get better and this becomes moot but I feel like if I’m ever shopping for used cars in the future I should avoid anything between 2017 and 2027 or so.
The speedo screen doesn’t even need to be large. I don’t understand why Tesla and Volvo don’t just use surplus smartphone screens.
My 8th gen Civic has a digital speedo sitting above the main instrument cluster. It’s the size of the clock on your average microwave and the same 50-year-old LCD technology. Probably costs about 3 cents to make and another 5 to stick in the car. But it’s the best. feature. ever. You can just about tell how fast you’re going out of the corner of your eye and NEVER have to look away from traffic.
Tesla tried that early on w/ non auto grade stuff, and they all (predictably) went to shit.
You can add one for $29 on amazon or so. Plugs into any OBD port.