The Volvo XC40 Recharge has barely left the gate and the Swedish automaker is already unveiling its next electric vehicle. The C40 Recharge is just Volvo’s second all-electric car. A slightly shorter, simplified version of the XC40 Recharge, the C40 Recharge will be built on the same modular platform as the automaker’s first EV and will go into production at the Volvo plant in Ghent, Belgium, in the fall of 2021.
Volvo says the C40 Recharge “has all the benefits of an SUV, but with a lower, more elegant design”. The roof line is lower and the rear part decreases more gradually than in the XC40 Recharge. The most significant difference is the height, with the C40 Recharge measuring seven centimeters shorter than its predecessor. Volvo does not go so far as to call it a hatchback or wagon, but it does seem to share some features with the discontinued Volvo V40.
The launch of the C40 Recharge takes Volvo one step closer to its goal of electrifying half of its line by 2025. Earlier today, Volvo said it would be 100 percent electric by 2030. The automaker also said it would reduce carbon in the footprint life cycle – effectively the CO2 emissions that the car will produce during its lifetime with the manufacture and use considered – in each car by 40 percent in the same year.
The C40 Recharge is estimated to have the same range – 210 miles based on the EPA standard or 420 km based on Europe’s WLTP – as the XC40 Recharge. Volvo says that reach will improve with remote software updates in the future. Will the price also be the same as the XC40 Recharge? We do not know yet why Volvo is not disclosing this information at the moment.
Volvo has also not provided an image of the interior, but we can probably assume that it will not be much different from the XC40 Recharge. The company says the C40 Recharge’s infotainment software will be powered by Android Automotive, meaning it will use popular apps like Google Maps and Google Assistant as standard features. This is also similar to Volvo’s XC40 Recharge and Polestar 2 and the parent company Geely’s joint performance brand.
The C40 Recharge will work with two electric motors, one at the front and one at the rear of the vehicle. A 78 kWh battery – 75 kWh of which are usable – powers the dual-engine power train with a total of 402 horsepower and a 0 to 60 mph time of 4.7 seconds. The headlights are also new, with state-of-the-art pixel technology.
The battery charges from zero to 80 percent of its capacity in 40 minutes in a 150 kWh / DC fast charger system, says the automaker. In an 11 kWh AC charger, the C40 Recharge’s battery will take eight hours to reach 80 percent.
Car dealers have been reluctant to stock and sell electric cars for years, and Volvo intends to work around this problem by offering the new C40 Recharge for sale online only. The automaker also said it plans to sell 50% of its global volume online by 2025.
Hopefully, the C40 Recharge will be able to avoid some of the software problems of its predecessors. Yesterday, The Verge reported that an unknown number of XC40 Recharge SUV deliveries were delayed by a crucial software update that kept them stranded in U.S. ports.
Among its bold environmental promises, Volvo also said it will reduce the carbon footprint of all of its operations by 25 percent, including its suppliers, also by 2025. If everything goes according to plan, the amount of recycling and reuse of materials in the Volvo’s supply chain will increase dramatically. In 2025, Volvo expects each vehicle to contain 25% recycled material.
Since Volvo made its promise to electrify half of its lineup, other automakers have stepped up. GM said it would only sell electric vehicles until 2040, while Ford recently announced that it would only be EV in Europe by 2030. The Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, Skoda, Porsche and others, says its entire line will be electric or hybrid in 2026.