VOLVO XC40 RECHARGE

XC40 Recharge is the electric version of the Volvo XC40 variant. It is a nice and good looking car with luxurious and feature rich cabin with powerfull twin electric motor. Let's look it in details.

From exterior the car looks like a regular XC40 in almost all sense except some minor changes. First of all the grille portion is now covered in this electric SUV. Volvo logo is placed on the front covered panel. Thor's Hammer shaped LED headlamps are provided, fog lamps are nicely inserted in the bumper and the Muscular bonnet enhancing its SUV stance from the front. Overall it looks nice from front view.

Then come to the sides, here you can see the beautiful 19 inch diamond cut alloy wheels. ORVMs are in black colour and the turn indicators are provided on it. Black roof rails are provided. From the sides you can feel that 4.4meter length of this car. It really looks good from sides.

At the rear you can see the XC40 logo and Volvo badging. Rear spoiler and shark finn antenna are provided. Boomerang shaped tail lamps looks really nice from the back. 

The SUV having a boot space of 419 liter  which can be enhanced to 1295 liter folding the rear seats of the Recharge.

There is a storage space under the bonnet too, this 31 liter space can be used to place the charger cable and can accommodate a duffle bag.

By entering into the cabin you can see a nice dashboard and uniquely designed A/c vents. A beautiful steering wheel provided with audio and cruise control switches looks very premium.

A 12 inch digital display provided on the driver side is very helpful for the driver. With this display the driver can access various vehicle related information like Tire pressure monitoring, navigation, electric range etc.

You can see the nice 9 inch portrait touch screen infotainment system which is configured with Google's inbuilt apps like Google Play and Google Map etc. It will support Android auto and AppleCarplay. The 360 degree camera, music system and other connected features are also integrated with this system.

The gear lever of the Recharge is itself is an attraction in the cabin. It is a uniquely designed one looks very good. An important thing with this is that this car don't get the start-stop button, to start the car the only thing you have to have is the key with you and to  put the gear lever in the D mode. Then the car will get start and you are ready to move.

The car comes with good and well cushioned front seats. This SUV having a leather free interior. An armrest is provided at the front having a small storage space. A wireless charger, a 12V, USB and a Type C charger are provided at the front. All doors are provided with bottle holders. Glove box having a decent storage space too.

At the rear you will get decent headroom and legroom. A/c vents and a 12V charging sockets are provided. Because of the central tunnel only two people can sit in this seat. The panoramic sunroof is making the car more premium and bringing an airiness inside the cabin.

The Recharge is provided with a premium 13 speaker Harman Kardon music system with subwoofer. It is a well tuned music system and provides excellent sound quality in the cabin.

At the drivability department, it is a very powerful car. The 78kW battery pack powering two electric motors fixed at front and rear axles produces 408bhp power and 600Nm torque. The car can sprint from 0 to 100kmph in 4.9seconds! Moreover the car claims 418km maximum range from full charge.

The outside visibility is excellent. Front seats can be adjusted electrically. Stearing wheel having tilt & telescopic adjustment. So finding a suitable driving position is not at all a problem with the Recharge.

The Recharge can be charged from 10 to 80 percent in just 32 minutes with the 150kW DC fast charger, whereas it will take more than 2 hours to get charged up to 80 percent with 30kW/50kW charger. But it require full 7 hours to get charged from 10 to 80 percent with 11kW charger.

As Volvo, the Recharge comes with tons of safety features. Few of the features are giving here. They are, Hill Decent control, Hill start assist, Automatic Door Lock, Double Lock, Dual-stage airbags, curtain airbags, knee airbag, ISOFIX mounting points at the rear and front passenger seats, 360 degree camera, ADAS 2 level autonomous driving assist feature, parking assist and many more.

The price of the XC40 Recharge is Rs.55.90 Lakh ex-showroom. Although it claims 418km, in real world we can expect somewhere between 330-350km range from full charge. Definitely you can consider this SUV if you are in search of a vehicle in its price range. 

You can compare this car with Hyundai Ioniq 5, EV6 and BYD ATTO 3. All of them have similar features of the XC 40 Recharge.

Happy Driving.

"Driver support systems and Autonomous functions are not a substitute for the driver's attention and judgement-Be vigilant"

Note:All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for presentation purpose.