Production of the first all-electric car from Volvo has now officially begun at the company’s plant in Ghent, Belgium.
The Volvo XC40 Recharge marks the first step in the Swedish automaker’s plans to reduce its CO2 footprint per car by 40% in the next five years.
The company also has high hopes for the electrification of its fleet. By 2025 the company also expects 50% of its worldwide sales to consist of all-electric cars, with the rest hybrids.
According to Volvo, the XC40 is currently available for order, but if you put your name down now you’ll be in for a bit of a wait. Without providing specifics, the automaker said all the cars slated for production this year are already spoken for.
When it arrives, it will come in an AWD format equipped with a 78kWh battery pack with an estimated WLTP range of over 400km (248 miles).
The dual electric motors will pump out 408 horsepower, reaching 60mph in 4.7 seconds and have a top speed of 180km/h (112mph).
The first European customers are expected to receive the electric XC40 Recharge later this month.
XC20
Just as production begins on the XC40 SUV, news of a possible smaller all-electric SUV have emerged. According to a report by AutoExpress, Volvo is developing a pure-electric platform with its brand’s owner, Geely.
Unveiled at the recent Beijing Auto Show, the Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), Volvo boss Hakan Samuelsson revealed the new platform will form the base of a smaller electric SUV, likely to be called the XC20.
“We will also use SEA,” Samuelsson said. “We’ll use it for a smaller car, where I think it’s very practical and smart for us to share that, so we can have a cost structure for a smaller car that’s very competitive. It’s difficult to push the CMA platform [the XC40’s chassis], which is a combination platform for EVs and combustion-engined cars, further down. So if you want to do a smaller car than XC40 then SEA can do it. We will use it for that.”
No timelines has been revealed for the ‘XC20’, but Samuelsson also confirmed the small electric SUV forms part of the company’s electrification plans mentioned above.
