Reader Story: Living With My 2023 Volvo XC40 Recharge EV

I ordered the single motor variant of the Volvo XC40 Recharge in June 2022, after test driving the dual motor which was the only version available in Australia at the time. I spent a lot of time during the six-month wait for delivery worrying about whether I had made a mistake. Would the single motor version be an underpowered disappointment? Should I have gone with the arguably better looking C40 instead?

After two-months of ownership and 4,500 kms of driving, I can confidently say that I made the right choice. The single motor version is plenty powerful enough for general driving and while the acceleration is a bit less punchy, it is more than enough to leave everyone eating my dust at traffic lights.

The far superior rear visibility in the XC40, the sunroof that opens and has an integrated sunshade, and the better rear head room and larger door opening are the key advantages that make the XC40 the better car for my money. I also considered the third electric car built on this platform, the Polestar 2. However, after a price rise narrowed the gap between the base Polestar and the single motor XC40, the Volvo won out as the better value choice feature-for-feature.

Coming out of a six-year-old Volvo V40 hatchback (after a C30 hatch), I’m enjoying the higher seating position, more spacious-feeling cabin and the overall feeling of quality that comes with the XC40. There are numerous little features like keyless opening and starting, kick-to-open boot and the touch pads on the door handles which lock the car, that remove enough micro pain points to deliver a noticeably easier and more relaxed driving experience. These features, plus the bag hooks integrated into the boot’s fold-up floor, mean the XC40 really shines in its natural habitat, the supermarket carpark.

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Range anxiety has not been an issue at all, with the advertised range of 425km proving to be not that far from reality. Range is closer to 300km at speed on the highway, but the day trips I have done from Melbourne to Daylesford, Kilcunda, Mornington Peninsula and Bellarine Peninsula have all been comfortably achievable on a single charge.

One pedal drive in the Volvo works extremely well, was very easy to adapt to and is definitely the more relaxing and enjoyable way to drive. You quickly learn how to come to a stop without using the brakes. I’ve tapped the brake pedal maybe half a dozen times in two months.

Adaptive Cruise Control works well enough on highways. Despite the occasionally dramatic speed change or jerky steering correction, I’ve found it more useful than I expected and it’s about as much autonomous driving as I’m interested in.

The google-based software may lack some features and have limited app options currently, but it does pretty much everything you need and does it well. This is the first car I’ve encountered where the voice controls work as expected and are really useful.

Maps is the killer app of Android Automotive, with excellent route planning that includes charging stop suggestions and battery preconditioning when navigating to a charger. Battery state of charge estimates are also pretty accurate, usually ending up being a little more pessimistic than reality which is what you want. The driver’s display with map and navigation directions is close to my favourite feature of this car.

The inclusion of Apple CarPlay fills most gaps and is nicely integrated. I was pleasantly surprised that you can use both Google Assistant and Siri voice controls regardless of what is running on the centre screen. Pushing the voice assistant button on the steering wheel invokes Google Assistant, while press and hold invokes Siri.

The XC40’s safety features are far beyond anything I’ve had in a car before and contribute to your confidence in driving it from day one. The blind spot warning lights in the side mirrors are the most visible, but I’ve also felt the car correcting my steering occasionally and have set off the slightly-too-sensitive rear collision avoidance auto-brake a few times. These features contribute to the feeling that it’s probably quite difficult to crash this car.

Charging at home has been seamless with the single-phase Zappi 2 charger I had installed in the driveway. My small 3kW solar system can add about 10% charge on a sunny day if the car is home and plugged in. Charging with grid power at the maximum rate of 7kWhrs will fully charge the battery from empty in around 10 hours, not that you ever do that in practice. Even using off-peak grid power exclusively, the cost to run the car versus petrol is 1/5th or a bit better.

Although the XC40 Recharge was an expensive purchase, the cheaper refuelling, 2-year service periods and insurance that was several hundred dollars cheaper than for my old V40, will make the ongoing burden that much lighter than for a conventional car.

As a Volvo fan, I’m thrilled that they have produced such a capable EV that has allowed me to make to transition to electric driving while staying with the brand I (more-or-less) trust. It is a joy to drive, hugely practical for a 2-person household and, in my opinion at least, looks and feels better than any Tesla.