Volvo XC40 Recharge electric SUV only manages 208 miles of range, EPA says
Why is this so much worse than the Polestar 2 that shares a platform with the Recharge?
It's got looks and safety, but the Recharge's range leaves much to be desired.
If like us, you were looking forward to the all-electric Volvo XC40 Recharge, then we have some unfortunate news for you, and it concerns the Recharge's EPA range estimate, which it announced on Tuesday.
What do we mean? Well, the EPA gave the Recharge a range estimate of just 208 miles. While that wouldn't be terrible on its own, it starts to look a bit grimmer when you consider that the Recharge is packing a fairly sizable battery -- 78 kilowatt-hours, to be precise -- and the same drivetrain as the Polestar 2. However, that model leaves something to be desired in the range department too.
Why is it so bad, though? Part of it has to do with the body shape of the XC40. It's less slippery than the Polestar 2 or Tesla's Model Y , for example, and wind resistance is a surefire way to eat up range. That shape difference would account for the approximately 11% worse range than the Polestar.
The rest of the story is a little bit murkier. Without having driven one, it's hard to say how close the EPA estimates are. As we did with Porsche's Taycan , we could see that the real-world range is much better than the estimate -- or we could see that the folks in Washington were right.
Even if things are better in practice than they are on paper, that 208-mile range figure might be enough on its own to cause customers to look elsewhere. Still, if the driving dynamics are as good as in the ICE-powered XC40, then maybe the extra expense of going to the Recharge over something like the Chevy Bolt would be worth it.
Volvo didn't immediately return Roadshow's request for comment.
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