Volvo XC40 electric-version confirmed for Australia in 2020

Volvo has unveiled its plan to launch an electric version of its SUV XC40 at the end of 2020. Greg Bosnich, Swedish marque's local PR boss of Volvo stated. “Volvo Australia will introduce the new T5 Twin Engine PHEV and all-electric versions of the XC40 in "the later part of 2020". Though the company has not revealed much about the upcoming electric vehicle, it is expected to share a powertrain largely developed for the forthcoming Polestar 2. 

Both the Volvo XC40 and the Polestar 2 fastback are based on the car-maker’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA). Polestar 2 incorporates a dual-motor electric drive system combinedly produces 407 PS of power and 660 Nm of torque, hints suggest that XC40 EV will drop one motor and be front axle drive.

If one of the motors is dropped from Polestar 2, the output will be reduced to half and resulted in XC40 EV with front-wheel drive producing 203 PS of power and 330 Nm of torque, which is quite logical as Hyundai Kona Electric makes 203 PS of power and 395 Nm with a similar setup. The actual advantage which can be derived from Polestar sedan is the battery, as Polestar 2 gets a 78kWh lithium-ion pack and under WLTP testing, it is rated for around 500 kilometres. 

The more specifications of the electric SUV XC40 are expected to be uncovered at the time of starting the production in late 2019. And by the time it arrives in the Australian market, the near competitors will be Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes-Benz EQC and, Tesla Model Y which is expected to come in 2021. The pricing of the current most expensive petrol-powered variant T5 R-Design is $56,990 before on-road costs and the price of XC40 EV will be around it. 

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