Volvo Malaysia Is Gauging Interest For The All-Electric XC40 Recharge – Coming Soon

Volvo Car Malaysia has begun to register interest amongst its local fans and customers for the Volvo XC40 Recharge, strongly hinting at the possibility that Volvo’s first-ever Battery-Electric Vehicle (BEV) will be introduced here very soon. For now, the small page on their local website serves as a precursor to the eventual introduction of the BEV, and allows the company to gauge interest for its new car amongst the buying public.

As opposed to the Volvo XC40 Recharge T5 – the XC40 Recharge is built from the ground up as a BEV and boasts a 78kWh battery embedded low within the centre of the vehicle; protected by a safety cage. The battery power two motors, one at both axles, for a combined power output of 408PS and 660Nm (in P8 form).

The XC40 Recharge is claimed to deliver up to 418km (WLTP standards) of driving range with a full charge. The battery requires around 40mins to juice up to 80 percent capacity with a 150kW DC fast charger (or around 2 hours for a full charge with DC charger), or roughly 8-10 hours with an 11kW AC Wallbox charger. Performance numbers read 4.9 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint onto a limited top speed (as all Volvo models are) of 180km/h.

The new Android-powered infotainment system offers customers unprecedented personalisation, improved levels of intuitiveness and embedded Google technology and services, such as Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play Store. As of 2021, the XC40 Recharge will also be able to receive larger over-the-air software and operating system updates.

Courtesy of a Google based operating software, the XC40 Recharge will also benefit from a Google Maps based route planner – which includes real-time traffic info and rerouting plus a route based planner which alerts the driver on the state of charge and can make recommendations to nearby charging points along the route.

Having been recently introduced to the Thai market, the XC40 Recharge is priced at THB2,590,000 (approximately RM345k), and is supplied with a 5-year/150,000km warranty, 5-year/100,000km free scheduled service program, free Wallbox EV charger with 2 years warranty (inclusive of installation and a home electrical health check) and free recharging (with ‘EA Anywhere’) for the first two years. Thus offering a comprehensive package for early adopters and users alike.

It remains to be seen if similar programs will be offered for the Malaysian Volvo XC40 Recharge, and more importantly, how the Recharge will be priced against the plug-in XC40 Recharge T5 version which currently retails from RM231,651 with current SST tax exemptions in place.