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2025 Volvo EX30 First Drive Review: Little big time

BARCELONA, Spain — Priced from $36,245, including $1,295 for destination, the new EX30 is VolvoÂ’s least-expensive car. But make no mistake, thereÂ’s nothing cheap about this subcompact electric crossover. From its solid road manners to its clever use of interior textiles, this little cutie is comfortable, competent and bursting with charm. We'll get the EX30 in Single Motor Extended Range and Twin Motor Performance variants when it goes on sale in the U.S. early next year. Both models are powered by a 69-kilowatt-hour battery pack – 64 kWh of which is usable – that can be replenished at a maximum charging rate of 153 kW. Volvo says youÂ’ll only need 27 minutes to take the EX30 from a 10% to 80% state of charge, but thatÂ’s assuming the battery is properly preconditioned, the charger youÂ’re plugged into actually works correctly, the planets are all aligned, etc. The Single MotorÂ’s, um, single motor is mounted to the rear axle, producing 268 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque. ThisÂ’ll get the EX30 to 60 mph in a perfectly respectable 5.1 seconds, and Volvo estimates a 275-mile driving range for this configuration – though not if youÂ’re testing that aforementioned launch time on the regular, of course. The Twin Motor Performance has the same rear drive unit, but adds a second motor to the EX30Â’s front axle for a total output of 422 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. ThatÂ’s a whole heck of a lot of power – even for a 4,140-pound crossover – and my goodness, does this EX30 scoot. Put the EX30 Twin Motor into its Performance AWD setting, stomp the throttle and youÂ’ll hit 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. That makes the EX30 VolvoÂ’s quickest accelerating production car ever. Nifty as that is, however, after a day of driving the EX30 on winding Spanish country roads and darting through traffic in BarcelonaÂ’s busy city center, I think the Single Motor is the way to go. Remember, even the pokiest EVs still feel quick thanks to instant electric torque, and at no point does the Single Motor EX30 ever feel like it canÂ’t get out of its own way. Beyond that, though, the EX30 Single Motor is simply more fun to drive. At 3,858 pounds, the rear-drive EX30 is 282 pounds lighter than the AWD version, and all that weight comes off the front end. This makes VolvoÂ’s tiny EV feel more playful and agile while cornering, especially with the well-weighted steering – not to mention the fun-to-handle squircle wheel.

Volvo P1800 restomod by Cyan Racing is coming to the U.S.

Cyan's Racing's heavily modded Volvo P1800 will soon be making its North American debut, and it'll be available to purchase in America. Based on the sleek 1961-72 coupe that just might be the sexiest car Volvo ever made, it's been transformed by the wizards at the race engineering firm previously known as Polestar into a 420-horse tire-shredder. We've waxed on about the Cyan P1800 before, admiring its lighter-than-a-Miata curb weight thanks to carbon fiber body panels, while marveling at its beautifully minimalist turbo 2.0-liter Volvo four. The driving experience is meant to be truly analog, from the manual gearbox to the lack of ABS and traction control. The entire suspension was redesigned and even its profile isn't quite identical to the original P1800 — the greenhouse, for example, has been repositioned. Best of all, its metamorphosis from antique to hot rod was performed not by some fly-by-night operation, but by an actual race shop, the one that turned the Volvo 850 into a Super Touring race car. The Polestar firm was so successful, Volvo actually bought them out, subsequently turning the brand into its performance EV subsidiary. Cyan Racing says the only things that remain from the original P1800 is the steel frame, hood release, handbrake, and windshield wipers. Everything else, including the glass, was manufactured uniquely for this car.  A year ago, Cyan said that the entry price for this unique combination of classic design and race-inspired performance was $500,000. When it becomes available stateside, however, the starting price will be, according to Cyan, "around $700,000". With that eye-watering price, customers get to personalize each P1800 to their liking. Cyan says the car was engineered so that it could be "tailored into anything from a lightweight, high-performance cafe racer to a grand tourer." The Cyan Volvo P1800 will make its North American debut at The Quail during Monterey Car Week.

How Volvo is going greener, according to sustainability chief Henrik Green

STOCKHOLM — This week, Volvo unveiled its new flagship electric vehicle, the EX90 three-row SUV. ItÂ’s not just a look at a product weÂ’ll see come to market in 2024, but a glimpse at the approach Volvo is taking to become more sustainable as it aims to go all-electric by 2030 and carbon-neutral by 2040. After the unveiling of the EX90, we had the opportunity to speak with Henrik Green, VolvoÂ’s advanced technology and sustainability officer, as part of a roundtable discussion about the brandÂ’s climate strategy moving forward. Part of the strategy is accountability and transparency. In an industry where sensitive materials like cobalt and lithium can be environmentally, socially and geopolitically problematic, traceability is paramount. Volvo will use blockchain technology — the same sort of secure ledger tech that makes cryptocurrency possible — to trace cobalt, lithium and nickel from their very origins in the earth all the way to the EX90s that roll off the factory floor. Green said he expects that traceability to expand to more materials, but those three are what Volvo can commit to today. Green also predicts a time when “you as a consumer should be able to see, ‘Here, in my app, this is the car I bought, this is where my nickel came from thatÂ’s in my car.’” While step one is improving transparency, “the next step is — this is much more long-term — how can we affect the industry to source from the most sustainable sources as possible?” And that leads us to recycling. A circular economy is the goal, where raw materials are used minimally, replaced by materials sourced from old cars, batteries, electronics and the like. But that depends on the first generations of electric cars fulfilling their lifecycles before they can be recycled. And obviously the better the longevity of products like batteries, the longer this will take. “Unfortunately, it has this built-in time lag of putting batteries out there that live until they need to be replaced, and then we will get the material back.” Partners are beginning to scout for those recyclable materials from sources like non-automotive electronics, “but the massive volume of car batteries will not be accessible until these cars have been on the road 10, 15 or more years.” But recyclability is one of the main factors Volvo looks for when partnering with companies like Northvolt, with whom Volvo is building a factory and R&D center in Gothenburg, Sweden.