The Swedish company Volvo Cars, part of the Chinese holding Geely, has updated electric compact crossovers for the third time without any PR support XC40 and C40: this time, the range values per charge have been significantly adjusted.
A rather funny evolution is taking place with the younger Volvo crossovers: since the beginning of last year they have been updated three times already, and each time the Volvo press service did not consider it necessary to tell the world about it. It all started with the fact that in February last year, a restyled XC40 (this model has been produced since 2017) surfaced on Volvo's European consumer sites. The restyling came down to the fact that the XC40 received the same front end design as the more recent (debuted in 2021) related Volvo C40 coupe crossover. .jpg» />Volvo XC40The Volvo XC40 has both electric and hydrocarbon versions, while the C40 is only offered as an electric car. On November 25 last year, the Dutch magazine AutoWeek found that the electric Volvo XC40 and C40 have been seriously upgraded: new tables with technical specifications appeared on the consumer sites of the Swedish company, from which it became clear that compact electric crossovers have become more powerful and more efficient in terms of energy consumption; modifications, the only electric motor moved from the front axle to the rear. There was an official press release on this topic, but it was released only on January 16, 2023.
Volvo XC40
AutoWeek found today that Volvo's Dutch consumer site has once again updated the specifications of the electric XC40 and C40, namely the range values per charge. We checked the Swedish and German sites for comparison — they also have new data, so there is no error.
XC40/C40
So, according to new data from the German site, the base single-engine electric Volvo XC40 (238 hp, 330 Nm) with a battery with a usable capacity of 70 kWh has increased the maximum range on a single charge in the WLTP cycle from 461 to 467 km, of the same Volvo C40, it is the same 477 km. travel increased from 516 to 571 km, for the same Volvo C40 — from 534 to 580 km. h (Twin Motor version), the range increased from 503 to 535 km, for the same Volvo C40 — from 508 to 548 km.
Volvo C40
In general, quite a noticeable increase in mileage in order to be able to proudly issue a press release about them, but for some reason, Volvo again decided to upgrade silently. Note that the new range figures on the Swedish and Dutch Volvo sites differ by 2-3 km from the German ones, although all values are measured according to the WLTP cycle. What causes such a spread, one can only guess. It is also not entirely clear where the “extra” kilometers came from. For a simple optimization of the control program, the increase is too large. Perhaps Volvo changed battery supplier because it now lists usable capacity instead of nominal capacity. It is not clear what the nominal capacity is now.
Volvo C40
Let's add that last year Volvo implemented 615,100 cars in the world (-12% compared to 2021), of which 42,500 were electric XC40, 24,200 were C40.