On the eve of the Beijing Motor Show, Volvo brought its second electric car, the EX30, to China. The EX series is an SUV series of electric vehicle products created by Volvo, the first product is EX90, and its product positioning corresponds to XC90. The 30 is the smallest product in Volvo's products, and it does not have a "corresponding" oil car product that can be repositioned. Volvo's reason for creating this small electric car is straightforward, and the high price of electric vehicles in the European market has become a key reason hindering electric vehicle sales.
The EX30 will be released in 2023, and this is the first time it has been unveiled in China. With a length, width and height of 4233/1838/1555mm and a wheelbase of 2650mm, the EX30 is a sister model on the same platform (vast architecture) as the Zeekr X and smart Phantom One. However, in terms of design, concept, and product features, it has formed a distinct difference from this product. The EX30 is still designed with an emphasis on minimalist Scandinavian style, and is a big fan of less is more in design. Volvo sums it up as "doing subtraction".
Volvo believes that the current electric vehicles on the market have been adding in terms of design and functional facilities, which leads to the design and functional settings of the products are very cumbersome. In terms of product design, there are also a large number of complicated decorations and exaggerated designs, but in fact, natural simplicity is the real high-end beauty, and it is also the main theme of the current design industry. Of course, this is not friendly to consumer use. For example, too much decoration and design make the shape of the vehicle easy to be outdated and aesthetically fatigued. In terms of interior settings, the final space in the car is very small.
Therefore, in the creation of EX30, Volvo has simplified the complex, and the screen size of EX30 has not changed much compared to the era of oil trucks, with no passenger screen and no leather seats. The most popular feature that new brands are shouting about, it's almost none on. What the EX30 wants to shape is a new concept of luxury – the luxury, green fashion of electric vehicles, and sustainable. On the EX30, Volvo uses a lot of recycled materials. For example, in the interior panels, they are actually made from 100% recycled materials.
The seats are made of vegan leather. The fabric is mainly made from cork, yes, cork on wine bottles, recycled PET bottles, pine needles from Nordic pine, and so on. The advantage of this material is that it is soft and wear-resistant, and it is easy to clean. But it's hard to say how well the market will be accepted.
These materials are recyclable. At the same time, after becoming part of the car, there is almost zero volatilization. For example, the starry trim panel, Volvo has been exposed to the sun at a high temperature of 90 degrees for 700 hours, and has also experienced a temperature difference of 68 degrees, and the overall performance is better than that of virgin PVC. The difference lies in the fact that in the manufacture of electric vehicles in Europe, the desire to shape electric vehicles into truly zero-emission products has led to a greater focus on sustainability in the choice of materials. This is different from the current domestic electric vehicle manufacturing concept.
According to the official introduction, the recycling rate of Volvo EX30 reached 95% when it was scrapped, the proportion of recycled plastic and recycled steel used in the car reached 17%, and the proportion of recycled aluminum accounted for 25%, and the carbon emission footprint of this car from manufacturing to scrapping was 170g per kilometer.
In terms of exterior design, subtraction is also done. The car body length 4233mm, width 2032mm, wheelbase 2650mm. It has a shaft-to-length ratio of 0.626, which is close to the golden ratio of 0.618, and with its front and rear overhangs being equidistant, the whole design is very harmonious.
Volvo's classic elements have been retained in electric vehicles, and the headlights of Thor's hammer and the hidden logo have been retained and given a new element of the "electrification" era, and the complexity has been simplified. The tail design has changed a lot, using a new headlight design, and the wide-body square frame shape is worthy of the vehicle's high recognition, and at the same time, it also visually presents a wide-body shape. This time, the bezel-less design is also adopted on the rearview mirror, and the appearance design is more dynamic and technological. However, rainy days will be more troublesome, which has been discussed a lot in the previous Xiaomi SU7.
Volvo opted for a traditional door handle design on the EX30 instead of a hidden door handle for safety reasons. Because after all, it is a global model, and it is necessary to consider the use of extremely cold regions such as Northern Europe.
And the interior is not complicated, and the return to nature is probably the best description of it. Not only the material, but also the color of the body is completely natural. And, it's a whole set of themed colors, not a single color adjustment for the interior. For example, "pine green" comes from the forest. In the heat of summer, this interior combination gives a refreshing feeling and brings mental relaxation. This may be a feeling that only a Volvo product can impart.
Volvo's central display is not large, and the instrument cluster is set at the top of the central display, but it also does not have an AR HUD. The absence of a HUD is to make way for the sound bar design. Under the front windscreen, there is a 1.2-meter-long Harman Kardon audio system with a power of 1040kW. This design improves acoustics and eliminates the need for speakers on the doors, so the storage slots on the doors are designed to be very large. There are trades and losses to this design.
Also to save space, the EX30 places the front window control button in the center armrest, and in line with Volkswagen's ID series, it only provides a set of window levers, and if the front passenger wants to adjust the rear window, they also need to press the "rear" button first. However, this design is relatively expensive to learn. The upside, of course, is that the storage space on the doors is freed up. At the same time, the space design at the center armrest is also two-layered, which is also a relatively rare design at present.
On the center console, Volvo does not use a bezel-less design, and the corners are also rounded. Volvo explained that this is because the bezel-less design and right angles are more likely to cause secondary injury to people in the event of an accident. In addition, the steering wheel has a new shape and uses a pocket gear design, which can save a lot of space.
However, the phone charger is placed close to the front floor, which is not convenient for charging or accessing the phone. I don't know if this will change after domestic production.
In addition to the material changes, as a small car, the EX30 has no compromise in safety and performance. In terms of powertrain, the Volvo EX30 offers two powertrains, namely four-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive. The rear motor of the all-wheel drive system uses a Sic permanent magnet synchronous motor. The system has a maximum power of 315kW and a peak torque of 543Nm, and accelerates to 100 km/h in 3.6 seconds. The rear-wheel drive model has a maximum motor output of 200 kW and a maximum torque of 343 Nm.
The Volvo EX30 is powered by a ternary lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 66 kWh, and has a range of 590 km for the CLTC rear-wheel drive long-range model and 540 km for the all-wheel drive model. Of course, it should be said that Volvo's safety is even more important. In this regard, the body structure may not need to be talked about anymore, let's talk about intelligence.
In terms of intelligence, the EX30 currently offers L2+ assisted driving capabilities. The car is equipped with 23 perception hardware, including 1 front-view camera, 4 surround-view cameras, 1 driver fatigue reminder camera, 12 ultrasonic radars, 1 long-range radar and 4 millimeter-wave radars.
The car can achieve intelligent lane change assistance, covering a speed of 66-130km/h, and can automatically change lanes on highways, elevated roads, and after turning on the turn signal. When encountering a large vehicle, the departure assist will be activated, covering a speed of 50-130km/h, when a large vehicle is detected and is about to overtake, the vehicle will automatically deviate from the center of the lane by 20cm, and will return to the center of the lane after overtaking. In everyday high-frequency scenarios, it provides a solution. For example, the door opening warning distance has been increased to 50m, and under the new pedestrian avoidance function, the vehicle will automatically complete the avoidance process when the driving is blocked.
In addition, the car machine uses Qualcomm 8155 chip, which supports continuous voice interaction function, and can also control windows, air conditioning, etc. It can be felt that Volvo hopes to build a "small but powerful" product in terms of products. In overseas markets, the EX30 is priced at more than 300,000 yuan, but the model has received more than 60,000 orders in the first six months of its launch, and 20,000 units have been delivered so far. From a domestic point of view, the pricing of Volvo EX30 can refer to the Smart Elf #1, and we expect that it will most likely enter the range of 200,000 yuan or less.
It is also a good choice for young people or families to commute.