Volvo XC40 Recharge EV sighted in KL; launch soon?

With registrations of interest for the Volvo XC40 Recharge battery-electric vehicle being opened in April last year, Volvo Car Malaysia (VCM) has since confirmed that the electric crossover will be making its Malaysian-market launch this year.

Now, the XC40 Recharge has been sighted on our roads, or rather, in the parking lot of the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, with these images shared to the Malaysian Electric Vehicle Owners Club (MyEVOC) Facebook page, suggesting that its Malaysian launch is not too far away.

First making its world debut in October 2019, the XC40 Recharge EV was launched for the Thailand market in March last year, priced at 2,590,000 baht (RM345k) at time of launch in the country. This priced the Recharge variant around 200,000 baht, or RM27k more than the Recharge T5 variants in that market.

The Volvo XC40 has received its facelift in Europe earlier this month, drawing selected design cues from the coupé-roofed C40, and is joined by a new Recharge P6 full-EV variant. The latter gets a single 231 PS front motor fed by a slightly smaller 69 kWh battery, offering slightly more range of between 400 km and 423 km. Might we be getting the facelift in time for the Malaysian launch?

Meanwhile for our neighbours to the north, the fully electric crossover goes to Thailand in P8 AWD guise, which means a dual-motor setup – one on each axle – for combined outputs of 408 PS and 660 Nm of torque. The benchmark 0-100 km/h sprint is elapsed in 4.9 seconds, and top speed is electronically governed at 180 km/h.

A 78 kWh lithium-ion battery provides 400 km of range according to the WLTP cycle, and this takes 7.5 hours to charge up through a three-phase 11 kW AC wallbox via a Type 3 connector. The battery in the XC40 Recharge fully electric vehicle can also be replenished via DC fast charging at 150 kW, which can top up its battery from zero to 80% state-of-charge in 40 minutes.

In addition to its 413-litre main luggage compartment at the rear, the space vacated in front by what would have been an internal combustion engine yields a 31-litre “frunk”, ahead of which is the EV-specific covered grille.

Referencing the Thai-market XC40 Recharge, the fully electric crossover gets the full complement of driver assistance systems including adaptive cruise control, queue assist with stop and exit function, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist and animal detection, rear cross-traffic alert with braking intervention, front distance alert, Park Assist Pilot and 360 degree panoramic view camera.

Inside, the interior architecture is largely from the internal-combustion XC40, though the Recharge gets the EV-specific 12.3-inch digital instrument panel with model-specific displays. The Recharge also gets the new Android Automotive OS-based infotainment display, where Google services are fully integrated with the Volvo On Call digital connected services platform.

Also packaged are dual-zone climate control with Clean Zone, Nubuck and Nappa leather upholstery, panoramic roof and shift paddles, while audio comes courtesy of a 13-speaker Harman Kardon setup with a 600-watt amplifier and Quantum Logic surround sound.