Volvo reveals first fully electric car
Today marks the start of an exciting era for Volvo Cars, the teaser information of their first fully electric car, and it’s the popular XC40.
Volvo announced in early 2018 that its current range of combustion (petrol and diesel fueled) engines was to be its last, the future of the brand was heading in a greener, safer and thus electric direction providing opportunities to advance the motoring industry. Since the announcement we’ve seen the downsizing of their engine range to 4-cylinder petrol, the XC40 becoming the first model with a 3-cylinder offering. A fully electric XC40 shifts things up a gear, taking the functionality and desirability of the XC40 range to an electrifying level.
The electric XC40 will house the battery in the floor, the added weight has the positive side-effect that it lowers the centre of gravity of the vehicle, which increases stability, the net result is the XC40 is less likely to roll-over. Volvo employ the finest minds in the world to address road safety, developing systems to keep everyone safe. “The fundamentals around safety are the same for this car as for any other Volvo. People are inside, and the car needs to be designed to be safe for them,” says Malin Ekholm.
The battery is housed in a cage made of aluminium that acts as a crumple-zone in the event of a collision, this keeps the passengers safe and the battery safe. The electric motor is placed at the rear and will be included in the body structure of XC40, this design principle allows Volvo to redirect collision-impact forces away from the central cabin of the vehicle in the event of a traffic incident. The safety implications are huge, the physical effects of an impact will be less for passengers thus significantly lowering the risks of physical injury.
With the absence of an engine in the front Volvo have redesigned and radically reinforced the front end of this XC40, maintaining their high standards that safety is a non-negotiable. The electric XC40 will introduce a new-safety system to the Volvo stable, the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, a platform that will use radars, cameras and ultrasonic sensors furthering the development of autonomous driving technology.
This is all we know for now, we’re sure more will be revealed in the coming weeks, we look forward to the official reveal on 16 October 2019, it’s in our calendar.