Electric cars are expensive, right? Yes, the cheapest car Volvo sells is the new all-electric EX30. Ok, it’s also the smallest car Volvo sells in the UK — around 20cm shorter than the Volvo XC40 — but at £33,795, it’s also a couple of grand cheaper.
It shares a lot of parts with some other cars that you may think are unrelated to the Volvo, such as the Smart #1 and Zeekr X, but they’re all brands owned by Chinese behemoth Geely. Sharing components is one way Volvo has got the price down to a palatable level, but have any corners been cut?
To hit that price point, Volvo has taken the gamble of installing a small battery pack in the entry-level model. At 51kWh, it’s good for just 214 miles of motoring, according to official figures. Get a cold snap and hit the motorway, and you’ll see that figure drop rapidly, but conversely, it’ll be absolutely fine for somebody spending their week bimbling around town, popping to the shops, and dropping off the kids at school. Not everybody needs a car to cover vast distances.
Splash out an extra £5k, and you get a more useful 69kWh battery pack that’ll keep you going for 296 miles, giving many the range and confidence they need.
Interestingly, the smaller battery model uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) unit. That’s a less energy-dense material than the usual lithium-ion or nickel-metal hybride batteries you find in most cars, which means you need a physically larger battery for the same energy, but it uses fewer rare earth materials and is less susceptible to losing capacity in poor weather or over time.
We’re in that more expensive model (although there’s an even richer model avaialble with more power), which means all those electrons get delivered to a 272hp electric motor driving the rear wheels.
That’s a lot of power…
It’s certainly enough to give the EX30 a good turn of speed. The essential 0-62mph dash is dispatched in just 5.3 seconds, which feels ridiculous in what is a compact family car. The more powerful twin-engine model gets four-wheel drive and 428 horsepower and cuts the time to a supercar-rivalling 3.6 seconds.
You can do that almost as soon as you step in the car, as there’s no start button. Volvo’s tech detects your presence via a keycard or Bluetooth pairing with a smartphone and has the car ready to go before you’ve buckled up, so you only need to select drive on the gear selector and put your foot down.
Once you’ve got over the excitement of repeatedly mashing your foot to the floor, you can relax and enjoy the Volvo EX30 for what it is: a comfortable and refined compact car. The ride is firm and reassuring, but despite that, it somehow manages to absorb most of the imperfections of any given road surface, especially at speed. It’s not perfect at low speeds, which is unfortunate given it’ll probably spend most of its time there, but it’s never uncomfortable.
While it excels at straight-line performance, it’s also reasonably competent in corners, although don’t go thinking that the headline figures make this any kind of sports car. The steering is precise, though, and there’s little body roll in turns compared to some of its rivals — including the closely related Smart #1.
Is performance at the expense of economy?
If you keep planting your foot flat to the floor, then yes. Beyond that, the EX30 makes a good attempt at being efficient. Officially, the 69kWh model will run for 298 miles, which is fine and on par with other rivals. The Kia Niro EV, with its 64kWh battery, will manage 285 miles between charges, according to WLTP figures.
In our time with the car, over routes as varied as city centre driving to twisty mountain roads, we average 3.3 miles per kWh, which translates to a range of 211 miles. That suggests that it might be possible to match the official figures with the right conditions and some less enthusiastic driving.
When you do need to stop, Volvo says you can charge the car from 10% to 80% in half an hour, if you can find a suitable 150kW rapid charger.
What’s it like inside?
What we love about the Volvo EX30 is the minimalist cabin. What we hate about the Volvo EX30 is the minimalist cabin.
Let’s start with the good. The design is glorious, with lots of innovative materials being used. There’s carpet made from plastic bottles, a dashboard topper made with ground plastic waste from discarded PVC window frames, floor mats made of fishing nets, and a dearth of messy buttons and switches. It could have ended up looking like a budget model, but Volvo’s interior designers have pulled off a masterstroke to make it look and feel suitably premium, even if there’s rather more hard plastic around the cabin than we’d like.
There’s precious little clutter to mess up the clean lines, including no instrument panel for the driver. Everything is taken care of from the 12.3-inch infotainment screen in the middle of the dashboard.
The system is powered by Google’s Android Automotive operating system, which means Google Maps is baked into the system — handy as it gets updates far more frequently than any manufacturer’s own systems — as well as all the other services you’d expect from music streaming services to a DAB radio.
Moving everything to the screen has freed up space elsewhere, but Volvo has gone further by removing the door speakers and putting a huge soundbar along the top of the dashboard instead. The aural benefits are debatable, but the decision creates huge pockets to keep your detritus.
So what’s wrong with it?
By opting to reduce complexity (or, frankly, reduce the build cost), Volvo has made the car more difficult to use. Literally anything that can be moved to the screen has been, from obvious things like heating and ventilation to choices like mirror adjustment to weirdly specific things like the button to open the glovebox — and the button for that moves, depending on what screen you’re looking at.
As there is no instrument panel, you need to look at the screen frequently, even if just to keep an eye on your speed, which is presented as a small set of digits at the top. Warnings from the safety systems on board — and there are, pleasingly, a lot of them — pop up and disappear before you can register what they said.
Using the screen isn’t easy either, especially when on the move, compounded by there being nowhere to brace your hand, leaving you frequently prodding a different part of the screen than intended.
Much of these issues could have been mitigated by including a head-up display, but cost limitations meant that it was left off the specification list.
It’s immensely frustrating that Volvo, the car company that has championed safety for so long, has taken a step backwards and produced a user interface that noticeably creates more distractions and problems for the driver.
Was that a rant?
Well, yes, but a deserved one. Moving on, then…
As a compact car — it’s barely any bigger than a Nissan Juke — you’ll find some parts of the cabin a bit tight for space, but not in the front. The driver and passenger get lots of room with plenty of adjustment in the seats, making the car feel light, airy and comfortable. It’s tighter in the rear seats, but a couple of adults will be able to get along without quarrelling.
An entirely flat floor makes squeezing a third passenger in the back easier when necessary, but they had all better be close friends.
With an electric motor hidden under the boot floor, space in there is a little stingy. At 318 litres, it falls well short of some mainstream rivals, with the Hyundai Kona offering 466 litres and the Kia Niro providing 475 litres. Still, the rear seats fold down flat, the parcel shelf can be hidden away in a special cubby hole under the floor, and there’s an ingenious ‘will it fit?’ guide stamped onto the boot lid to tell you what you can and can’t get in there, so it’ll be fine for the odd weekend run to the recycling centre.
So should I buy one?
We like the Volvo EX30. Honestly, we really do. It’s a cracking car to drive, that strikes a fine balance between comfort and stability, and a sensible decision has been made to balance battery size, weight and cost with the needs of the average motorist.
While compact, the car offers enough space for a small family, even when allowing for the relatively modest boot.
And it’s all available for less money than a mid-range Corsa Electric (which makes a mockery of Vauxhall’s pricing) or entry-level Kia Niro EV. It’s astonishing value for money, even when you start moving up a grade or two.
But the reliance on an imperfect, awkward and unnecessary digital screen to control every aspect of the car undermines so much about it. Perhaps I’m wrong, and more time in the car will bring me around to Volvo’s perspective. If that’s the case, expect an update to this review and a serving of humble pie for dinner. I fear I may go hungry, though.
Model Tested: Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range Ultra
Average Joes Rating: ★★★☆☆
| Price : | £42,045 | Range : | £33,795–£44,495 |
| Power : | 272 hp | Torque : | 343 Nm |
| Max speed : | 112 mph | 0-62mph : | 5.3 secs |
| Range : | 296 miles | Recharge : | 153 kW |
He is the founder of Huff Media, publisher of Professional Pickup, Professional Van, Average Janes, Average Joes, and CALIBRE. His work focuses primarily on light commercial vehicles, pickups, and real-world vehicle use, with much of his time spent on manufacturer launches, industry events, and long-term vehicle testing.