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XC40 RECHARGE: SWEET DEAL MOVES THE GOALPOSTS All-electric car comes with inclusive insurance, loan car and home charger.
Volvo Car South Africa is taking a bold new approach to electrification with the introduction of its first fully electric vehicle (EV), the XC40 P8 Recharge, in the local market.
It’s no secret that EVs are the future of the motoring industry, but South Africa has not embraced this concept like most of the rest of the world has over the last few years. Government’s refusal to incentivise sky-high import tax and duties means EVs are priced much too high compared to internal combustion engine vehicles to make them a realistic option for the average buyer.
The country’s ongoing power woes due to Eskom’s irregular supply is also not helping EVs’ cause. And with predications that load shedding is not going to go away any time soon, car manufacturers have a tough time trying to convince people to pay an excessive price for something they might not be able to use.
But now Volvo, which is adamant to cease production of all internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2030, has come up with a unique concept which will make owning an EV more appealing than before. Every electric XC40 will be inclusive of the full Volvo Care Package consisting of three years complimentary comprehensive insurance, two weeks’ use of a Volvo internal combustion engine vehicle per year for three years plus a free home charger including its installation and cables.
Based on the top-specced R Design, the P8 will cost R1 200 000 and have full specification with no optional extras available. Volvo will start taking orders on Monday, with the first deliveries expected in September.
“All-electric vehicles sold in South Africa have traditionally come with hefty price tags – and this has undoubtedly been a deterrent,” says Greg Maruszewski, managing director of Volvo Car SA. “We know that there is an appetite in South Africa for electric cars and we were determined to give customers an attractive price.”
The asking price of R1.2 million is still very high compared to Volvo’s internal combustion engine offerings, considering the most expensive petrol version of the XC40 costs just under R800 000 and its flagship XC90’s pricing starts at just under R1.2m.
But add together the value of all the additional extras and will make up a sizable portion of the R400 000 price difference.
And even better, the XC40 P8 will be the quickest car in Volvo’s stable in terms of performance. It is claimed to reach 100km from a standstill in a mere 4.9sec.
The Swedish brand’s quickest local offering powered solely by internal combustion engines are the XC60 T6 and S90 T6, which get from 0 to 100km/h in 5.9sec, while the plug-in hybrid, the XC90 T8, is rated at 5.6sec,
The XC40 P8’s range of 418km is also second only in the current local EV crop to the I-Pace, which Jaguar claims can cover 470km on a single charge.
Despite charging points springing up along the major centres around the country over the past few years, motorists used to the traditional failsafe option of refuelling their cars remain cautious about taking an EV on the open road.
So Volvo decided to throw a complimentary annual loan car into the deal. The annual loan car will be an internal combustion engine-powered XC40.
The P8 is differentiated from the rest of the XC40 line-up by a solid panel in place of the front grille and the fact that it doesn’t have an exhaust.
Inside, despite the fact that the battery pack is under the boot floor, it features similar 460-litre luggage space to its internal combustion engine XC40 siblings, while there is also a 31-litre front storage trunk or “frunk” under the bonnet.
The P8 uses two electric motors, one per axle, which generates a total of 304kW of power and 660Nm of torque which is send to all four wheels. Like all new Volvos, its top speed is limited to 180km/h.
Through 150kW DC fast charging, the 78kWh battery pack can be recharged from empty to 80% in 40 minutes.
The P8 will include a five-year maintenance plan and warranty, an eight-year/160 000km warranty on the battery. The home charger, which is a Volvo product and will be installed prior to delivery of the car, will have a fiveyear warranty.
In another first for Volvo Car SA, the P8 can only be purchased online at myvolvo.co.za. Even if a customer prefers to order one through a dealership, the dealership will still have to buy it online.
The entire process will be made up of five steps and is said to take as little as 20 minutes.
Currently, there are only four EVs on offer in South Africa: the Mini Cooper SE, the BMW i3, the Jaguar I-Pace and the Porsche Taycan. Combined, only a handful are sold every
month.