2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge EV Review - This Might be my Favourite Small SUV

The New Volvo XC40 Recharge not only electrifies the popular XC40 but transforms it into a completely different animal all without compromising the form and function of the small SUV.

[albertschofield]

Just ordered mine! 2023 should arrive in September/October. Love this car. The only time range may be an issue is if I want to drive to Calgary. From Vancouver I can easily go to Whistler or Tofino without any stops to charge. This more than meets my needs for range.

[DanielEmery]

I own a 2021 Model Y Performance and speaking of those gimmicks... Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, web browser. I never use them. When it takes 2 minutes while sitting on my home wifi in the garage to load youtube homepage it gets old really fast. The games are fun like solitaire while waiting for drive-up take-out or waiting for someone to come out of a doc appt. I never let passenger play while I'm driving which is allowed because it is a bit distracting because they are reaching across your ONLY screen in the car that you have to glance at for nav, speed, everything. Hope this helps someone. Happy to answer any other questions.

[mayaschneebeli]

I bought one and really love it- live in Switzerland and ned it also for mountain drives- eats up more energy upwards on steep lopes but cool on the streets even when curvy.

[matthewowen]

Great review. I don’t think the range is an issue, at least not for me. My office is only 8 miles away from my house. Not to mention, even if I did take a road trip and if the xc40 had more range, I’d still have to charge it at some point during my destination. Or even if I made a short trip, I’d probably have to charge again before I made the trip home. So range is really moot it seems for any car.

[max]

Ordered mine, should get delivery within the next 2 weeks. First 2022 models. Hoping for all updates to be completed. We've looked at the Model Y which is $10k more expensive and of lesser quality. Yes it, has more range but for a few road trips beyond 700km /day (need to charge either way) will be minimal. I'm happy to add an hour to the few road trips to have daily build quality and much better looking vehicle. It's a personal choice though. We're planning to take it to California in the fall, we'll see how that goes relying on the Electrify charging network. Also, we all know that Tesla is famous for promoting range it never makes, however still better than the Volvo.

I'm also in Vancouver which is plenty to go to Seattle, Whistler without stopping, and one charge to Kelowna.

[warrenparlee]

I ordered a Volvo C40. Should arrive in Jan/Feb. Like the XC40, the C40 should be a fun car!

[deanegardner]

We bought the XC40 Recharge EV over a Model Y, Mustang Mach-e, and Polestar 2.The XC40 just feels right. Our other car is a model 3.

[rhettherring]

Picked mine up a couple of days ago. So far so good. Should be pointed out that the software has issues. I will not have XM or Apple car play until a planned December release. Also cannot connect to the internet via a sim card right now... having to hotspot off my phone. They are updating in batches so some will get it sooner than others.

[kyutieboi]

You can drive smoothly with one pedal with sombre practice. The most important thing is letting off slowly and adjusting your braking that way

[InternetDude]

This is nicer looking that a Model Y. And built better. I'd pick this every day for sure over the Tesla. And hey I've owned two Model S's...

[mpdhbdlawcom]

So I saw some local review about the car and decided to go to my local dealer here in Annapolis Maryland. I drove the car. It was like a Lamborghini. And all I have to do is drive home and plug it in so the mileage is perfect

[friedputty]

I love this thing. Costs 2-3 times what my Bolt EV did though! The Volvo's relatively short range isn't great from a value standpoint, but not a huge deal in the real world given that it fast-charges 2-3 times as fast as my Bolt. I am really curious to see if any of these are available at an attractive used price when my Bolt lease is up.

[AdamJakowenko]

I originally ordered one of these before cancelling and getting a Mach-E. The main reasons were:
1) Range/efficiency. This vehicle is horribly inefficient compared to other EVs especially at the price of 60k. It's probably fine for daily driving around town but it would be my only car and just not good enough range for me in this case.

2) The vehicle currently has no range indicator in miles...it only gives you remaining range in percentage. If I'm out running errands all day and know I have about 80 miles of driving to do, I don't want to look down and see 42% and wonder if that's enough for me to finish my errands without having to stop and charge...and for 60k I should never have to wonder about stopping to charge for daily errands.

3) The backup screen only shows rearview camera, as the review mentioned. There's so much room for both 360 view and backup cam, like my Bolt did, and like my Mach-E does. Of course they could change this in a future update, but Volvo has not indicated they ever intended to do this. And i never buy a car based on future promises. Gotta buy it for what it has now and be ok if that never gets better.

4) The XC40 currently does not have SiriusXM radio, which I listen to every day...not just for music but mostly for talk shows. They are supposed to add it at some point in the future, but timing is TBD and how they'll implement it is also TBD. It will be implemented as an app, and how that functionality/UI will work in this car is unknown.

5) Lastly, Volvo was not willing to discount the cap cost of the vehicle by 7500 on a lease, to account for the tax credit going to the dealer....and I would NEVER buy this vehicle as resale will be absolutely awful given it's range compared to competitors. And by comparison, Ford is offering $2500 off the Mach-E at signing for the Ford Options plan, which allows you to get the benefits of a lease (return the car after 36 or 48 months) but also claim the tax credit yourself, as if you purchased the vehicle. Best of both worlds, and Volvo couldn't compete with that...nor are they currently offering any promos or incentives on the Recharge. I imagine that will change very soon given the competition.

Of course Volvo could update the vehicle to fix some of these issues above, but you'd have to be ok with possibly never getting them, or it taking quite a while, and that was not acceptable to me. The Mach-E has ALL of the things above that Volvo is missing on this vehicle, and equal if not better performance and looks, so I went with Ford instead.

[thefintechking]

This is a wonderful electric luxury vehicle. Looks nice. Please tell me what city you recorded in. It looks nice as well

[srivarman]

I have ordered one, but have to wait about 7 months for delivery.

[rlb]

Just added the Recharge to my list of considerations. I like they size, the interior comfort, interior space, quietness and the performance. If it loses out on anything it will be the range. However I do want to be realistic in this area. 90% of my driving will be daily driving within the city which may top out at 50miles per day max. Average might only be 35. However it's the 200 mile roundtrip once per month that would be an inconvenience. I don't like the fact that Volvo is owned by China but realistically Volvo has improved since the acquisition. Other consideration is the Tesla Y and Audi E-tron. The Tesla might win out due to range, technology and updates.

[JimWorthey]

I guess my dream car is the Tesla Model Y, but they keep raising the price. I've been driving Volvos since 1986 so the XC40 Recharge is charming also. About the range, I don't do many long trips in my 24-year old Volvo V70, but I'd want to in a new electric. The most I would ever drive in a day would be about 400 miles. Stated range of is 208. Maybe it would work to plan 3 charges in the 400 miles. The rest stops would be nice, and the exact placement of the chargers wouldn't be so critical. I haven't owned an electric yet. Thanks for the review.

[williamm]

Wow…great car and mostly….great job on the review…your a natural in front of the camera

[MrWTFish]

Im debating on this car or the audi q4 etron

[acchaladka]

We have a chalet at the ski hill and in winter, while this has the space it doesn't have the range to make it there and back. At this price point, that's a deal breaker compared to a Tesla Y LR or even the ID4 for much less.