I have a message for the Volvo team who fetched the all-electric C40 Recharge test car from my Joburg office on Tuesday: I hope I left you enough power to get back to HQ.
It was only as I left the vehicle for collection the previous evening that I realised there was less than 70km left in the C40’s battery. So much for range anxiety. Apart from a few minutes when it looked like I might have to make a quick trip to Potchefstroom and back, the car’s 444km single-charge limit never crossed my mind.
Maybe that’s because I’m a relative all-electric novice. I’ve driven lots of hybrids, in which battery and petrol/diesel internal combustion engines combine, but my experience of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), which are pure electric, has been more sporadic.
Anyone who has read my pathetic ramblings in the past may recognise that I am an electric vehicle (EV) sceptic. Not about the vehicles themselves, but about the rate at which politicians and bureaucrats are forcing their adoption. There’s no room for error.
But error is inevitable. As many countries are finding, a headlong rush towards electrification brings unintended consequences, like the potential collapse of national power grids or the lack of charging facilities. Even Norway, held up as the poster child of BEV adoption, has discovered that supporting millions of emissions-free cars is not as easy as it likes to pretend.
Fortunately, no politicians were involved in the design of the C40 Recharge, the first Volvo to be designed exclusively as a BEV rather than the plug-in hybrids on which the company has previously concentrated.
It’s a compact, good-looking car; several drivers gave admiring glances as we passed. But they had to be quick. The Recharge can accelerate from zero to 100km/h in less than five seconds. For those who measure performance by statistics, the car has peak power of 300kW and torque of 660Nm.
A twin motor format, with one on each axle, provides the C40 with permanent all-wheel drive.
With some cars, it takes time to feel comfortable in them. Not so the C40. I immediately felt at ease — though I had to refrain from pressing hard on the accelerator, as I sometimes need to do in my own vehicle. To do so in the C40 hurls you — and any unsuspecting passengers — back into your seats.
The wheels cling to the road, making it fun and easy to drive even around tight bends. The 360° cameras and multiple sensors make parking a doddle, though I really can do without the screeching of sensor alarms warning me of impending doom when I know there’s no danger. Still, they mean well.
The wheels cling to the road, making it fun and easy to drive even around tight bends
Driver and passenger space in the C40 is pretty good and Volvo says there’s room for 489l of luggage. I assume that refers to capacity and doesn’t encourage you to carry hundreds of bottles of beer.
Those 489l include a small compartment under the bonnet, where the charging cables are stored. I’m sorry to report that Volvo, in combining “front” and “trunk” (the US word for car boot) refers to this space as the “frunk”.
As you’d expect from Volvo, safety features abound, including adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping aids, blind-spot alerts and seven airbags. But it’s some of the other add-ons that intrigue me. For example, the voice-activated Google Assistant infotainment system. Volvo suggests some of the instructions and questions you might ask, like: “Hey Google, tell me a joke” and “What’s the weather like today?”
Google is not programmed for an embittered South African sense of humour, so don’t expect too much from the first question. Neither will you get the traditional “Kak!” response to the second. Alternatively, you can look through the windscreen or panoramic sunroof to make up your own mind.
What will all this cost you? Prices start at R1.285m, but the car’s generous equipment level means there are very few options to add. Included in the price is the supply and fitment of a battery wall-charger for the home and a supplementary cable for outside charging.
According to Volvo, it takes 37 minutes to replenish battery power from 10% to 80% at a public DC fast-charging station.
The Volvo Care package includes a five-year warranty and maintenance plan. The battery pack is covered for eight years or 160,000km.
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