Volvo C40 Recharge electric car now on sale: price and specs revealed
June 03, 2021 by
The all-electric Volvo C40 Recharge is now on sale, with prices starting from £729 a month. Read on for full details.
- New Volvo C40 Recharge now on sale
- Electric coupe SUV
- dual electric motors
- 78kWh battery
- 260-mile range
- Over-the-air updates
- Google Android infotainment
- Leather-free interior
- Online-only sales
- From £729 a month
The new Volvo C40 Recharge is a new electric car from Volvo that’s based on the practical and safe XC40 but sports a more stylish coupe-like roofline. It’s an alternative to the new Mercedes EQA with a 260-mile range and two electric motors. It’ll be available this year, exclusively through Volvo’s online car-buying service.
New Volvo C40 Recharge price and release date
The Volvo C40 Recharge is now on sale, though you can only buy it on a monthly subscription through the Care by Volvo service. It’s priced from £729 a month, though that does also come with servicing, roadside assistance, insurance and a warranty included.
Each C40 gets a vegan-friendly, leather-free interior as standard. Don’t think that it’ll feel lacklustre inside, though – Volvo makes some seriously posh cabins these days. There’s also a new Android-based infotainment system with Google Maps and Assistant built-in. The Volvo C40 also supports over-the-air software updates, so this system will always have the latest features installed.
There’s only one optional extra for the car, and that’s a retractable towbar. Order now, and you should have your Volvo C40 delivered in early 2022.
New Volvo C40 Recharge design
The new Volvo C40 Recharge looks dramatically sportier than the XC40 SUV on which it’s based. The biggest change you’ll notice is the curved roof, but the side skirts and bumpers are new, too.
The headlights come with Volvo’s signature ‘Thor’s Hammer’ running-light design, but the main beams feature all-new Pixel LED technology. The brakelights have a similar angular design to other Volvo models, and they stretch from the bootlid all the way up to the roof.
There’s also a small spoiler mounted at the base of the rear windscreen and plenty of contrasting black details, including the roof, door mirrors, wheel arches and lower bumper trims.
New Volvo C40 Recharge batteries and range
The new Volvo C40 Recharge comes with 260 miles of range thanks to its 78Wh battery. Although, as will all electric cars, you can expect the real-world range to be slightly less than this claimed figure.
Volvo says you’ll be able to recharge the new C40’s batteries from empty to 80% full in around 40 minutes, although it hasn’t said when kind of public fast chargers the new car will be compatible with.
Volvo is planning to roll-out over-the-air software updates for the new C40 that will increase the car’s range by helping it make more efficient use of the charge in its battery. Don’t expect dramatic increases as these updates are released – it’s likely they’ll come in the form of incremental updates over time.
As standard, the Volvo C40 Recharge comes with two electric motors that help it accelerate from 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds. That’s just 0.2 seconds slower than the Polestar 2 EV, but that car has proved it can accelerate even faster in real-world tests – just watch our in-depth review (above) to see for yourself…
New Volvo C40 Recharge interior and infotainment
Volvo has confirmed that every new electric car it releases from now on will come with a leather-free interior. That’s not to say these cars will feel cheap or down-market inside, however – the leather-free alternatives in existing Volvos (such as woolen fabrics and wooden trim) still feel very posh.
The new Volvo C40 Recharge comes with Volvo’s latest infotainment system that’s based on the same Google operating system you get in Android phones. This means you can access Google Maps, the Google Play store and use the Google Assistant directly through your car’s infotainment system without having to connect your smartphone using Android Auto.
If you’re looking for a new EV, check out the top 10 best electric cars you can buy or compare the latest Volvo deals available on a range of cars and SUVs.
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