Volvo is constant to drop hints about its upcoming high-tech electrical sedan, the ES90, forward of the EV’s official reveal subsequent month. Right this moment, the Swedish automaker offered new particulars in regards to the ES90’s vary and battery effectivity, calling it “a automotive that goes additional and fees sooner than any electrical Volvo earlier than.”
That’s principally because of the ES90’s new-for-Volvo 800-volt structure, placing it on par with different fast-charging EVs just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. The brand new structure is an improve from earlier Volvo EVs, just like the $80,000 EX90 SUV, which incorporates a 400-volt system.
Volvo claims that the ES90 will have the ability to add 300km (186 miles) of vary in simply 10 minutes when plugged right into a 350kW fast-charging station (relying on the out of doors temperature). Furthermore, it is going to supply a driving vary of as much as 700km (435 miles) beneath the extra beneficiant WLTP testing cycle.
Automakers are more and more trending towards greater voltage programs within the hopes of luring in additional prospects who’re turned off by gradual charging speeds and the prospect of being caught at a public charging station for 40 minutes or extra. Stellantis, mother or father firm of Jeep and Ram, lately introduced a brand new 800-volt versatile structure for a few of its upcoming EVs.
Volvo mentioned it wanted to improve a variety of its elements as a way to assist the upper voltage system, together with battery cells, motors, inverters, and thermal elements. The brand new motors have been lighter and extra environment friendly, and the general system now creates much less warmth, which means the battery might be charged at a sooner fee with out overloading {the electrical} system.
Volvo additionally plans to introduce a brand new, in-house-developed battery administration software program for the ES90, offered by Breathe Battery Applied sciences, which additionally obtained investments from Volvo’s company enterprise capital arm. The brand new software program will slash the period of time it takes to cost from 10 to 80 p.c by as a lot as 30 p.c, down to twenty minutes.
The ES90 will even function a slew of recycled supplies, together with 29 p.c of the aluminum, 16 p.c of polymers, and 18 p.c of metal. Wooden panels contained in the ES90 are constructed from FSC-certified wooden, Volvo says. The automaker can also be introducing a brand new blockchain-based battery “passport” to trace uncooked supplies like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite used within the battery.