Volvo is steadfastly moving to a model lineup that it projects will be fully electric by 2030. Key to that strategy is getting battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) into the hands of younger, urban, eco-conscious buyers who may be unable to afford the many BEV offerings coming into today's market priced at $50,000 and above.
The Swedish luxury automaker aims its all-new 2025 Volvo EX30 at that underserved, under-$50K segment, which is a rare foray for a luxury brand. Rarer still is a 5-passenger premium crossover SUV in a highly maneuverable, city-friendly size that offers up to 275 miles of range and sub-4-second zero-to-60-mph acceleration at that price point.
The new EX30 provides the basis of a four-strong Volvo EV lineup for the 2024 calendar year, including the XC40 Recharge compact SUV, C40 Recharge compact crossover coupe, and the range-topping EX90 3-row SUV.
Recently, I had a chance to drive Volvo's diminutive 2025 EX30 on the narrow streets, winding foothills, and seaside vistas in and around Barcelona, Spain.
Photo: Ron Sessions
Volvo is now taking orders for the 2025 EX30, with U.S. deliveries starting in summer 2024. The Single Motor Extended Range rear-wheel-drive (RWD) model is available in base Core, mid-level Plus, and range-topping Ultra trim levels. Including the $1,295 destination charge, base prices for RWD versions start at $36,245 for the Core, $40,195 for the Plus, and $41,895 for the Ultra. The Twin Motor Performance all-wheel-drive (AWD) model comes only in Plus and Ultra trims. With the $1,295 destination charge factored in, base prices for the AWD EX30 begin at $46,195 for the Plus and $47,895 for the well-equipped Ultra version.
Volvo equips both versions with the EX30's largest propulsion battery for the U.S. market, a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide unit with an extended-range 69-kWh capacity. The maximum driving range on a single charge is 275 miles for the Single Motor Extended Range EX30 and 265 for the Twin Motor Performance version.
For this review, I drove both single- and twin-motor versions. Photos are of the twin-motor version in Ultra trim equipped with optional 20-inch 5-spoke aero wheels, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel, totaling $49,195, including the destination charge.
Photo: Ron Sessions
Getting into Volvo's smallest crossover SUV is easy. The test vehicle came with a key card that you tap on the front door pillar to unlock the door instead of a remote key fob. All but the base Core model also come with the digital key app, which turns your phone into a remote for locking/unlocking and other functions. Volvo generously sized the doors, and because the automaker only slightly raised the EX30's seat height, no one has to climb up to get in. Placing the key card in the wireless charger slot in the center console initializes the system. Then, all you must do is sit in the driver's seat, place a foot on the footbrake, and move the column-mounted shifter to Drive or Reverse. Now, you are ready to start driving.
The EX30 features interior themes, or "rooms," as Volvo calls them. They include Breeze, Pine, Indigo, and Mist. Each theme has its own mix of recycled, plant-based, or responsibly harvested renewable materials, offering a refreshingly different in-car ambiance that reinforces the EX30's reduced carbon footprint mission.
The Twin Motor Ultra-trimmed test car had the Mist interior theme. A band of linseed plant-derived flax linen arrayed along the dash and door trim panels offers a welcoming organic design touch. The Mist theme's breathable wool/recycled polyester blend-covered seats are naturally cool in hot weather but warm in cold climates. Underfoot is carpeting made from recycled plastic beverage bottles.
The EX30's cabin is light and airy with a low hood line and thin front roof pillars for good outward visibility to the front and sides, especially with the large, panoramic sunroof that's standard equipment in all but the base Core trim.
A single 12.3-inch display screen at the center of the otherwise spare and minimalist dashboard is the portal for nearly all driver interaction with the EX30. Volvo removed most physical switchgear from the instrument and door panels, moving them to the steering wheel/column, console, or center display screen. The portrait-format center screen encompasses the driver's gauges, infotainment, climate control systems, headlamp, audio volume, hazard flashers, seat heaters, vehicle settings, glovebox door opener, and mirror controls. So, a lot is happening on the single screen. It takes a while to figure out where these functions reside and then start to access them quickly on the fly.
Volvo moved some physical switches, such as the power window controls, to new locations. There are just two switches for the four windows, so to raise or lower the rear door windows, one must first push a "back" button, then remember to turn the back button off to operate the front door windows.
Seating has always been an area Volvo paid a lot of attention to, and it shows in the EX30. The ergonomically shaped and sculptured front bucket seats cradle your thighs, lower torso, and back. The seats are all-day comfortable and keep the driver and front passenger planted securely on twisty back roads. Ultra trim brings power adjustment of the front seats via an ingenious single joystick in the usual location outboard of the bottom cushion that controls fore/aft, up/down, rake, and seatback tilt functions. Volvo includes 4-way lumbar adjustment as well.
While the EX30's front seats offer front-seat headroom and legroom greater than the substantially larger Volvo XC40, rear-seat legroom is tight for this 6-footer. Sliding the front seat forward helps, but doing so to accommodate taller rear-seat passengers in the EX30 makes it challenging to drive the SUV. To be fair, Volvo doesn't consider the EX30 a family vehicle but rather one better suited for pre-family and post-family buyers.
The EX30, however, has a surprising amount of storage for its size. A center-mounted glovebox of decent size is equally accessible to both the driver and front passenger. With a flat floor, the center console is large with a front slide-out tray housing cupholders and an illuminated tray under bomb-bay doors at floor level for concealed stowage of small items. The Ultra test vehicle also came with a removable and washable slide-out bin at the rear of the center console for rear-passenger use.
Despite measuring nearly a foot shorter bumper to bumper than the next largest Volvo SUV—the XC40—the new EX30 has surprisingly generous cargo space. There are 14.1 cubic feet behind the 60/40 split-folding rear seat, and with that seat lowered, 31.9 cubic feet. You can set the adjustable-height cargo floor to be the same height as the folded back seat or drop it a couple of inches to accommodate taller cargo better.
The front trunk under the hood also has 0.2 cubic feet of space. While that doesn't sound like much, it's the perfect location to stash the EX30's electric charging cord or other small items. All but the base Core model have a power-operated rear cargo liftgate.
Photo: Ron Sessions
The high-resolution 12.3-inch center screen is the funnel through which you access the EX30's infotainment and many other vehicle controls. With this much packed onto the screen, many icons are on the small side and can sometimes be tricky to see and tap successfully in a moving vehicle. This gets better with practice.
As with other new Volvos, the EX30 uses an Android-based infotainment system with built-in Google features. That includes navigation with Google Maps and real-time traffic information, Google Assistant for voice commands (very important due to the small tiles), and the Google Play Store for all the apps you can't resist. Because of all the Google software, pairing your Android phone and using Android Auto is unnecessary. Apple users, however, can run their familiar Apple CarPlay wirelessly to use its maps and other Apple apps.
I found myself wishing for more physical media controls, of which there are some on the right steering wheel spoke. Driving through an unfamiliar, densely populated city, I also wished the navigation screen was in front of me, just below my line of sight, as opposed to off-center to the right.
Because there is so much happening on the center screen, sometimes notifications such as the proximity of a nearby vehicle or the availability of some audio app popped up and obscured most of the map.
Audio instructions for upcoming turns were occasionally too late to react to, leading to wrong turns and rounds of recalculations in unfamiliar territory.
Coming to the rescue was Google Assistant's voice command, activated by tapping the screen tile or simply saying the "Hey, Google" wakeup phrase. Unfailingly, Google could locate a point of interest, even when I couldn't pronounce it or did not know the exact street address. That's the power of the ever-updating Google POI database, even in Spain.
Safety lies at the core of the Volvo brand, and the EX30, despite its entry-level status in Volvo's EV lineup, comes equipped with a comprehensive array of safety and driver-assistive technology. There are no upcharges for "advanced safety packages." It's pretty much standard fare, even in the base Core model. Included in every EX30 is the following Safe Space Technology:
Also standard are a host of collision-avoidance and -mitigation systems such as:
In addition, the EX30 Plus adds front parking sensors, while Ultra models bring Pilot Assist and a semi-autonomous Park Assist Pilot that can handle steering, acceleration, and braking during parallel and perpendicular parking maneuvers. Replacing the standard HD reversing camera, Plus models also gain a 3D 360-degree camera that gives an overhead view of the EX30 and its immediate surroundings, which proved valuable when backing up due to the small SUV's large rear roof pillars that partially obscure rearward visibility.
Pilot Assist, Volvo's name for its adaptive cruise control system with steering assist, is a hands-on system. The driver activates it by pulling down the column-mounted gearshift lever and deactivates it by pulling the lever down a second time or merely applying the footbrake. Volvo equipped the Ultra-trimmed test car with the latest version of Pilot Assist, which can make a single lane change with turn signal activation if the adjacent lane is clear of traffic.
Photo: Ron Sessions
The small but spritely EX30 drives more like an agile hatchback than a large, lumbering SUV. Its blend of city-friendly agility and entertaining highway performance recalls the plucky, late-1950s/early-1960s Volvo PV544 sedan, which helped establish the brand with customers in the U.S.
At 5.1 seconds from rest to 60 mph, acceleration is more than ample in the single-motor version with its 268 horsepower and right-now-accessible 253 pound-feet of torque. Even when cruising along at 60 mph on the highway, the instantly available torque of the electric motor snaps the EX30 to attention, pushing you back in the seat with a quick burst for overtaking another vehicle. Merging onto fast-moving freeways is a hushed, turbine-smooth breeze.
Moving up to the twin-motor EX30 adds AWD for all-weather traction and delightfully brisk performance, offering up to 422 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque. Volvo says that activating Performance All-Wheel Drive in vehicle settings gives the EX30 the capability to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in a mere 3.4 seconds, making its newest and smallest EV the quickest in its lineup. I used it sparingly, however, as this mode uses up driving range more quickly.
When activated by the driver, one-pedal driving delivers generous regenerative braking when the driver eases off the accelerator pedal, immediately slowing the EX30 even before depressing the brake pedal. Unlike many other EVs, the degree of retardation in one-pedal driving is not driver-adjustable. Instead, Volvo picked a medium setting that will bring the EX30 to a complete stop but not so aggressive as to be disruptive to traffic flow and drivers following behind. Note, however, that one-pedal driving is not available in Performance AWD mode. Even with one-pedal driving deactivated, the blending of regenerative and hydraulic/mechanical braking feels seamless, with good top-of-pedal response and confident stopping power.
The EX30's long suit is its ability to feel equally at home in the city and on the highway. Its small, maneuverable size makes the diminutive Volvo an ideal transportation conveyance in congested metropolitan areas. At higher speeds and on the open road, its long wheelbase and low center-of-gravity feel due to the low-mounted propulsion battery impart a sense of stability. With no heavy engine and transmission up front, front/rear weight distribution is nicely balanced, aiding steering response. Underpinning the test vehicle were summer tires that provided grippy cornering power. The conventionally damped MacPherson strut front/multi-link coil spring suspension provided good vertical body control and comfortable ride motions over various road surfaces.
The test drive route, even accounting for extra miles tacked on after making wrong turns and taking side roads for photo opportunities, encompassed around 130 miles, so recharging the EX30 wasn't necessary. Had a recharge been required, Volvo says the EX30's battery can charge from 10 to 80 percent in 27-28 minutes using a DC fast charger at up to 153 kilowatts. The recharge time increases to about 8 hours for a zero-to-100-percent charge with a 240-volt AC charger at 11 kilowatts and as much as two days using a 120-volt 15-amp AC household power source.
Positioned at the entry gate to Volvo's growing electrified hybrid and BEV lineup, the all-new EX30 provides a compelling price/value proposition for luxury-brand shoppers looking to go green on a budget. That the EX30 is also immensely fun to drive while offering the latest infotainment and driver-assistive tech—and up to 275 miles of driving range—sets a high bar in the crossover SUV segment.
Ron Sessions is a seasoned vehicle evaluator with over three decades of experience. He has penned hundreds of road tests for automotive and consumer websites, enthusiast magazines, newsletters, technical journals, and newspapers.
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