VOLVO XC40 RECHARGE RANGE TEST AND FAST CHARGING TEST

I will first test the range at higher average highway speeds. I want to know what the minimum range of this car could be. At the beginning of this part of the test, the battery is at 88%. I base my estimated range on average consumption and net battery capacity. I did the test in November and it was between 16 and 23 degrees. So quite a big temperature difference during the test.

For this test, I drove from Brussels towards Namur and back, for a total ride of 152 km. The battery dropped to 42% and the estimated range based on 19.6 kWh consumption was 342 km.

Now let’s do a charging test at a fast charger. The Volvo XC40 Recharge is equipped with a combined charging system. With this system, the Volvo XC40 Recharge can be charged with either AC or DC. For this test, I am going to charge the car at a DC Fast Charger. The Volvo XC40 Recharge can fast charge at speeds up to 150 kW.

At the beginning of the test, the battery is only at 21%. It’s 15 degrees outside. After 10 minutes of charging, we were at a charging speed of 109 kW and the battery increased to 45%. After 20 minutes we were at 68% and after half an hour of charging the battery was at 85%.

I have not done an AC charging test, but Volvo itself says the AC charging time is 7h.

I will now test the range at lower speeds in the city. I want to know what the maximum range of this car could be. At the beginning of this part of the test, the battery is at 70%. The temperature was between 15 and 16 degrees. I did a 63 km test drive, first in Brussels. Then I left the city and drove on small town roads. It was in an urban area, sometimes a little more rural, but with plenty of opportunities for continuous driving, usually between 50-70 km/h. Then I drove back to Brussels.

Let’s take a look at my results. After a test drive totaling 63 km, I drained the battery to 55%. The average consumption ended up to be 14.6 kWh and the estimated range is 459 km. During the first part and the last part of the test, I drove in Brussels. The middle stretch, where consumption dropped to as low as 12.7 kWh was on county roads where you can just drive at constant speeds.

As a conclusion, I can say that the range of the Volvo XC40 Recharge is somewhere between 342 km and 459 km, based on similar driving conditions and measured at fairly mild temperatures between 16 and 23 degrees. I suspect that in much higher temperatures you will probably get more range and in winter at much lower temperatures you will get lower range.