Volvo’s vegan-upholstered, Google-powered, self-driving electric SUV is whetting the appetites of Australians
- Volvo EX90 to debut LiDAR
- Volvo EX90 technology and sustainability
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The 2024 Volvo EX90 has no price, no firm arrival date and no detailed specifications, but that hasn’t stopped several Australians placing deposits on the all-new seven-seat large premium electric SUV.
More than a dozen deposits for what will be the most expensive, safest and most technologically advanced Volvo ever made have already been received by Australian Volvo dealers – despite prices that could potentially eclipse $150,000 and a launch date sometime in late 2024.
The Volvo EX90 is the Swedish brand’s first all-new EV based on a clean-sheet platform architecture and is the first of several new-generation ‘EX’ models that will usher in the Chinese-Swedish brand’s EV-only future, which will become a reality in Australia from 2026 and globally from 2030.
Set to eventually replace the XC90 – which will be sold alongside it until at least 2026 – as Volvo Car Australia’s flagship model, the EX90 flaunts an ultra-modern Scandinavian design and Tesla-like upgradable technology, and has struck a chord with Aussie buyers who snapped up Volvos in increasing numbers last year.
“Our continued growth in Australia will come via our pure-electric models and the EX90 will lead that charge,” said Volvo Australia’s PR and corporate comms director Greg Bosnich.
“It represents a new era for Volvo that not only cements our leadership in safety but now also opens people’s minds to our credentials in sustainability,” he said.
A well as using recycled plastics for its cabin materials and seat upholsteries, the Volvo EX90 gets a big 111kWh lithium-ion battery pack that’s good for a 600km range, claims Volvo.
Bi-directional charging capability is on the cards and Volvo’s new luxury flagship is bristling with enough advanced sensors, cameras and radars to make it ready for fully autonomous driving – even if Volvo says legislation will prevent that for many years to come.
Volvo EX90 to debut LiDAR
It’s also the first Volvo to be fitted with LiDAR, hidden beneath a taxi-like bulge at the top of the windscreen, which will make the vehicle significantly more expensive but also the safest Volvo yet.
“I think this is the safest car Volvo has ever produced and the reason for that is not just because of the sensor set, the ultrasonics, the radar and all the cameras and software that runs all of those, it’s the LiDAR,” Volvo CEO Jim Rowan told carsales.
“It’s just a super technology. It’s expensive right now but it’ll come down in cost,” he said, adding that Volvo was already “talking to multiple start-ups in this space”.
According to Rowan, Volvo’s LiDAR suite “…enables you to see 200 metres in pitch black darkness – nothing’s been able to do that or come anywhere close to that”.
Every EX90 will have LiDAR installed and it will be future-proofed via the kind of software upgrading strategy that Tesla has used to great effect.
Volvo’s senior technical advisor for safety, Thomas Broberg, explained that by using over-the-air updates the EX90 and subsequent Volvo models will become smarter and safer in future, adding that while some upgrades will cost money, others will be free.
“What’s good with the new cars… we have the capability of upgrading [vehicles systems] over the air, which means that we can improve the safety and the safety functionality over time, over the lifetime of the car as well.
“So we have a totally new platform and the development of that will help us tremendously looking forward and to always improve the functionality that we have today.”
Broberg said the EX90 will be able to drive itself on well-marked highways, but conceded that fully autonomous driving – legally – remains at the very least a decade away.
Volvo’s chief operating officer, Bjorn Annwall, said the inclusion of LiDAR sensor equipment on the EX90 straight out of the box “…will play a big role across the industry in terms of [taking] driving safety to the next step.”
Volvo EX90 technology and sustainability
Sporting a futuristic exterior design complete with auto-retracting LED driving lights, the 2024 Volvo EX90 Volvo’s interior is also a technological tour-de-force, with a 25-speaker Bowers and Wilkins stereo complete with speakers embedded in the head restraints and an entirely new Google Android-powered infotainment system beamed onto a 14.6-inch central touch-screen.
“This collaboration with Google… makes the car a truly integrated partner in your digital ecosystem in a very, very seamless and easy way. It really doesn’t feel that clunky,” insisted the Volvo COO.
Annwall said that handing over almost all the infotainment software development duties to Google wasn’t without risk, but offered: “I think it would be an even bigger risk if we tried to do this ourselves… and I think we should focus our software competencies on other areas [like] making cars safer, making them drive better – that’s where we have an edge.
“So we need to be selective whom we partner with and how we partner with companies, but I don’t think Volvo can make a better map than Google. I don’t think Volvo can do a better voice recognition system.
Another big change for the Volvo EX90 is its cow-free cabin, with Nordico imitation leather or wool seat upholstery being the only options.
Volvo’s director for sustainability, Stuart Templar, says the quality of synthetic leather is improving and customers should be more concerned about sustainability than traditional upholstery materials.
“We’ve made the decision that our EVs do not contain leather so de facto by 2030 we’ll be [using only] leather-free materials.”
“We have our Volvo-created material called Nordico and I’ve felt it and touched it and many others have, and it is a high-quality material. I think it will improve through the years. I think it has got a future.”
Volvo insists that customers will soon demand sustainable solutions for almost every element of a new vehicle –including its manufacture – and has pledged to become a carbon-neutral corporation by 2040.
For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales’ Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast
Join the conversation at our Facebook page Or email us at [email protected]
Keyword: Aussies lining up for new 2024 Volvo EX90 flagship