Volvo's Finally Got An Answer For The BMW i5
Volvo already has multiple electric crossovers on the market, including versions built from scratch, like the EX30, and EVs converted from gas-powered models, such as the XC40 Recharge, now called the EX40. But what about electric cars? You know, sedans. Volvo still builds lots of traditional sedans every year, and it has just teased its first one powered by electricity.
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Volvo
Volvo is a Swedish automaker owned by Geely since 2010 and headquartered in Gothenburg Sweden. Founded in 1927, it has evolved into a premium automaker renowned for its safety, famously giving away free access to the patent for the three-point seatbelt in 1959, saving countless lives since. Volvo has also continually pushed to include the best safety tech in its cars ahead of time, and set a mission in 2007 that by 2020, no one would be killed or seriously injured in a Volvo. Today, that mission has evolved to avoid all collisions in a Volvo. Volvo was also an early adopter of EV technology and had planned to go all-electric by 2030, but recently pushed back this deadline, instead aiming for a 90-100% electric or plug-in hybrid goal by 2030 instead.
The Volvo ES90 will be that car. Volvo released a teaser of its latest product, and it says the new full-sized car is only "weeks away." Specifically, we'll see the new car on the first Wednesday of next month.
ES90 Will Have Eight-Times More Computing Power Than EX90
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Volvo's electric sedan will be built on the same large and luxurious SPA2 platform that you'll find under the EX90 EV, but the Swedish automaker is already moving the bar since that SUV hit the market. This will be the first Volvo to use a dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin chip configuration.
That's Nvidia's latest autonomous driving-focused system-on-a-chip and each one delivers 254 trillion operations per second. It gives this car more computing power than any prior Volvo, eightfold more than the previous EX90 setup. The automaker says the hardware will let it "raise the bar on safety and overall performance."
2008 - 2011 Volvo S40 - front grille
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The Swedish marque will also begin testing a followup to the EX30 this year.
Like the EX90, the ES90 will use what Volvo calls its "Superset tech stack." That's a set of hardware and software modules to control the rest of the vehicle. The system will be used in all of Volvo's upcoming EVs, and the Swedish automaker says the tech lets it improve the car as it leaves the factory and makes it easier to roll out updates down the road.
Safety has long been at the forefront of Volvo design, and the ES90 will be no different. It will come with eight cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, five radars, and one lidar sensor to feed its advanced safety systems.
Teasers Show Traditional Volvo Design
The teaser images show a car that looks about what we expect a Volvo to look like. The roofline is slightly longer and more gently curved toward the rear than the current S90's, but the sharp line running from nose to tail is very Volvo. You can also see taillights running up the back of the car, which suggests that this could be a hatchback rather than a traditional sedan with a trunk. We can't see them yet, but Volvo's Thor's Hammer headlights are almost a guarantee.
Then there's the feature that's a nod to one of Volvo parent Geely's other brands. The EX90-style bulge in the roof is for the lidar sensor suite, but it looks a lot like the indicator on the top of the traditional London black cab. It's a coincidence, but Geely also owns the company that builds those cars. The full reveal happens on March 5. Volvo will livestream the event, and we'll have the news for you as it happens.
