Volvo EX30 Extended Range Plus 2024 Review

At $59,990 before the on-road costs, the least-expensive version of the Volvo EX30 is the Extended Range Plus variant which shares its rear-drive configuration with the better-equipped $66,290 Extended Range Ultra. Volvo charges $71,290 pre-ORCs for the 315kW/543Nm AWD twin-motor Performance model which doesn’t sound like a lot of money for a vehicle that will outrun many exotic ICE performance cars.

The AWD EX30’s true competitors are more mundane and include EVs such as Kia’s Niro, priced pre-ORCs between $66,590 and $72,360, the $64,990 to $77,890 MINI Countryman, and Renault’s single-model Megane E-Tech at $54,990. Perhaps the most concerning competitor will be the $60,000-odd Zeekr X due for local launch in October this year.

The Volvo XC40 EV (like the EX30, classified as a small, $45K-plus SUV) will most likely slip off the top-three leaderboard – where it sits behind Audi’s Q3 and BMW’s X1 – to make way for its new sibling.

All Volvo EX30s are appropriately eco-friendly with recycled, leather-free and minimalist-design interiors, and an advanced cabin-air filtering system.

In entry-level Plus form it comes with 19-inch alloy wheels and a two-tone roof, while inside there’s wireless smartphone charging, Harman Kardon audio (with a high-tech soundbar speaker stretching the full width of the dash), dual-zone climate control – complete with advanced cabin air filtering already mentioned – and a power tailgate. Like all Volvo EX30s, GPS is available through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone mirroring.

Missing at this level and listed as standard on Ultra versions are powered front seats with heating, an also-heated steering wheel, dark-tinted back and rear-side windows, a fixed panoramic sunroof and a group of cameras enabling bird’s-eye-view parking.

The Volvo EX30 is covered by a five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty with eight years of roadside assistance and an eight-year battery warranty. In keeping with the low maintenance aspects of electrically-powered vehicles, the EX30 is scheduled for servicing every two years, with pricing beginning at $229 and varying from there, depending on the vehicle’s age and kilometres covered.

Volvo is traditionally a safety-conscious car-maker and the EX30 remains true to long-held principles.

In addition to familiar primary and secondary safety aids such as autonomous emergency braking in forward and reverse (it’s the low-speed City Safety concept introduced by Volvo years ago) and adaptive cruise control, the EX30 comes with vehicle, cyclist, scooter and pedestrian detection with steering avoidance, front and rear cross-traffic alert with auto braking, road sign recognition, lane-keep assist, run-off-road mitigation, BLIS blind spot monitoring with steer assist, intersection auto brake, front and rear cross traffic alert, park assist camera and rear view and door opening alert.

The seven-airbag Volvo EX30 doesn’t yet have an ANCAP safety rating but, with its comprehensive range of technology, a full five-star score can be expected.

The portrait-style 12.3-inch centre touchscreen is standard on all EX30 variants but, in a sense, that’s about where it stops as far as conventional information technology is concerned.

While the road speed is permanently displayed when on the move via a large digital readout to the right of the centre screen, other information is mostly accessed by touching either the screen, the steering wheel stalks, or the buttons on the squarish, multi-function yoke-style steering wheel. This can get confusing at first, but adjusting to the different process doesn’t take long.

Already familiar in other Volvo EVs, the card-style locking/unlocking and motor activation feels a bit spooky, as all the driver needs to do is walk up to the car, open the door, sit down and it’s ready to go. It follows the same routine when the car is parked and the driver walks away, independently shutting down the motor and locking the doors without instructions.

As in the case of all Volvo EX30s, the rear-drive Volvo EX30 Extended Range Plus stores its power in a 400-Volt 69kW/h lithium-ion battery pack. The rear motor packs a solid 200kW of power, with 343Nm of torque available from just 115rpm through to a precise maximum of 5375rpm.

Given free rein, this will propel the 1810kg electric SUV from zero to 100km/h in a genuinely quick 5.3 seconds.

Volvo quotes an officially verified global WLTP range of 480km for the EX30 Extended Range Plus, claiming approximately 30 minutes on a 175kW DC fast-charger to take the battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent charge. Plug into a conventional wall socket and that time stretches out to a lot more.

As car stylists hunker down to create a recognisable EV design language, Volvo has scored points with the understated but unarguably attention-getting EX30. Especially in the Moss Yellow hue of our review vehicle.

Combined with the 19-inch wheels – not the biggest available but standout design features nonetheless – this made our review EX30 a visual target, appropriately for its target customers.

Going through the motions of gaining key-free access and also key-free motor activation seemed laudable at first, but after standing by several times, waiting for the EX30 to unlock itself as promised, it proved quite frustrating in the end.

The good thing is that all of this was forgiven once the EX30 decided it was ready to go and we settled into the ergonomic seats, facing the almost painfully-plain dash. But if there didn’t appear to be an awful lot going on visually at first, the whole interior is so stylish, so tasteful and so different that we were quickly won over.

As for the way the single-motor EX30 drives, the winning over was practically instant. EVs rarely fail to please with their silent, accelerative rush and the EX30 delivered all of that in spades. Because it’s all so quiet, the sense of being catapulted forward with the help of an oversized elastic band is magnified.

The single-motor EX30’s ride, despite its relatively short 2650mm wheelbase, is nicely sorted too, and the steering, at 2.7 turns from lock to lock for an 11-metre turning circle, is weighted close to perfection.

And there’s barely a moment, as you surge from corner to corner on a tightly winding, undulating road, when you think of how small the EX30 actually is. It is shorter in body length and wheelbase than a Mazda3, but even the single-motor rear-drive versions accelerate as quickly as a 1980s Lamborghini Countach. To 100km/h at least.

In a recreational activity where EVs are not taken too seriously, the EX30 Extended Range Plus rates quite well as a tow vehicle, with the ability to tote a braked trailer weighing up to 1600 kg. By comparison, the Kia Niro and MINI Countryman are rated at 750kg.

The amount of space inside the EX30 is not going to attract large families, which is no surprise given its compact overall dimensions. The latest MINI Countryman beats it hands-down for body size. The Volvo’s boot measures 318 litres with the 60-40 split-fold rear seatback up, and 904 litres overall when it’s folded down. The Countryman offers 460 litres and 1450 litres respectively, which puts the EX30 right out of contention despite the 71 litres of added storage space under the bonnet.

And as for the back seat, basketballers need not apply. It’s virtually impossible to find legroom behind a 180cm-tall front passenger, even with a bit of friendly compromising.

But the ergonomic seats are comfortable and supportive over a long haul and the environmentally-correct materials used throughout imbue a nice sense of durable quality.

Initially, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of storage space in the cabin, but with slide-out cupholders that emerge from the centre armrests between the seats, a lower-level tray that stretches from where a front centre console would normally be to the rear-seat air vents, plus a hinged-door compartment in the lower-centre dash – and door pockets – there’s room enough.

The Volvo EX30 Extended Range Plus is the company’s price-leading EV, yet it upholds traditional core values in terms of quality, safety and passenger comfort. And it’s something of a visual standout, externally and internally.

Unexpected in the early days of EVs, but now increasingly common, road performance has become something of a signature across the spectrum, and the EX30 is no outsider. To describe even single-motor versions as determinedly quick is not an exaggeration. The twin-motor AWD version is ferociously fast.

The Volvo EX30 presents a formidable challenge to its core competitors that hail from Korea, Germany and France, and is restricted only by compromised passenger space and meagre load-carrying capacity.

In every other sense, the Volvo EX30 Extended Range Plus, to the increasing number of buyers stepping across the line into an EV universe, is irresistible.

2024 Volvo EX30 Extended Range Plus at a glance:

Price: $59,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Single permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 200kW/343Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 69kWh 169 Amp/hr lithium-ion
Range: 480km WLTP
Energy consumption: 14kWh/100km (NEDC)
Safety rating: Not tested