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By Jonathan Crouch

Volvo's cool-vibed EX30 takes its brand into a completely new, more affordable EV segment. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 52

The EX30 is a different kind of Volvo, a small posh EV for a new era and a model that will bring enormous conquest sales for the brand. It's more affordable than you might be expecting and would perhaps make an ideal second car for upwardly mobile families embracing the electric revolution.

Backgroundword count: 203

Just about every mainstream car maker right at present seems to be trying to re-invent itself as an all-electric brand. In most cases, particularly with the premium makers, that seems to involve bringing us futuristic-looking EVs priced far out of the reach of most ordinary customers. Volvo wants to be different. And proof of that comes with this car, the EX30. This Chinese-owned Swedish brand can only survive by attracting new breed of younger customers and the EX30 is its most important car yet in reaching them. The brand says this model's job is to 'bring premium full-electric mobility to a much broader audience' and three-quarters of the people who choose it will never have considered a Volvo before. It's pitched and priced well below the company's existing EX40 and EC40 Volvo electric models that compete with the base EVs from other premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes. And sized interestingly, somewhere between an EV supermini and an EV family hatch. That means lower pricing than you might expect, which is crucial if Volvo is to get anywhere near its rather over-ambitious ambitious target of achieving 50% EV sales across its model mix by 2025. Sounds interesting. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experienceword count: 386

You might feel as if Volvo has got its priorities a bit mixed up here - but pleasantly so. The fastest Twin Motor version of this EX30 is the quickest-accelerating Volvo ever built and even the Single Motor Extended Range variant we tried (the derivative almost all customers will choose) has a very useful 272hp and takes just 5.3s to dispatch the 0-62mph sprint. That's vastly more power than you'd get with comparable models in this segment; which is a rather irrelevant selling point given that most customers will see EV driving range as a considerably greater priority than neck-snapping performance. A pity then, that the EX30 doesn't fare anything like as well in that regard. The Single Motor Extended Range version is the most frugal EX30 model you could choose, with a best-possible EV range figure of 296 miles - some way short of the 347 mile figure you'd get in, say, a rival 77kWh Volkswagen ID.3 Pro S. If your budget will only stretch to the smaller-battery 51kWh Single Motor version of this car, your range capability will be restricted to a rather feeble best of 209 miles. Under the skin lies the most compact version of the Geely Group's 'SEA' 'Scalable Experience Architecture' platform, engineered here to produce a well-judged standard of ride. Body roll's well resisted too, which might have made for an engaging confection were it not for the rather lifeless steering. Which is a pity because the top Twin Motor performance flagship variant we mentioned earlier might have offered the basis for a really exciting EV hot hatch. This model makes 280 miles between charges and adds an extra motor on the front axle to create all-wheel drive and boost total output to a stonking 428hp; enough to storm a Twin Motor EX30 to 62mph in just 3.6s. Normally, this is the point where we'd be talking of the need to engage a 'Sport' mode to get anywhere near the quoted performance figures, but Volvo doesn't seem to believe in a proliferation of driving settings for its EVs. There aren't any provided drive modes, nor are there the steering wheel paddleshifters to control brake regeneration that some other competitors offer. Just a 'One Pedal Drive' setting activated via the centre screen - and even that doesn't slow you particularly fiercely.

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