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2022 Volvo XC60 Recharge First Drive Review | Pumping up the electric range

PALM SPRINGS, Calif — It may not look like it on the outside, but the 2022 Volvo XC60 Recharge is a substantially updated plug-in hybrid SUV. In fact, the entire XC60 line is refreshed for the 2022 model year, but weÂ’re going to zero in on the Recharge PHEV.  Volvo let us spend a day behind the wheel of the newly-announced “extended range” Recharge model in sunny California, and we came away with far more feelings than expected from this Swedish crossover. Just so everybody is on the same page, the “extended range” Recharge represents a mid-model-year refresh of the XC60 Recharge. There were 2022 model year XC60 Recharge models sold prior to today that featured the same electric hardware as prior model years, and therefore featured the old EPA-estimated electric range of 19 miles on a full charge. The “extended range” model that we drove bumps that all the way up to 36 miles, nearly doubling the previous range. Volvo says that these new “extended range” models are the ones shipping to dealers now, not the older model. This is definitely something to be aware of in later years should you find a used 2022 XC60. So, how has Volvo found this much extra range? The big difference is in the battery pack, going from an 11.6-kilowatt-hour pack to an 18.8-kWh pack. Volvo managed to package a third layer of cells into the pack that it didnÂ’t have before, and it did so in the same space as before — it continues to run along the carÂ’s spine in the center tunnel area. Volvo claims that this more energy-dense battery pack will take 5-8 hours to charge when hooked up to a 240V power source, so you should easily get a full charge by leaving it plugged in overnight, assuming you have the applicable charging hardware.  This new battery pack is paired with a totally revamped powertrain setup. The layout is the same as before. That means there is an electric motor positioned on the rear axle that drives the rear wheels and a gasoline engine in front that exclusively powers the front wheels, thereby giving the XC60 Recharge all-wheel drive. To our delight, both the electric motor and the gasoline engine are new this year. The new rear electric motor represents a big power boost, with 143 horsepower greatly surpassing the old motorÂ’s 87 horsepower. Ultimately, this means that the XC60 Recharge is now significantly more enjoyable to drive in its purely electric mode (aptly named “Pure”).

Volvo already planning road-going V8 Supercar?

After decades of cat-and-mouse battle waged between Holden and Ford, Australia's V8 Supercars series has expanded considerably. Mercedes and Nissan both joined the grid last season, and Volvo has followed suit this year. So when 2014 championship kicked off earlier this month in Adelaide, everyone was watching to see who would come out on top.
The answer is Holden, which took first place in all three of the weekend's races. In fact the General Motors division locked out the podium in the first and third races and took first and third places in the second race, letting just one other manufacturer onto the podium the entire weekend - and that was Volvo. The Polestar S60 scored second place on its first race weekend, beating all the Nissan Altimas, the Mercedes E63 AMGs, the Ford Falcons and most of the Holden Commodores.
Now that's hardly winning the championship, but it's a very solid debut. And that point was not lost on the people back at headquarters in Sweden, who are already thinking about making a roadgoing version of the race-spec V8 Supercar.

Volvo aiming for a stock IPO by the end of 2021

Volvo Cars is "making good progress" toward a potential initial public offering by the end of this year, the chief executive of the Swedish premium auto brand told Reuters on Wednesday. "We are looking at the possibility of doing an IPO before the end of the year," listing shares on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange, company CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in an interview. Samuelsson and other Volvo executives on Wednesday laid out an extensive road map to becoming a fully electric car maker by 2030, including plans to sell 600,000 battery electric vehicles at mid-decade and build a European battery gigafactory in 2026. Volvo earlier this year scrapped a proposed merger with the company's Chinese parent, Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile. In March, Geely said Volvo would explore capital market options, including an initial public offering and stock market listing. Many startups have gone public in the United States and China over the past two years, following electric vehicle market leader Tesla Inc in taking advantage of investor enthusiasm to raise cheap capital to compete with established brands such as Volvo. Samuelsson said Volvo and Geely will continue to share vehicle architectures, internal combustion powertrains and other components. But the companies will do so at "an arm's length distance," consistent with the way independent companies do business, he said. During Wednesday's briefing, Volvo also said it plans to equip many of its future vehicles with self-driving technology, including standard lidar sensors from Luminar Technologies Inc and computers from Nvidia Corp. "Our goal is to build the safest cars possible, using all available technology," Samuelsson said. As it launches new electric vehicles, Volvo also plans a slew of related products, including insurance and vehicle subscription payment plans offered directly by the automaker, Samuelsson said. "The whole vehicle business will be recurring revenue," Samuelsson said. In Europe, the company plans to change its retail operations so that customers order new electric vehicles directly from the manufacturer, with dealers paid commissions to deliver them, Samuelsson said. In the United States, where laws protect existing dealers, Volvo will still sell vehicles through franchised retailers. For its future electric vehicles, Volvo is working with Swedish partner Northvolt on a new generation of batteries with higher energy and designed to be packaged as a structural element of the vehicle.