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Recharge Wrap-up: Volvo's efficient truck concept, Tesla's updated mobile charger is cheaper

Mercedes-Benz plans to equip its gasoline-powered cars with particulate emissions filters, just like its diesel vehicles. Claiming to be the first automaker to apply the technology to gasoline motors, successful testing in the S500 led to the decision to expand the use of these filters. This announcement coincides with a $3.35 billion investment in clean diesel technology, including a new four-cylinder engine that adheres to strict emissions guidelines. It's not clear when Mercedes will begin including the filters on its gasoline vehicles, or if it intends to use them outside of Europe. Read more at Green Car Reports. Tesla has updated its mobile charger and given it a lower price. The 40-amp "Mobile Connector Bundle" – which used to sell for $650 – is now priced at $550 with two adapters and a storage bag, with an available $520 version offered without the adapters. Tesla's product description reads, "The Corded Mobile Connector has an integrated 240 volt 50 amp rated plug for high power output. A seamless design provides a low profile connection, allowing for use with covered outdoor outlets." Read more at Electrek. Volvo has developed a new truck concept that reduces fuel consumption by more than 30 percent. The modified Volvo FH 420 long-haul truck, simply called the Volvo Concept Truck, features 40 percent better aerodynamic efficiency, a weight reduction of about 4,400 pounds, and tires with lower rolling resistance. The truck's rear view mirrors have been replaced by cameras, which, in addition to reducing drag, also improve safety through better visibility. While the research vehicle won't reach market as-is, some of its aerodynamic features have already been included in real-world applications, with more to come as Volvo aims to improve the efficiency of its trucks by 50 percent. Read more at Green Car Congress, and in the press release below. Volvo Trucks' new concept truck cuts fuel consumption by more than 30% Almost one-third lower fuel consumption. Volvo Trucks' new concept vehicle shows how it is possible to drastically boost productivity in long-haul operations. Among the secrets behind these remarkable fuel savings are aerodynamic design and lower kerb weight. With support from the Swedish Energy Agency, Volvo Trucks has developed a new concept vehicle, the Volvo Concept Truck. It is the result of a five year long research project aimed at creating more energy-efficient vehicles.

2025 Volvo EX90 enters production after being delayed last year

After a delay of about eight months, Volvo's Ridgeville, South Carolina plant is now assembling the EX90 battery-electric SUV. Volvo's original plan was to get its new flagship in production toward the end of 2023 so that dealers might have models in showrooms early this year. There's also the reservation list, which filled so quickly that Volvo shut it down sooner than anticipated. However, after the car's November 2022 reveal, Volvo engineers confronted unexpected complexities with its software stack. In May 2023, the automaker officially delayed the start of production until the first half of this year. Part of the complexity was the brain in Volvo's EV push, the new VolvoCars.OS software platform running on a new "core computing" system developed with Nvidia and using the tech company's Drive Orin chips — the same chips Rivian uses for its new, streamlined electrical architecture in the Gen 2 R1 models. In Volvo's words, the core computing system "is made up of three main computers. These support each other in operating vision processing and artificial intelligence, general computing and infotainment respectively," this fundamental change in vehicle brain layout allowing the automaker "to gradually separate hardware from software. This means the company can introduce more frequent hardware cycles, so that new Volvo models can be equipped with the latest available hardware." Rowan said he believes the delay will ease the path for what's coming; the code written for the EX90 will see use elsewhere in the lineup, what the coders learning during this hiccup serving the automaker all the way through to an eventual transition to the Global Product Architecture that will succeed the EX90's SPA2 architecture. Back to the South Carolina plant, the first customer car off the line, done up in Denim Blue, will be delivered later this year. The plant's got more good news as well from the other vehicle it builds, the S60 sedan, with year-to-date sales up 255% compared to 2023. Related video: 2024 Volvo EX90 exterior and interior walkaround review

2025 Volvo EX90 now $3,300 more expensive thanks to materials costs

Without any fanfare, and with sharp surprise to some dealerships and reservation holders, Automotive News reports Volvo upped the price on all EX90 trims by $3,300. The automaker told the outlet that it raised prices on May 1, a month before the EX90 entered production after almost a year of delays. Volvo said it told its dealer body and reservation holders about the increase on June 26, the same day it informed reservation holders that the electric SUV would miss certain features on delivery and be programmed with workarounds for some unsolved issues like battery drainage when parked. The omissions include at least one of the lidar-centric safety systems that Volvo touted as putting the EX90 ahead of the competition when the car launched. The company told one reservation holder the software gaps would be filled in sometime in the "early ownership" phase, the only rational kind of non-answer available to automakers working through EV bugs. We couldn't find any active EX90 forum threads about the price increase, a strange absence for an anticipated vehicle with more than 10,000 preorders. In a Reddit thread from June 27, a commenter writes, "Just got my [EX90] customization email and the price has indeed increased to $79,995 + $1,295 destination fee," making it sound like being surprised by the automaker instead of being informed, such surprise matching a story another potential buyer told AN. And now a note on the EX90 configurator warns shoppers that "Ventilated Nordico is expected to be delivered towards the latter part of the estimated delivery time above." Since there are no delivery times yet, that means no ventilated seats for U.S. buyers for an unknown amount of time.  The new MSRPs figures for EX90 in base Twin Motor form after the $1,295 destination charge are:  Plus 7-seater: $81,290  Plus 6-seater: $81,790  Ultra 7-seater: $85,640  Ultra 6-seater: $86,140  Add $5,000 to these prices to for the Twin Motor Performance drivetrain. Both versions run off a 111-kWh battery from CATL. The first provides a total of 402 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque, and a 0-60 time of 5.7 seconds. The performance version is good for 496 horsepower and 671 pound-feet of torque, shrinking the 0-60 time to 4.7 seconds. A company spokesperson named rising materials costs as the culprit.