- It's taken Volvo a while to get its electric flagship, the EX90, off the ground.
- The EX90 has been delayed multiple times, faced a pre-release price hike and won't have some promised features at launch.
- Still, it's here, and I'm driving it. What do you want to know?
The launch of the Volvo EX90 was supposed to be a coronation for a brand that has long taken electrification seriously. Yet the road to market has not been an easy one. Volvo's EV flagship has been delayed multiple times. Its price has already been hiked since it was revealed last fall. It's no longer fully replacing the XC90, and it won't launch alongside the affordable EX30, as expected. Finally, it'll be missing some features at launch. Will it still be worth the way?
That's what I'll find out this week, when I finally drive the EX90. Volvo is holding a first drive event in Laguna Beach, California, and there I'll have access to the EX90 and Volvo executives, engineers and automated driving experts. So if you've got questions about the EX90, drop them in the comments, and I'll try to get them answers.
Gallery: 2024 Volvo EX90 North American Debut
There's plenty to ask about. The EX90 is a big leap for Volvo. The company launched its new, Geely-owned era with the XC90 back in 2015, and that defined the mold for all Volvo models since. The styling and technology features of the XC90 trickled to the rest of Volvo's lineup, reinvigorating what had become something of a stalled brand. It also laid out what was then the future of Volvo powertrains, with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder as the only internal combustion engine. It was offered with a turbocharger, supercharger and hybrid setup in some configurations, with plug-in models charting Volvo's course into electrification.
Now, Volvo's taking the next step toward its all-EV future. The EX90 comes with a 112-kWh battery, up to 510 hp (402 in the base trim), up to 308 miles of range and standard AWD. But it's not just the powertrain that's a sign of things to come at Volvo. It's got a new generation of infotainment system with Google Built-In, a revised cabin design language and Volvo's next generation of "Pilot Assist" driver assistance.
Volvo's newest version of Pilot Assist now features lidar for highly granular object detection, even in low light, but Volvo says it won't be actively assisting driving when the vehicle launches this fall.
"Lidar equipped on early production vehicles will begin in data collection mode and over time the technological capabilities of the lidar will expand to include additional sensing scenarios as part of our Safe Space Technology, including the ability to detect objects in darkness at highway speeds up to 820 feet ahead," Volvo says on its site.
Wireless CarPlay also won't be available from the get-go, and users may have some phantom drain. Clearly, Volvo's still got some work to do to get the EX90—and EX30—where they need to be. But while its little brother exists in trade-war limbo, the EX90 is arriving on dealer lots soon. Before I write up my review, what do you all want to know about it?
