The Volvo EX90 electric SUV made its official North American debut at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and is available for pre-order on the Swedish company’s US website.
According to the official press release, Volvo chose to unveil the EX90 at CES, which is – as the name suggests – an electronics show and not a car show, because it “won’t be just a new car; it will be a highly advanced computer on wheels.”
Volvo worked with Google and Luminar (among others) to make the all-electric seven-seater SUV “the smartest vehicle yet” that bears the Volvo name, as well as getting the Swedish carmaker into “a new era for safety.”
The 2024 EX90 is fitted with a long-range lidar, five radars, eight cameras, and 16 ultrasonic sensors which are designed to react when the driver isn’t paying attention to the road as he should be. The lidar, made by Luminar, is standard on all EX90s and can detect small objects “approximately two football fields ahead in day or night, and even at highway speed,” according to Volvo.
There’s also a so-called driver understanding system, which consists of a capacitive steering wheel and two cameras that constantly monitor the driver to check if he’s distracted or sleepy, putting the other safety systems on guard if needed.
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The car comes as standard with a 14.5-inch center touchscreen that has Google apps and services included, such as Google Assistant for hands-free commands and Google Maps for navigation. For Apple users, the EX90 will also offer wireless Apple CarPlay.
Under the skin, Volvo’s all-new electric SUV is virtually identical to the Polestar 3, using the same pair of synchronous permanent magnet motors and the same 111 kWh battery pack that has a usable capacity of 107 kWh.
The company hasn’t released official details about the EPA-rated range, but when we attended the global reveal in Europe, we learned that the EX90 has an estimated range of 372 miles (600 kilometers) on a single charge. For reference, the Polestar 3 with the same battery and motors is EPA rated at 270 miles, so expect Volvo’s model to be somewhere in between when the official EPA rating is published.
As for charging, the EX90 can accept a maximum of 250 kW, allowing for a 30-minute top-up from 10 to 80 percent, but there’s a caveat – the car uses a 400-volt architecture, which means it needs 600 amps, and not all fast chargers can deliver such high amperage. If the CCS charger can only deliver 300 amps at approximately 400 volts, the time to recharge doubles.
The two electric motors that power the EX90 have a combined output of 380 kW (510 horsepower) and 617 pound-feet (910 Nm) of torque, which is identical to the Polestar 3 with the Performance Pack. Volvo hasn’t unveiled how quickly the EX90 accelerates or how fast it can go, but we know from its Polestar cousin that this powertrain is capable of offering a 0-60 mph time of 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph (210 km/h).
The 2024 Volvo EX90 is available for pre-order on the company’s US website, with a “well-equipped” model costing less than $80,000. A $500 refundable deposit is required, with assembly scheduled to begin in South Carolina later this year.
