2022 Volvo C40 Recharge debuts

As we reported earlier, Volvo announced this Tuesday that by 2030, all their cars would be fully electric. That’s not “electrified,” but fully electric in that none of them will be running a petrol engine of any kind, meaning no hybrids or plug-in hybrids.

Volvo also revealed a vehicle today that represents the next step towards this goal: the 2022 Volvo C40 Recharge.

If “40” and “Recharge” seem familiar to you when it comes to speaking about Volvos, that’s because they also both recently appeared on the Volvo XC40 Recharge, essentially a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) version of the XC40 compact crossover. The C40 arrives sharing many of the bits of that vehicle, including its CMA platform and its front-end styling and body panels. Past the a-pillars, however, the C40 is a different animal than the XC40, in that it gets a much ‘swoopier’ roofline, reminiscent of the four-door coupes we’ve recently seen from the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Here, it provides the C40 with an aggressive stance and some futuristic detailing such as the very modern take on Volvo’s vertical taillights. They’re still, technically, vertical but since the c-pillars they occupy are at such a steep rake, they’re almost horizontal. The C40 also gets some unique rims but indeed, what we have here is an interesting cross between the Polestar 2 hatchback and the XC40.

According to Volvo, the only real sacrifice seen when it comes to in-car space is in the rear cargo area, where the aggressive rake of the hatch means owners can’t pack their wares quite as highly as you can in the XC40. Of course, since there’s no engine up front (just an EV motor on each axle), what’s typically an engine bay is now a forward storage unit, or ‘frunk’, and much of the cargo space lost to that swooping rear deck has been regained there.

Passenger space, meanwhile, has not been compromised much past some reduced rear headroom, but Volvo maintains that with the standard full-length moonroof the C40 gets, a lot of that headroom is returned if you keep the moonroof’s cover open. Also, Volvo says that since the C40 has been developed from the ground up as an EV and didn’t have to suffer any of the compromises associated with moving a car from ICE to BEV – as was done with the XC40 – they were able to adjust stuff like seat placement and design touches to keep the interior environs comfortable.

The fact the C40 and its CMA platform were designed to handle BEV running fear also means that the 78 kWh battery sits nice and low in the chassis and is reinforced within the structure of the car.

Other standard features include a black roof — your only choice — and all new pixel-technology headlights.

“This is where design and technology are married really, really well,” says Joe Haslem, 40-series product manager at Volvo USA. “What (pixel technology) does, is it gives us very crisp light coverage, minimizes glare on other road users, it gives us a fun welcoming sequence and we’re future-protected so when (markets) allow more advanced active lighting systems, it’s there already.”

The “welcoming sequence” involves the lights lighting up in a specific way and so forth – we’ve seen similar things on cars lately, but here it’s different. It’s different here because the act of climbing in to the C40 and setting off is unique and seamless, so it’s almost like you need a welcoming sequence to know that the car is ready to go.

All that has to be done when it comes time to head off is move towards the C40 with the keyfob on your person, tug the door handle, and you’re in. There’s no need to plip anything and while that’s not new, the fact that you don’t even have to press a start/stop button before setting off is a much less common. All you need to do is have a seat, buckle up, select drive or reverse, and you’re off.

Not having to fumble or a keyfob for any reason is great for a number of reasons; less chance of leaving it in your car after you park, less hassle in the cold winter months with gloves on and having driven the XC40 Recharge that has the same feature, there’s just something very chauffeur-like about having a car that’s ready to go before you’ve even sat inside. That feeling, of course, is augmented by the fact that you can pre-condition the C40’s climate control system with an app.

To drive the “welcome to your car” point home, the interior lighting glows upon entry and some of it is designed to actually look like a topography map. That fits well with the name of the C40’s exterior launch colour, which is Fjord Blue. According to Haslem, it’s a neat way of mixing the rugged with the urban, as this is a vehicle that Volvo seems to think will be used in both environments.

“(Scandinavians) embrace the city life. They embrace the culture. But they are minutes away from nature and that’s really what this car reflects,” he says. Speaking of embracing life: in an effort to preserve more animal life, not a shred of real leather is going to be used inside the C40, no matter the trim. Rather, Volvos has employed a combination of ‘Nubuck’ synthetic suede, recycled plastic bottles and vinyl for the seats, dash and other interior panels. This way, Volvo can use more recycled products as part of the interior finish.

So while the topographical inserts are meant to reflect nature, the rest of the C40’s interior is very tech-based, centered around the inclusion of Android Automotive. Developed in partnership with Google, Android Automotive essentially turns your vehicle into a Google device. Simply log in to your Google account, and you have access to everything there, from podcasts, to music, to contacts and so on. It also provides access to Google Assistant, with the app being able to do everything from adjusting your climate control settings, to setting your navigation.

Speaking of navigation: in order to get the best of the C40’s WLTP-certified 420 km of range, each waypoint or stop on your route comes with an indicator of how much charge the car thinks you’ll have left once you arrive. It will also tell you what charge points may be nearby, so you can plan your route with charging in mind.

Charging can be done via level I, II or III charging, with the fastest level III charging able to be done at 150 kW and return a charge from zero to 80 per cent in 45 minutes. Power from the two electric motors is rated at 402 horsepower and 487 pound-feet of torque. If it feels anything like the XC40 Recharge – which it undoubtedly will – acceleration will be brisk and the handling quite taut.

No pricing has yet been announced, with Volvo waiting until closer to the C40’s release date in Q1 2022 before announcing.

Either way; with products like this and the XC40 Recharge – not to mention the various plug-in hybrid “Recharge” models the company offers — the foundation of the move to total electrification – and eventually, total BEV power – has been set by Volvo.