Volvo EX30
New from £33,050 / £334 p/m
How long will it take to charge?
Results based on 51.00kWh Volvo EX30 battery
0
For a part charge (up to 0 miles)
0
For an 0% charge 0
You can charge this vehicle in 29 minutes at its fastest charging speed of 150 kW
* We have used data from the manufacturer to estimate these charging times, they are only a guide. Charging times for some speeds may not have been provided.
Is the Volvo EX30 SUV a good car?
Read our expert review
"The all-electric EX30 impresses and frustrates in equal measure. The good news? It’s affordable enough to compete with the likes of the Vauxhall Mokka Electric, MG4 and BYD Atto 3 while outwardly looking just as stylish and premium as any Volvo. The Geely-supplied electric tech powering it is slick, fast and quick to charge while combining well with the Scandi design and sustainable sensibilities the brand is known for. But some of the driver assistance tech is infuriating, ditto the fiddly interface with it via the big central touch-screen. The focus on supercar-like acceleration figures and excessive power outputs also feels at odds with Volvo’s safety-conscious values, let alone what the steering, suspension and brakes feel like they can cope with. Some electronic glitches with our test car give some reliability concerns, too. Click here for our standalone review of the range-topping EX30 Cross Country."
Read the review by category
Running costs for a Volvo EX30
5/5
Compared with other Volvos the EX30 is a lot more affordable to buy, without necessarily looking cheap. Which is a neat trick, and credit to Volvo’s design skills and premium vibe. Where there are some cheaper materials and cost-cutting inside the EX30 cleverly makes a virtue out of it, the overall look and feel still in a league above the Mokka Electric, Jeep Avenger, e-2008 or other compact electric crossovers you may be comparing it against. In terms of running costs it's the usual story for electric cars, Volvo’s target audience apparently more likely than most to have off-street parking and facility to install a home charge point if they haven’t already. And therefore able to charge on cheap off-peak domestic electricity rates. Even if you can’t do that the decent range means integrating a single public charging session into your regular routine should do you for a week’s worth of school run duties, or an average commute.
Reliability of a Volvo EX30
2/5
Economies of scale through sharing a battery, motors and other bits with the related Smart #1 and Zeekr X help explain the EX30’s keen price and come from the Chinese-based Geely group, of which Volvo is now a part. No concerns there given Geely’s resources and engineering clout, especially in electric vehicles. Many of the car’s systems can be updated over the air without needing to visit a workshop as well, but if something does go wrong there’s a relatively standard three-year warranty for the car and eight years on the battery. We did suffer some niggles over the course of our test, though, including inconsistent automatic unlocking and a glitching steering wheel switch. See more in ‘Safety’ below.
Safety for a Volvo EX30
1/5
Safety should be the one thing the EX30 sells on, given Volvo’s heritage. And, fair to say, testing body NCAP gave it a full five stars. Unfortunately, existing real-world safety concerns we had with the driver assistance tech haven’t been addressed. Specifically, the fact it’s easier to adjust cabin ambient lighting effects than select safety-critical functions like foglights, which are three levels deep in a touch-screen menu and demand you take your eyes off the road when driving conditions demand you absolutely shouldn’t. A glitching steering wheel switch also prevented us from being able to select manual headlights in fading winter light the automatic lights didn’t respond to, this also preventing mirror adjustment due to the multipurposing of what few physical switches there are. Again, we’d consider this safety critical. The way Pilot Assist ricochets between line markings like it’s downed a virtual can of Special Brew isn’t much better, supposedly automated lane changes that leave you drifting into the central reservation or hard shoulder similarly alarming. Nor is trust in the safety tech helped by the speed warnings constantly calling it wrong on the posted limit, meaning endless unnecessary bonging unless you switch them off. Itself requiring more time with eyes off the road and on the screen. Volvo told us all of this would be addressed and supplied us a fresh car to test the theory but, three years on, it’s just as bad as when we first tried it. Bouncy suspension and constant chirps from the rear tyres under even mild acceleration suggest the EX30 simply hasn’t been engineered to take the considerable power its motors put out, either. Poor show for a brand previously defined by its safety innovation and rigorous engineering.
How comfortable is the Volvo EX30
4/5
Compared with the related Smart #1 and Zeekr X it’s interesting to see how Volvo has made its own mark on the shared foundations. While the Smart in particular puts rear legroom before boot space Volvo has gone the other way, and while there’s room for an adult to sit behind an averaged sized driver you’ll find your legs against the back of the seat. The trade-off is a boot big enough to carry a pushchair and the weekly shop, while a compartment under what would normally be the bonnet has space to stash your charging cables. For driver and front seat passenger, meanwhile, Volvo seats have always been among the most comfortable, and while they’re mounted close to the floor to make room for the batteries the driving position is good. Having to delve into the touch-screen menus to adjust the mirrors (via the steering wheel buttons) is a faff we could live without, though. We also found the suspension on our Single Motor Extended Range test car simultaneously lacking refinement or control, the EX30 crashing over bumpy roads but also wallowing about on twisty ones.
Features of the Volvo EX30
4/5
While the policy of putting everything through the central screen results in a clean and uncluttered driving environment it’s not without compromises. Without even basic instrumentation in your line of sight just checking your speed means taking your eyes off the road, fiddly fonts and tiny screen icons exacerbating the issue. Added to this the angle of the wireless phone charging pad means your phone slides around triggering a large notification in the middle of the screen every time it moves. Credit due, the Google-powered interface will be familiar to Android users and is divided into clearly defined zones, and if you don’t mind interacting via voice commands it will recognise you from your home smart speaker as well. If you’re into that kind of thing. Bad luck if you’re not, or you’re an Apple user less familiar with a Google-driven world. However, Apple CarPlay is provided. There are some nice little physical design touches as well, like the pull-out rubbish bin for the kids to dump their sweet wrappers (complete with moulded in moose and pine trees on its sides) and the Swedish flag tags on the front seats. Details, perhaps, but the kind of feelgood factors Volvo does so well. In terms of kit there’s a big step up from the base Core to the more generously equipped Plus, this adding things like a Harman Kardon soundbar, ambient lighting, auto-dimming mirrors, a power tailgate and a gloss black roof. We do have concerns with the ‘smart’ key fob, though. This automatically unlocks the car when you approach, a fancy light show announcing its awakening. Which happened constantly with the car out on the driveway and the keys inside the house. It didn’t actually unlock but was still somewhat worrying, the fact it sometimes didn’t work when we actually tried to open the door annoying for the fact there are no buttons on the fob to override the automatic system.
Power for a Volvo EX30
4/5
There are three levels of motor and battery in the EX30, the base version getting a simpler and more affordable powerpack with range of just over 200 miles. The Single Motor Extended Range and Twin Motor Performance models get a fancier battery good for just shy of a 300 miles by best-case estimates, even if the efficiency we scored would have got us a little over 200 miles in the real world. We’d put part of the blame for that on Volvo’s somewhat surprising fixation on performance, even the single-motor models putting 272 horsepower through the rear wheels. Or trying to, the traction control sometimes struggling to contain it and keep up, even with a relatively light foot on the throttle. While the steering is nice and sharp the soggy suspension doesn’t feel up to the job of containing this level of performance either, begging the question why on earth you’d want even more power and the 428 horsepower twin-motor version. No way on earth does a small family crossover of this type need this much power, or the ability to hit 60mph from rest in under four seconds. Put it this way, we’d much rather Volvo had spent more time making the EX30’s suspension work properly and sorting the glitchy electronics than making it go faster than it needs to.
Lease deals
These deals are based on terms of 8,000 miles, for a 36 month lease with a 6 months initial payment.
£459.71
Monthly payment
£2,758.26
Initial payment
Standard equipment
Expect the following equipment on your Volvo EX30 SUV. This may vary between trim levels.
Other vehicles in the EX30 family
EX30 Cross Country SUV
Cool lifestyle image
Sustainable Scandi design ethos
Comfier than standard EX30
Related articles and reviews
Volvo EX30 (2026 – ) review
Stylish, sustainable and surprisingly affordable, Volvo’s compact electric SUV ticks an awful lot of boxes but isn’t without frustrations
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