New Volvo EX60 electric SUV: design, reveal date and latest details

Volvo has announced the new EX60 will be unveiled in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21 January next year. According to the brand, the EX60 will “mark a significant step in Volvo Cars’ transformation into a fully electrified car maker.”

As an all-electric alternative to the recently-updated XC60, the EX60 will be Volvo’s answer to the Audi Q6 e-tron, Porsche Macan Electric and the highly anticipated, next-generation BMW iX3. The EX60 will have its work cut-out, however, because while it has all those rivals to contend with, the XC60 is also Volvo’s best-selling model globally and expectations will be high. 

Volvo says its new car will deliver “a longer electric range than any Volvo car before it, along with a groundbreaking user experience” - that would mean a greater range than even the new ES90, which tops out at 435 miles.

To create a bit more excitement over the EX60’s reveal date, Volvo also gave us a new teaser of its EV, which showcases the car’s overall profile, while confirming some new design details in the process. 

The EX60’s overall proportions look similar to the current XC60, and our exclusive image gives you a better idea of what the new model will look like. As confirmed by the latest teaser, there’s eight-bit-style Thor’s-hammer LED headlights - we also expect to see flush door handles, a blanked-off grille and aerodynamic alloy wheels. 

Previous images have shown a new rear light signature for the EX60 compared with the XC60, but unlike seemingly every other EV being launched at the moment, there’s no full-width light bar. As far as we can see, there are separate segmented tail-lights embedded in the rear windscreen as you’ll find on the Volvo EX90, EX30 and ES90.

The main tail-light unit is located lower down, behind the car’s pronounced and surprisingly angular rear haunches, and features slim lights elements with a tiny Volvo script at the side. We can also see much bigger Volvo lettering across the tailgate and smooth surfacing, similar to that on the brand’s other electric cars.

Volvo hasn’t confirmed whether the advanced LiDAR driver-assistance tech on the flagship EX90 will filter down to ‘lesser’ models, such as the forthcoming EX60. Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Erik Severinson did, however, tell us that the brand is experimenting with “different kinds of [safety] sensors going forward”.

If you’re after a new Volvo EV then why not check out the Auto Express Find A Car service where you’ll find great deals from the EX30 to the EX90. 

Volvo’s next-generation SPA3 platform

As well as being the first model to feature Volvo’s new ‘multi-adaptive safety belt’ technology, the EX60 will also be the first built on the company’s next-generation SPA3 platform. It’s being described as “groundbreaking” and “designed for longer range, efficiency and intelligent core computing”. 

Supposedly all these developments will make the EX60 “a car that evolves with you”. What exactly does that mean? All we know right now is that “SPA3 is designed to learn and adapt over time with new features and capabilities, helping redefine what it means to engineer, own, and experience a car”.

The SPA3 platform will also allow Volvo to develop and build cars of all sizes using the same technology. Being a scalable architecture, it also means the Swedes can create increased synergies and share key components across all cars built on this platform, which reduces complexity and can help bring down the cost of production.

Volvo EX60 range and battery capacity

Another advance that will set the EX60 apart from other electric Volvos will be its “structural” battery pack. This technology has already been adopted by the likes of Tesla and BYD, and in effect it bonds the battery pack with the floor of the car. The result, Severinson told Auto Express, is “improved energy density” and, given the extra structural rigidity, “great driveability”.

The EX90 uses a huge 107kWh (usable) battery pack that offers a range of 374 miles on a single charge. Given the EX60’s smaller size, we expect to see a slightly more compact, lighter battery fitted. The increased energy density of its structural battery pack will still see range figures for the lighter car best the ES90’s maximum 435-mile range however.  

The incorporation of this new kind of technology is thanks, in part, to the EX60’s megacasted rear underfloor. Unlike most cars, which have rear undercarriages constructed using a multitude of different parts, the EX60 will get a single unit that is cast out of aluminium.

We visited the factory in Gothenburg, Sweden, which will assemble the EX60’s floor. Basically following the same manufacturing processes used to build 1:64-scale model cars but greatly enlarged, megacasting is a relatively new concept in the automotive sphere. Tesla is one other mainstream manufacturer currently adopting the method, along with several Chinese brands such as Nio, Zeekr and XPeng.

Volvo says the new rear floor weighs “15-20 per cent less” than a traditional stamped equivalent and that it offers “just as good, if not better, safety and durability”.

There are other incidental benefits from the process, too, including an increased boot capacity and faster production times. A megacasted floor takes 120 seconds to build, compared with a full hour for a multi-piece stamped floor.

Plus, while Volvo’s production process currently uses 20 per cent recycled aluminium, the goal is to increase this figure and fully recycle the megacasted floor at the end of the car’s life.

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