Volvo XC40 Recharge REVEALED – the electric XC40 arrives as Volvo’s first EV

The Volvo XC40 Recharge arrives as Volvo’s first battery electric car, and first ‘Recharge’ model, with 78kWh battery and 402bhp.

We reported earlier today that the electric XC40 will come with a new name, and here it is – the Volvo XC40 Recharge P8.

Looking almost identical to the ICE XC40, the XC40 Recharge gets the blanked-off grille we’ve already seen and a 75kWh battery pack lurking under the floor. And it has promising specs to go with its 78kWh battery.

Volvo say it will deliver more than 250 miles on a single charge and that you’ll be able to recharge from zero to 80 per cent in around 40 minutes (charger dependent of course).

But most appealing is that it comes with pretty much the same 4WD electric powertrain as the Polestar 2, which means a chunky 402bhp and 487lb/ft of torque, enough to scoot the XC40 Recharge to 62mph in under 5.0 seconds.

The electric motors – one at the front, one at the back – deliver 201bhp each, and the Recharge model has a bit less ground clearance to store the batteries, but in every other way it’s just like the regular XC40. Which is probably a good thing.

Volvo hasn’t revealed pricing for the XC40 Recharge yet, but it seems likely it will be very similar to the £50k it costs for the launch edition of the Polestar 2 and, just as with the Polestar 2, we can probably expect lower-specced XC40 Recharge models – in addition to this Volvo XC40 Recharge P8 – to arrive at some point with prices starting around £35k, and badged P4/P5/P6 perhaps (‘P’ is for ‘Pure’)?