Volvo XC40 Electric To Be Unveiled In October
Highlights
- The Volvo XC40 Electric kick starts the Swedish brand's EV transition.
- Engineers have redesigned the front and rear of the SUV to make it safe.
- The battery pack gets a dedicated cage which doubles up as a crumple zone
Volvo is all geared up to introduce its first fully electric vehicle next month. It's the Volvo XC40 which kick starts Volvo's transition towards the electric future and the Swedish carmaker claims that it will be as safe as any other Volvo, safety being the utmost priority for the company historically. "Regardless of what drives a car forward, be it an electric machine or combustion engine, a Volvo must be safe. The fully electric XC40 will be one of the safest cars we have ever built," said Malin Ekholm, Head of safety at Volvo Cars.
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Volvo has shared that engineers have completely redesigned and reinforce the frontal structure in a bid to make it as impact resistant as a conventional Volvo with combustion motor in the engine bay and compensate the additional rigidity. The rear of the SUV also gets reinforced structure to balance the impact absorption throughout. To keep the battery intact in case of an unfortunate collision, Volvo has developed a new safety structure for the battery pack. It is shielded in a battery cage, the frame of which is made of extruded alluminium and it has been embedded right in the middle of the SUV's body structure, creating built-in crumple zones around the battery pack. Moreover, it also helps in lowering the center of gravity for improved handling and better protection in case of a roll over.
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As far as safety equipment go, the XC40 electric will be the first Volvo to feature the Advance Driver Assistant System (ADAS) technology the software of which has been provided by Zenuity. It is a modern and scalable active safety system that uses an array of radars, cameras and ultrasonic sensors and since it is scalable, it can also be used in the autonomous driving tech in future.
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Simply going by the pictures Volvo has shared, we can safely say that the XC40 will get two electric motors- one mounted on each axle. There have been speculations that the XC40 will be inspired by the Polestar 2 but the Swedish carmaker hasn't specified anything yet. We still need to wait till October 16 when Volvo will reveal further specifications and details along with the model itself.
Last Updated on September 22, 2022