Volvo EX30 squeezes new materials and world-leading safety into a compact EV

This is Volvo’s new EX30, a fully electric compact SUV that takes the brand into the small car space for the first time in a generation. The Volvo EX30 goes hard on sustainability and accountability, taking a leaf out of sister company Polestar’s great big book of decarbonisation by setting out the facts and stats behind the shiny new metal.

Available in three different mechanical configurations (an all-wheel drive Twin Motor Performance model and rear wheel drive Single Motor and Single Motor Extended Range), the EX30 makes a virtue of its relatively small footprint. Volvo describes it as having ‘the smallest lifecycle CO2 footprint of any Volvo car to date’, calculating that over the course of 200,000km of driving, the car will produce under 30 tonnes of CO2 (including that used in its manufacture). 

Volvo (and Polestar) are ahead of the game when it comes to such calculations, even though there’s no standard metric that can be applied across the entire industry. And given that Volvo’s other products are mostly large SUVs and estates, it’s not especially surprising to find the EX30 gets the best score here. Volvo has worked hard to ramp up the recycled materials; a quarter of the aluminium used, for example, and the interior dashboard proudly bears the flecks that signify second-use plastic (in this case from discarded plastic window frames). 

The tech elements also follow Volvo’s ongoing path to simplicity. For the first time, a Volvo interior appears as pared back and minimal as the original Tesla, a choice that won’t please everyone (the company used to ensure its knobs and buttons could be operated when wearing heavy Swedish winter gloves). Key functions are duplicated on the steering wheel, but everything else goes through a Google-driven 12.3in screen. 

All this is wrapped up in a body style that’s distinctly conservative, distinguished only by the marque’s new frontal treatment (slimmer lights, no grille) and the signature kicked-up line on the rear door that meets the thick C-pillar. Short overhangs maximise internal space and there’s Volvo’s industry-leading safety systems, both in terms of the car’s physical construction and its advanced electronic systems. 

The EX30 might be small, but it’s also mighty; in Twin Motor Performance guise it dispatches the 0-60mph sprint in 3.4 seconds, making it the fastest-accelerating Volvo ever. That same model will have a range of up to 265 miles, while the Single Motor Extended Range model gets an extra 10 miles on top of that. The base Single Motor model makes do with only around 200 miles, although all three versions naturally feature fast charging.

Despite the relatively conventional exterior, the EX30 marks a sea-change in approaches to colour, materials and trim. The four design themes – Breeze, Indigo, Mist and Pine – use materials like woven flax, upcycled denim, ground plastic, blended wool, recycled plastic bottles for the carpets and a material called ‘Nordico’, made partly from Finland- and Sweden-sourced pine oil. 

The pared-back interior is not lacking in practicality, with myriad storage spaces, from dedicated phone pockets for rear passengers to a removable rear storage box and a size guide in the boot. First deliveries are due in early 2023, with a rugged EX30 Cross Country version following later in the year. 

Volvo EX30, from £33,795, Volvocars.com