Volvo EX40 Review 2024

If you want an all-electric SUV that can match premium-badged rivals for class and poshness, but that has a bit more style and swagger, then the Volvo EX40 makes an excellent choice. It’s a comfortable and refined car to drive, while it’s practical enough for family life and it comes fabulously well equipped. If that sounds good to you, then the Swedish firm’s small electric SUV will suit you down to the ground.

That largely depends on how much range you need, as each version of the EX40 gives a slightly different return on that score. For those needing maximum range for long schleps, we’d recommend the Single Motor Extended Range car as that one will go the furthest between charges and only costs a couple grand more than the entry-level car. That said, if you only do exclusively short journey’s then you might as well save yourself that couple of grand. We can’t imagine anyone needing the ballistic performance of the Twin Motor models, but we can imagine plenty of people wanting it.

As a small, premium-badged all-electric SUV, the Volvo EX40 has no shortage of competitors. Predictably, most come from Germany: BMW offers the iX1 and iX2, Audi Offers the Q4 e-tron, while Mercedes-Benz offers an alternative in the form of the EQA. There are some more left-field alternatives, too, such as the Alfa Romeo Junior and Lexus UX300e.

This is an area in which the EX40 impresses. Its cool Scandi design is complemented by imaginative and tasteful use of a mix of materials - the precise makeup of which is governed by the car’s trim grade - featuring high-grade plastics, authentic-looking woods, various metallic elements, convincing synthetic leathers, recycled fabrics and thick carpets.

The way everything is assembled also feels very solid, adding to the car’s substantial feel. All in all, it feels like a match for most of its premium-brand competitors in terms of poshness.

All versions of the EX40 get the same 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard, which has all the functionality you’d want including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The operating system was developed in conjunction with Google, so the navigation uses the latest Google Maps, there’s Google’s voice assistance built-in, and you can download a variety of apps through the native Google Store.

The system impresses in other ways, too, with fast responses and logically arranged menus. That said, there is a similar over-reliance on touchscreen tech to that you’ll find in many other modern cars, and it’d be nice if there were a few more physical buttons and switches with which to perform key functions, as these would be easier and less distracting than the touchscreen. 

Space in the front of the EX40 is as generous as you’d expect, but space in the rear seats is decidedly tighter, which is far from uncommon. The amounts of headroom and legroom you get are reasonable by class standards, but some rivals give you a little more room to stretch out, and the cabin is a little narrow by comparison as well. This means that, while there are three rear seat belts, three adults will not want to be crammed in back there for too long. Whoever ends up sitting in the middle seat will have an even more miserable time, because it’s narrow and flat, and there’s limited foot space. The EX40 is much more comfy when used as a four-seater.

At 410 litres, the EX40’s boot is by no means the biggest in the small SUV class, but the space is a good shape and there’s no load lip to get in your way when loading heavier items. Your charging cables won’t have to take up much-needed boot space, either, because there’s a 31-litre loadspace under the bonnet where they can live.

Although the EX40 is only available with an all-electric powertrain, you still have a variety of different powertrains to choose from. First up is the entry-level Single Motor car, which as the name suggests, has a single electric motor powering the rear wheels, delivering an output of 238PS. This gives a 0-62mph acceleration time of 7.3 seconds.

The Extended Range version has the same basic arrangement, but with a slightly bigger battery for slightly more range. It has a shade more power at 252PS, but the added weight of the extra battery cells means that the acceleration figure is still 7.3 seconds.

Then comes the Twin Motor version, which adds a second electric motor to the front axle. This gives all-wheel drive and hikes power up to 408PS. Predictably, the 0-62mph sprint time plummets, with the benchmark completed in 4.8 seconds. Then there’s the Twin Motor Performance variant, which uses the same basic layout, but hikes power further to 442PS. The 0-62mph sprint is cut further to 4.6 seconds. Like with all Volvos, the top speed of all versions is limited to 112mph.

The only one we’ve tried so far is the non-Performance Twin Motor with 408PS, and as you’d expect, it certainly isn’t short of go. All of the motors’ power and torque is available the very instant you push the accelerator pedal, and there are no gearchanges to interfere with the unfurling of the ferocity. If anything, the rate of acceleration feels even more aggressive than the numbers suggest.

The official WLTP range of your EX40 will depend on which version you get. The entry-level Single Motor version has a battery pack of 69kWh (nominal capacity, equating to 66kWh usable) and that gives it an official range of up to 296 miles. The  Single Motor Long Range version, unsurprisingly, has a larger battery pack of 78kWh (75kWh usable) to give it a range of up to 343 miles, the longest of any EX40.

The Twin Motor version’s battery is bigger still at 82kWh (79kWh usable), but the extra power sees the maximum official range drop to 332 miles, while in the Twin Motor Performance, that same battery delivers a maximum of 326 miles.

As always, though, these figures should not be relied on day-to-day, because there are several variables that affect how quickly you get through your level of charge. Long motorway journeys will see charge levels drop a lot more rapidly than usual, as will cold weather. Even as a best-case scenario, we wouldn’t bank on getting much more that 250 real-world miles out of any EX40 on average.

Like most electric cars, the Volvo EX40 is quieter than any combustion-engined alternative, because while petrol and diesel engines always give off some sort of mechanical clatter when running, electric motors give off little more than a faint whirr, no matter how much power they’re transmitting to the drive wheels at the time.

That in itself makes the EX40 a very peaceful way to get around, and the effective suppression of wind- and road noise helps on that score as well, although you will hear a bit more of the latter in versions fitted with bigger wheels. What you might not expect, though, is the amount of suspension noise you hear. Like we said, the soft suspension is good at mopping up lumps and bumps in the Tarmac, but it clonks a fair bit as it goes about its work, so those lumps and bumps actually end up sounding a lot worse than they feel.

Few - if any - car manufacturers have carved out a reputation for safety quite like Volvo’s, and for very good reason: it’s an area that the Swedish firm has invested and innovated in greatly over the years.

Predictably, the EX40 comes with much of the latest safety tech, but precisely how safe your car will be will depend on the version you get. Entry-level Core models have autonomous emergency braking,  lane departure warning and lane keep assist, but Plus and Ultra specs add even more preventative safety measures, including blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert with rear collision warning, and adaptive cruise control with semi-autonomous driving functionality. The car was crash-tested by Euro NCAP way back in 2018 when it was known as the XC40, and it achieved the full five-star rating. That’s not particularly surprising when every Volvo tested since 2001 has achieved the same feat.

Take a look at the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, and the EX40 (and XC40 equivalents are conspicuous by their absence. The cars don’t feature in our list of the best performers, both in the areas of reliability and overall satisfaction, but neither do they feature in our lists of the worst performers. Look at the performance of Volvo in the brand standings for overall customer satisfaction (in which reliability plays a part), and you’ll see that the Swedish firm sits 14th out of the 29 car makers considered. And you can’t get much more middle-of-the-road than that.

Volvo’s warranty is also quite middle-of-the-road, unfortunately, with a bog-standard three years, 60,000 miles of cover provided. The battery, meanwhile, is covered for eight years, 100,000 miles, which again, is pretty bog-standard.

Insurance groupings work on a scale of 1 to 50: cars that fall into group 1 are the cheapest to insure, while cars that fall into group 50 will have the most expensive premiums.

The most basic version of the EX40 sits in group 33 for insurance, while most of the Extended Range versions sit just above in groups 34 and 35. The most powerful Twin Motor versions, meanwhile, sit in group 40. No version of the EX40 will be cheap to insure, then, but premiums won’t be outlandish compared to those of rivals, either.

As a fully electric car, you pay nothing in the way of annual VED road tax right now. Be careful, however, because that’s not going to remain the case for long. As of April 2025, VED exemption for EVs is set to be scrapped, and you’ll likely pay the same - or a similar - amount as you will to tax a combustion-engined car.

The Volvo EX40 is offered in three trim levels. The entry-level version is called Core, but it’s still very generously equipped, with 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, power folding door mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, two-zone climate control, cruise control, heated front seats, rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, a powered tailgate, and wireless phone charging.

The mid-range trim is called Plus, and this adds quite a lot of desirable equipment. This includes a contrasting roof, rear privacy glass, keyless entry, front parking sensors, a hands-free powered tailgate, a powered driver’s seat, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, and adaptive cruise control with added semi-autonomous driving functionality. You also get a heat pump, which gives more efficient heating of the cabin to preserve your car’s range in winter.

The range-topping Ultra trim gets even more, with 20-inch wheels, self-cleaning headlights, a panoramic sunroof, 360-degree cameras, a powered passenger seat, power folding head restraints, and a Harman Kardon premium sound system.

Black Edition models are also available, but these simply have black paint, black wheels and black exterior badging, along with some different interior trim. Otherwise, equipment levels are the same as on the rest of the range.