When it comes to EVs, Volvo hasn’t been afraid to experiment. It’s tried repurposing a platform from its internal-combustion cars (for the EX40 and EC40, nee XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge), a flagship SUV that’s also a technology demonstrator (the EX90) and a radical reinvention of its brand (with the EX30). The Swedish automaker’s latest […]
Volvo's EX60 introduces Gemini AI, massive range, and immersive audio to the mid-size EV SUV class, positioning it as a pivotal model in the automaker's electrification push.
Next week, Volvo shows off its new EX60 SUV to the world. It's the brand's next electric vehicle, one built on an all-new, EV-only platform that makes use of the latest in vehicle design trends, like a cell-to-body battery pack, large weight-saving castings, and an advanced electronic architecture run by a handful of computers capable of more than 250 trillion operations per second. This new software-defined platform even has a name: HuginCore, after one of the two ravens that collected information for the Norse god Odin.
It's not Volvo's first reference to mythology. "We have Thor's Hammer [Volvo's distinctive headlight design] and now we have HuginCore... one of the two trusted Ravens of Oden. He sent Hugin and Muninn out to fly across the realms and observe and gather information and knowledge, which they then share with Odin that enabled him to make the right decisions as the ruler of Asgard," said Alwin Bakkenes, head of global software engineering at Volvo Cars.
"And much like Hugin, the way we look at this technology platform, it collects information from all of the sensors, all of the actuators in the vehicle. It understands the world around the vehicle, and it enables us to actually anticipate around what lies ahead," Bakkenes told me.
Later this month, Volvo will unveil its new EX60 SUV. The Swedish automaker has adopted some of the latest trends in electric vehicle design for the EX60, like a structural battery pack and the use of very large castings. As always with automakers teasing a new car, concrete details are only emerging slowly ahead of the official reveal on January 21, but we can say that range and recharging speeds were a priority during the design process.
"With our new electric vehicle architecture, we directly address the main worries that customers have when considering a switch to a fully electric car. The result is class-leading range and fast charging speeds, marking the end of range anxiety," said Anders Bell, Volvo's CTO.
Volvo says that its SUV will be best-in-class for range, which means 400 miles (644 km) from a fully charged battery under the EPA test cycle (although an official EPA range number isn't due yet). Fast charging should also live up to the name. Providing you plug into a 400 kW DC fast charger, the EX60 should add 168 miles (270 km) of range in 10 minutes, although we don't know how long it requires to fast charge from 10–80 percent.
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