How do you fit turbos to electric cars?
With marketing.
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And a shiny badge 
Oooh⌠Probably about 20 minutes 
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Imagine if you fitted Nordost Odin between the batteries and the motors. 0-60 in 2 seconds, probably.
The Porch Milchauto TurbOdin.
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OK, XC40 electric.
Some of the details are still a bit vague, because they havenât got the WLTP test done yet.
Itâs got a 78kW baterry, which is the same capacity as the Polestar 2. I would be unsurprised if itâs the same one.
The Polestar is claiming 500km range (WLTP).
Volvo are vaguely claiming âover 400kmâ. So is it going to be 401km or 499km? This seems a bit disappointing for such a large battery. The XC40 is a bit of a brick of course, but Iâm surprised the rated range is (potentially) much lower than the Polestar.
Everything else is excellent and is also copying the Polestar model. The infotainment is going to be full Android, so Google Assistant, proper Google Maps/Traffic etc. OTA updates for Google and the car software a la Tesla.
Fit and finish is standard XC40 and exactly what youâd expect from Volvo, i.e. pisses all over Tesla.
That range looks a bit cunty, though. And itâs not out until late 2020.
Drove my friends Tesla S to the cinema and back yesterday, the longest route I could get away with. I donât really give a fuck about driving and cars any more but the S really makes me smile. Itâs fucking brilliant. I am really considering a second hand one.
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Is range the be all and end all? I suppose it is. But 400+km seems ok, especially in Europe where there are more fast chargers around.
Do it.
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It depends entirely on your personal requirements.
The current state of the art for range is tesla. The model 3 has a 74kW battery and will push close to 350 miles (560km) WLTP in the Long Range 18" aero wheel version.
Then thereâs my selfish reasoning. I want to be able to do a 240 mile round trip without stopping to charge. Thatâs my benchmark. You have to take the WLTP ranges with a big dose of salt, but that is doable in the Tesla (and probably the Polestar).
I have no doubt the charging network is developed enough for the Volvo to be absolutely fine. I just want 250 miles without stopping.
Have you seen the residuals on the Model S? They ainât dropping!
Yet
True. If anything a second hand one looked a better proposition a year ago.
Right, I wasnât sure if you were giving a general summation of it or a personal assessment.
I just like electric cars, so what seems like a solid all round vehicle (that isnât a city car) from a company like Volvo is a big plus.
Time will tell what its actual range is I suppose. If I could justify a Tesla I would have one tomorrow, but I donât really care what the dashboard feels like or how bad the automatic window wipers are, I drive old crap.
Range is important when places you go donât have chargers. I have to do round trips of up to 240 miles with work occasionally to schools, precisely none of which have functional charging points.
At the risk of inevitable derision, is a huge range actually desirable? You can moan and groan about the environmental footprint of electric cars, but the driver for this is battery size. Is it reasonable to demand a battery that is twice the size of that of another car, just because you want to make a long trip once a year? Would it actually make more sense to hire a car for that one journey?
I know that individual circumstances are king here - if you have a regular journey that you need to make, then so be it. But IMO a small sacrifice in convenience is not unreasonable to expect.
Meanwhile for accurate range stats, check out the EV database:
You can see that Kia has a WLTP range of 283 miles, but âhighway, cold weatherâ is 165 miles, and I reckon that if you drive it at 95 on a run with all the stuff on then youâll struggle to get half of the 283. Electric cars are kinda the opposite of ICE ones - they are more efficient around town than on motorways.
LOL, long trips are all I make. I do about 12k per annum and rarely do a trip under 150 miles.
I think in that situation that waiting for infrastructure improvements would make sense tbh
It is looking like I will be getting BMW 225xe in the next week or so. Seems alright. Hopefully the plugging in bit does not become too much of a pain. We shall see.
Just going to be plugging it in to a 13A socket at home and work for a short while.
Alfa will have to be parked on the road when it comes back from its service.