Volvo ES90 is one smooth Scandinavian operator

Not chasing outright power and performance numbers, the Volvo ES90 delivers one of the most effortless executive drives on the road today. The Citizen Motoring team has spent a fair amount of time in the Volvo ES90 over the past few months. But the car has always somehow managed to elude me until now. When I saw a gap in our road test schedule I reached out to the Volvo people and asked if I could get one for a drive. They kindly obliged me and delivered a top of the range Single Motor Ultra ES90 to the office. Power and torque Power on tap for the Volvo ES90 is a moderate 245kW to go with 480Nm of torque. In the premium battery electric vehicle space these are hardly fire breathing type numbers. This said, the 0-100km/h sprint time is done in 6.6 seconds, which is as quick as you would want an executive sedan to be. For me it was actually more about how progressively the power and torque is delivered. Sure, you can boot it and it jumps like all electric cars do. But drive it normally and there is always a seemingly never ending surge of momentum on tap. It’s something that is perfectly suited to the nature of the car. The all-electric ES90 is Volvo’s first fully electric executive sedan with exceptional range and rapid charging. Picture: Supplied Real world range Perhaps the bigger star of the show is the 92kWh battery that powers only one electric motor connected to the rear axle. Thanks to its uncomplicated, non-AWD setup, the Volvo ES90 offers better than average battery consumption and range. Volvo claims a WLTP range of 755km, but my number running around the suburbs with a healthy mix of faster highway driving came in at around 550km. In simple money terms this meant that I spent less than R400 at home to fully charge the car’s battery using my wall box charger. Full disclosure, fast public charging is closer to double this rate. And R400 barely gets you 15 litres of petrol these days. In any other executive sedan of the same size and spec, you would be lucky to do 150km on the same money. I guess it is here where battery electric cars make so much sense. The average owner is going to charge at home in my opinion. And if you do head out on a long trip, the extra cost of public charging shouldn’t affect somebody too much who can afford a R1 795 000 car. Comfort and class I know we have comprehensively covered all the spec and space in our previous reviews of the Volvo ES90, but it is worth mentioning again that spending time inside the car is a true business class experience. As per the main pillars of the Volvo brand the car offers the perfect mix of refinement, comfort, technology and safety. The Volvo ES90 combines long-range performance and cutting edge connectivity. Picture: Supplied Not for everybody So, are there any downsides to the Volvo ES90? Yes, but it has nothing to do with the car itself. Luxury, battery electric vehicles are still trying to establish themselves in the world and more so on the tip of Africa. They remain very niche. And we love SUVs. Those that have big money here, seemingly don’t seem to care about fuel consumption and prefer to announce their wealth in a far flashier and noisier way.