On June 30th last year, the Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE made its global debut at the Global Tech Day, and it made its first appearance in the domestic market at the 25th Chengdu Auto Show on August 26th. Today, this pure electric concept car has arrived in Shanghai for a tour exhibition, and its speed is still quite fast.
As a concept car, the Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE did not make too radical a design on the appearance. The concise and neat body lines, light blue paint, iconic “Thor’s Hammer” headlights, and “Viking Axe” tail lights still follow the Nordic minimalist style.
The transition of the roof and the tail is almost vertical, which should be to gain more interior space. The rear wing fixed on the rear windshield can streamline the air, and the opening area of the tailgate of the car is very large, almost opening up the entire tail, making it very convenient to transport goods and luggage.
There is also a watchtower-style Luminar laser radar on the top of the vehicle, which will be equipped with NVIDIA DRIVE Orin chips. The perception hardware also supports redundancy for steering and braking, realizing automatic driving on highways.
Moreover, in today’s new energy vehicle market, many mass-produced cars directly inherit the design of concept cars. The Cadillac LYRIQ and Volvo Estate concept car are two examples. Therefore, the Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE may retain many of its design elements in future production cars.
In terms of interior design, the Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE is equipped with a 15-inch central control screen, featuring a vertical design, just like Volvo’s currently available models.
As for the interior materials, Volvo states that “the future expression of luxury is no longer large areas of chrome decoration and tasteful embellishment,” so the vehicle’s interior fabrics are still environmentally friendly textiles, which are typically favored in Scandinavian design. The sound system is also supplied by Bowers & Wilkins.
The display of the concept car also features a small surprise. The concept behind CONCEPT RECHARGE is “equality,” so all four seats in the vehicle are the same size, and all four seats have Bowers & Wilkins headrest speakers.
The two rear seats come with child seats as standard, which is similar to the feature in the Roewe RX3, where the rear seats can be folded to become child seats. However, in the Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE, they are electrically adjustable, and can be turned into child seats with just one click.
Do you notice the crystal column in the middle of the rear seats? It looks very similar to the crystal gear lever knob found in the top-of-the-line S90. In fact, both components are made by the same supplier.
This crystal column has a projection function. During the on-site PPT presentation, the crystal column can project location-related information according to the position of the vehicle, which Volvo says will be of particular interest to children in the back seat.
Another feature that reflects equality is the “dog seat” in the trunk. The folding of the trunk cover panel can quickly turn it into a comfortable “dog seat”, and there is even a tennis ball launcher and two dog leash hooks on the side.
The release date of the mass-produced version of this car has not yet been announced. In the increasingly competitive new energy vehicle market, Volvo also has its own clear plan.
On June 21st last year, Volvo and Northvolt established a joint venture to prepare for the production of power batteries for the next generation of models, and announced the specific plan for battery production: the first step is to cooperate in the development of solid-state batteries, which will be launched in 2022; the second step is to set up a factory in 2024 with an annual production capacity of 15 GWh; the third step is to build a 50 GWh super factory in 2026.
Volvo currently uses first-generation batteries for XC40 and C40 RECHARGE, which are composed of bed-layer modular VDA and subject to the CMA architecture. Therefore, the central Console is filled with battery packs originally reserved for the transmission shaft.
The second-generation battery is clearly designed for a pure electric platform, with a flat, unobtrusive floor and a beam fixed with a battery pack. Volvo plans to increase the energy density of the second-generation battery by 50% compared to the current level by 2025.
For Volvo’s third-generation battery, the aluminum slot for the fixed battery pack will be removed. A plate-like structure is used to support the rectangular battery arranged in the middle from the bottom and top. Therefore, the battery becomes a part of the chassis and serves as a structural component to resist torsional moments. This is very similar to CTC technology.
In the next 10 years, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson stated that it has been decided for Volvo to embrace electrification. Volvo CONCEPT RECHARGE will mark the first step towards a strong push into the high-end pure electric vehicle market.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.