In March, the Geely subsidiary had already announced that Volvo would be taking decisive action with the upcoming model year change: following the electric luxury sedan ES90, the EX90 will also be equipped with an 800-volt electrical system. The flagship SUV has been in the manufacturer’s range since last year, but until now, the Swedish company has relied on 400-volt technology.
The company expects the doubling of the voltage to improve long-distance performance in particular. Since lower currents flow when charging with a higher voltage, generating less heat, the battery can be charged at a higher power level. Volvo has not yet specified a maximum value, but in future, it should be possible to charge enough power for 250 kilometres in 10 minutes at a suitable fast-charging station under ideal conditions.
The technology is likely to be similar to that of its sedan counterpart, the ES90, which is based on the same platform called SPA2. This charges at up to 350 kW at peak, and the peak charging power of the refreshed flagship SUV is also likely to be at this level. In the previous 400-volt version, the factory specification was still 250 kW. This should allow the battery to be charged from 10 to 80 per cent within 29 minutes. In our test, the EX90 fell just short of this figure.
In addition to the 800-volt upgrade, the 2026 model year will also benefit from optimised battery management software, which is designed to work in perfect harmony with the other upgraded components and further reduce charging times. Thanks to the 800-volt technology, Volvo has also been able to reduce the weight of the motors and battery slightly. Here too, thinner cables are sufficient due to the lower currents.
At the same time, acceleration should also benefit from the higher voltage. In terms of range, the technology update is unlikely to make much difference, as the energy content of the batteries has not been increased. The rear-wheel drive version with the 104 kWh battery has a maximum range of 620 kilometres according to the WLTP cycle.
The Gothenburg-based company is upgrading its processors
Volvo has not only upgraded its charging capacity, but also its computing power. In future, the manufacturer will be relying on two Nvidia Drive AGX Orin chips for its Core Computing Platform, which can perform around 500 trillion operations per second. This will primarily benefit the assistance systems. As part of the service intervals, the 400-volt EX90s that have already been delivered will also be equipped with the more powerful processors.
With the model year change, the Swedish-Chinese carmaker is introducing a ‘Connected Safety’ function. The vehicles are networked with each other and warn each other of accidents, slippery road conditions or other dangerous situations. In addition, the parking assistant and automatic emergency steering function have been improved. The ‘E-Call’ function of the Emergency Stop Assistant is completely new. Once the vehicle has been brought to a safe stop, it automatically calls an emergency hotline.
The 2026 model year EX90 is available to order now and starts at 85,990 euros in Germany. For the UK and US markets, the model year 2026 prices have not been revealed yet. Last year, the prices started at £82,660 and $79,995, respectively. Production is scheduled to start in mid-November. The SUV will also feature an electrochromatic panoramic glass roof with adjustable transparency.
volvocars.com (UK), volvocars.com (US)
This article was first published by Elias Holdenried for electrive’s German edition.
