Charged EVs | Hopes of a $35,000 Volvo EV are gone, however the EX30 stays enjoyable to drive—for 2 folks at a time

2026 Volvo EX30: Nonetheless enjoyable, nonetheless zippy, not as low cost

Precisely two years in the past, we dubbed the Volvo EX30 one of many two most necessary new EVs of 2024. Then the world modified.

Quick-forward to the top of 2024. Volvo was in a position to ship just a few 422 hp EX30 Twin Motor high-performance fashions that December, however quantity gross sales within the US needed to anticipate the beginning of meeting at Volvo’s plant in Ghent, Belgium. EX30s constructed there keep away from the tariffs on Chinese language-built automobiles imported into the US. They now should carry a 15-percent tariff imposed on European imports final August, however that’s manageable in comparison with the 147-percent price on EX30s from China.

So it wasn’t till final fall that deliveries of Belgian-built EX30s, together with the entry-level Single Motor model and the “soft-road” Cross Nation mannequin, began. In November, I obtained an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the 2 new variations of the littlest Volvo at an occasion held simply earlier than media days on the Los Angeles Auto Present.

The decision? The 2026 Volvo EX30, in just about any of its variations, is enjoyable to drive and an ideal two-seat second automotive. It isn’t, nevertheless, a household car—the rear seat is just about unusable for any grownup who isn’t a brief, skinny contortionist.

Sadly, the EX30’s early declare that it will be a $35,000 Volvo has vanished. The sticker value on the most affordable Single Motor Plus mannequin obtainable for check totaled $40,745. A greater-equipped Single Motor Extremely price $1,700 extra. That’s thought of “accessible” now that Volvo has been recast as a luxurious model. Each variations carried an EPA vary score of 261 miles. The EX30 Twin Motor Cross Nation Extremely I examined got here in at a startling $54,995—just below the bigger EX40—and it had a decrease EPA vary too, simply 227 miles.

In case you want a rear seat usable by anybody over 10, ever, you’ll have to maneuver as much as the EX40—which begins at $56,445 (all costs embody the obligatory $1,295 vacation spot payment). To be trustworthy, whereas the smallest Volvo has good factors, it doesn’t appear as interesting at $40-55K because it did with a beginning value within the $30s. These world modifications can harm.

Single Motor: “all of the EX30 you want“

In electrical automobiles that provide variants with one or two motors, the cheaper single-motor model offers larger vary, typically on the value of decrease efficiency. However the EX30 is simply advantageous—spritely, even—within the base 268-horsepower Single Motor trim. It’s greater than punchy in visitors, and even at freeway speeds of 80 mph, there’s loads of acceleration by its single rear motor.

As anticipated, the EX30’s regenerative braking is weaker with one motor than with two. But it surely’s simply learnable, as soon as drivers prepare themselves to keep in mind that it quits at about 7 mph, after which idle creep takes over (this may be turned off). Altering any of the drive settings ought to solely be carried out at relaxation, because it requires 5 separate display screen interactions: Faucet the Automotive icon, select Settings, select Driving, scroll all the way down to see all choices, then select your most popular setting.

This least costly Volvo retains all of the quirks of the EX30 whose launch I lined in June 2023. As soon as I’d pushed that automotive in Barcelona that November, I grumbled in regards to the Volkswagen-style electrical window switches (simply two—it’s important to use one other button to toggle between entrance and rear window controls) and the fussy key-card placement on the entrance of the ground console that’s required to energy up the automotive.

The door-mirror controls really feel coarse—the swap produced massive actions regardless of how gently I used it. And there’s no glove field in any respect, simply varied bins on the ground and within the doorways. In case you like to take a seat excessive, you’ll be glad of the fastened panoramic glass roof, although no sunshade is in-built (Volvo gives one as an adjunct). At the least the sprint vents might be manually adjusted—they don’t require a number of actions on the middle display screen. Factors to Volvo’s security gurus for that one.

The EX30’s experience is agency even within the Regular suspension setting, which mixed with the acceleration makes it inviting to toss round. Total, to cite my co-driver, the Single Motor model is really “all of the EX30 you want.”

Cross Nation: butcher, noisier, much less vary

With its entrance and rear skid plates, particular wheels and tires, a revised entrance bumper protect, plastic wheel-arch extensions, a experience top that’s 0.75 inches (19 mm) taller, and a big, very noticeable accent roof rack, the Twin Motor Cross Nation Extremely mannequin I examined regarded each bit the half: a subcompact hatchback with off-road perspective.

The price of that gear got here in each vary and noise. The Cross Nation mannequin with 19-inch tires is rated at simply 227 miles of vary—in comparison with the usual Twin Motor’s 253 miles—although choosing the 18-inch wheels will knock that all the way down to a minimal 203 miles. Then there’s the wind that whistled by the roof rack at speeds over 30 mph or so—it was startlingly noisy.

I didn’t have a normal Twin Motor to drive back-to-back with the Cross Nation, however the latter felt significantly heavier than the Single Motor we’d tossed round so enthusiastically. With 422 hp, its acceleration was unquestionably quicker. My co-driver stated that, for around-town or suburban use, it bordered on “too fast,” which isn’t one thing you typically hear about any subcompact. The stronger regen mode allowed extra energetic one-pedal driving too.

Nonetheless, it didn’t really feel fairly as lithe—if that adjective might be utilized to any EV that suggestions the scales beginning at 2 tons (3,900 kilos). Total, the EX30 Cross County appears to be like cool however comes with a variety penalty I probably wouldn’t pay. It’s additionally pricier than a traditional Twin Motor, costing $3,250 greater than the less-butch model.

Prospects TBD

Two years in the past, Mike Cottone—at the moment CEO of Volvo Vehicles in North America—stated the EX30 had attracted “far more pre-orders and hand-raisers than we anticipated.” He anticipated, he stated, that the littlest Volvo would “add new customers to the model, (since) 80 p.c of them are new to Volvo.” Execs then stated they anticipated the EX30 to grow to be “one in every of our higher-volume fashions,” although they declined to specify gross sales targets.

Volvo offered 5,409 EX30s within the US in 2025, largely within the fourth quarter. That was greater than the a lot pricier EX90 massive electrical SUV. However, battery-electric automobiles total represented simply 8.5 p.c of Volvo’s total gross sales of 121,600—plug-in hybrid share plummeted as effectively. Full-year gross sales in 2026 would be the essential check for the EX30. Can it considerably broaden Volvo’s US quantity? We’ll discover out.

After mulling it over, if I needed to choose an EX30, I’d go for the Single Motor, maybe with the nicer Extremely trim. As lengthy, that’s, as I knew I by no means, ever needed to put an grownup human being within the rear. If you need a subcompact EV, both the Nissan Leaf or the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt will probably be much better on that rating. Certain, they’re hardly Volvos, and nowhere close to luxurious manufacturers. All of it relies on your private tradeoffs between model worth and performance. Alternative is nice, proper?

Volvo North America supplied airfare, lodging and meals to allow Charged to deliver you this first-person drive report.