Preview: Volvo ES90 Is a High-Tech, All-Electric Luxury Sedan

With high-tech hardware, a fast-charging battery, and an SUV-like ride height and practicality, the Volvo ES90 appears to be an impressive electric luxury car. We especially appreciate its thoughtful safety features, including an interior radar that can sense a child left behind in a car. But it could still be a tough sell despite those merits. Sedan sales have been decreasing for years, and sales of EVs and imported luxury vehicles will largely depend on ever-changing trade and tax policies. Similar uncertainty led Volkswagen to decide that it won’t bring the ID.7 EV sedan to the U.S. 

Broadly speaking, the ES90 has design elements reminiscent of both Polestar vehicles and the existing Volvo S90 sedan. It has a snubbed nose and tail like the Polestar, but the T-shaped “Thor’s hammer” headlights are pure Volvo. It sits high off the ground like a Toyota Crown. On the roof near the windshield, there’s a bump for sensors—including one lidar, five radars, seven cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors—that will be used for various active safety and driver assistance features (detailed below).

The rear of the ES90 is perhaps its most interesting part. Although it looks like a sedan, the trunk opens like a hatchback for easy cargo access, like the Polestar 2. As with the EX90 SUV, LED lighting extends up through the back window as part of a customizable “lighting signature” that’s becoming popular on modern EVs. There’s a tiny amount—less than a cubic foot—of extra storage in a front trunk, or “frunk.”

The whole package is about the same length as a BMW i5, Mercedes-Benz EQE, or Tesla Model S.

The ES90 has a spacious and airy interior, with significant rear legroom and a UV-blocking panoramic sunroof that stretches across nearly the entire top of the vehicle.

The ES90 is the first Volvo built on an 800-volt architecture, technology that promises faster charging and lighter-weight EVs. The Audi Q6 E-Tron, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, Kia EV6 and EV9, and Porsche Taycan are all designed around 800-volt architecture. 

Three powertrains are available: a single 333-horsepower motor sending power to the rear wheels, a dual-motor 449-hp all-wheel-drive powertrain, and a higher-performance 680-hp dual-motor all-wheel-drive version that’s good for a sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. The single-motor versions get a 92-kilowatt-hour battery, while the dual-motor versions get a 106-kWh battery. No matter which flavor you choose, Volvo says the ES90 can charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in just 20 minutes at a 350-kW DC fast charger. 

Volvo claims that cars with the smaller battery will have a range of about 400 miles, while those with the larger battery will get 434 miles per charge. But these range estimates are based on an optimistic test cycle that’s used in Europe, so expect Environmental Protection Agency ratings for the U.S. to be in the mid-300s. That’s still very competitive.

In addition to all of the common active safety and driver assistance technology, including automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane centering assistance, the ES90 gets the same “driver understanding system” as the EX90. It’s a driver monitoring setup that tracks the driver’s eyes. If it senses that the driver may be distracted, drowsy, or otherwise nonresponsive, Volvo says the vehicle will issue warnings and, if necessary, safely stop the vehicle and call for help.