The EX90 uses a huge 107kWh (usable) battery pack that offers a range of 374 miles on a single charge. Given the EX60’s smaller size, we expect to see a slightly more compact, lighter battery fitted to top-spec models. The increased energy density of its structural battery pack could see range figures approaching the 400-mile mark, however.
The incorporation of this new kind of cell technology is thanks, in part, to the EX60’s megacasted rear underfloor. Unlike most cars, which have rear undercarriages constructed using a multitude of different parts, the EX60 will instead get a single unit that is cast out of aluminium.
We visited the factory in Gothenburg, Sweden, which will assemble the EX60’s megacasted floor. Basically following the same manufacturing processes used to build 1:64-scale model cars but greatly enlarged, megacasting is a relatively new concept in the automotive sphere. Tesla is the only other mainstream manufacturer currently adopting the method, along with several Chinese brands such as Nio, Zeekr and XPeng.
Volvo says the new rear floor weighs “15-20 per cent less” than a traditional stamped equivalent and that it offers “just as good, if not better safety and durability”.
There are other incidental benefits from the process, too, including an increased boot capacity and faster production times. A megacasted floor takes 120 seconds to build, compared with a full hour for a multi-piece stamped floor.
Plus, while Volvo’s production process currently uses 20 per cent recycled aluminium, the goal is to increase this figure and fully recycle the megacasted floor at the end of the car’s life.
The new Volvo EX60 will either be unveiled at the tail end of 2025, or in 2026 when the car is expected to go on sale. Arriving first is the Volvo ES90 electric saloon, which will make its world debut in March 2025 and should hit the streets later that year.
But in the meantime, our exclusive image shows what the new EX60 could look like. It will probably carry over several design elements from both the EX30 and EX90, such as their eight-bit-style Thor’s-hammer LED headlights, flush door handles, a blanked-off grille and aerodynamic alloy wheels.
Volvo hasn’t confirmed whether the advanced LiDAR driver-assistance tech found on the EX90 will filter down to ‘lesser’ models, such as the forthcoming EX60, but Severinson did tell us that the brand is experimenting with “different kinds of [safety] sensors going forward”.
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