2025 Volvo EX90: An incomplete package with promise

Volvo's new flagship EV, the 2025 EX90, has finally arrived about a year behind schedule because of thorny software issues.

The premium large crossover is built in the U.S. and features an 111-kilowatt-hour battery that delivers 510 hp and offers an EPA-estimated range of 308 miles.

The EX90 has advanced safety features, including what Volvo bills as an "invisible shield of safety" designed to reduce serious injury or fatal accidents by up to 20 percent. It has eight cameras, five radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors and lidar, all connected to the vehicle's main computers.

However, not all safety and entertainment features will be available at launch; the lidar won't be fully activated until next year, and bidirectional charging functionality will come at a later date.

A freshen of the EX90 is expected in 2028. Pricing starts at $81,290, including shipping.

EX90 deliveries in the U.S. are slated to begin in late 2024. We rounded up some early reviews.

"Volvo's all-new, three-row EX90 SUV EV is about the same size as the existing gas-powered XC90 three-row SUV. The overall exterior shape is not that different than the XC90's, with familiar styling elements such as Thor's Hammer headlights and vertical roof pillar-mounted taillights. However, the grille-less nose presents a larger interpretation of the diagonal iron mark Volvo logo and emblem from the also all-new EX30 compact crossover EV. It's a distinctive Volvo look, and no one should confuse the EX90 with an offering from another brand.

If the conservatively styled EX90 isn't so bold as to turn heads curbside, its cabin is notable for its beauty and Scandinavian minimalist design centered around 'less is more.'

For one thing, the EX90's interior is a leather-free zone. That's not a knock. While many luxury-vehicle buyers may expect leather trim, the flagship Volvo EV's cabin features trim sourced from recycled and responsibly sourced natural materials that align with the company's aim to become climate-neutral in the coming decades.

The Ultra test vehicle's cabin was particularly striking with its soothing tan, gray, and off-white hues and soft-touch and wrapped Nordico coverings for the dashboard, seats, center console, and door trim.

The EX90's interior is purposefully decluttered. A 9-inch driver display behind the steering wheel and a 14.5-inch vertical-format center screen dominate the clean-looking, horizontally themed dashboard. Volvo consolidated or moved most of the SUV's switchgear to the center screen save for a few controls on the doors, steering wheel, and steering column.

Initially, I found that operating power windows, making exterior mirrors or power steering column adjustments, and opening the glove box took too many distracting steps, but this became easier with familiarization.

Brilliant, however, are the joystick-like power front-seat controls that handle fore, aft, tilt, and height with a single switch alongside the bottom cushion. Also brilliant are the Ultra's heated and optionally ventilated power front bucket seats, adding an extendable bottom cushion, seat back massage, and power-adjustable side bolsters to traditionally excellent Volvo-seat orthopedic support and comfort.

The standard split-folding second-row bench seat offers comfort and spread-out space nearly on par with the front buckets. Standard is an ingenious flip-up booster seat in the center position for children four years or older. Individual second-row captain's chairs are an extra-cost option.

The two-passenger third-row bench seat is best saved for grade schoolers. Full-grown adults will find it hard to squeeze past the tilt-and-slide second row and, once there, will find perches with a rock-hard bottom cushion and insufficient legroom and headroom.

The EX90 cargo space is decent but not class-leading. There are 10.9 cubic feet behind the third row and 67.6 with the second- and third-row seats folded flat. Also handy is the concealed storage under the cargo floor and in a 1.6-cubic-foot 'frunk' ideal for stowing the EV charge cable."

– Ron Sessions, J.D. Power

"Two versions of the powertrain are offered. The standard one develops 402 hp and 568 pound-feet of torque, while the Performance powertrain up that to 510 horses and 671 pound-feet. Basically, the more powerful one swaps in a bigger rear motor; otherwise the coaxial permanent-magnet motors are the same. In either case, both are engaged at launch, but the rear one shuts down as you approach cruising speed, leaving you with front-wheel drive. In the twisties, however, the rear motor can vector torque to help with agility. Volvo says the two powertrains are good for runs to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds for the standard version and 4.7 seconds for the Performance setup, but we suspect they'll do slightly better.

We drove the Performance model and don't doubt any of the above. The big EX90 moved out smartly, despite the approximately 3-ton curb weight of our sample car, which was loaded to the gills. But what stood out even more was the suppleness of the suspension. This was surprising in light of our car's 22-inch wheels, as you'd have guessed the car had more sidewall. The dual-chamber air springs (up from one-chamber units in the XC90) likely had much do with it. The suspension can lower the car 0.4 inch at 43 mph and 0.8 inch at 62 mph, and do rear-axle load leveling to boot. The air springs are paired with adaptive dampers that automatically tweak the damping to suit conditions. It all smooths out the road beautifully, with only the occasional tug when you're hustling.

The steering is nicely weighted too, but the overriding theme is one of sheer quietness, and we say that with full knowledge that EVs are quiet. This one is on another level. And that's a good thing considering our car was equipped with the optional Bowers & Wilkins stereo that can reproduce Dolby Atmos sound through its 25-speaker system. You want a perfect backdrop for unbelievable sound on the move? This is it."

– Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver

"The first genuinely convincing premium school-run car of the electric era. It's very good, the EX90, even if the flagship version nudges past £100,000. More affordable versions, likely starting at £75,000, will be along shortly.

The EX90 is built on an updated, electric-only version of the SPA platform that underpins the XC90. The only other car currently using it is the Polestar 3, so this is not a Geely platform found underneath a host of Chinese SUVs or a Lotus Eletre with a Swedish makeover. Although built in China as well, all European and American EX90s will come from Volvo's plant in Charleston, S.C.

The claim is that this is the safest Volvo ever, able to build a 360-degree picture of the world around the car, with lidar able to pick out small objects in the road hundreds of meters away, night or day.

There's also an interior radar to prevent children or pets being left inside by mistake (we've all been there) and all the driver monitoring and assistance systems you'd expect. With comparatively few irritating bongs, squeaks and whistles if our experience was anything to go by.

No Volvo has ever ridden as well as this, and certainly none has ever been this smooth or quiet. The car it most feels like on the road is BMW's iX. The driving experience is more akin to a luxury car.

There's barely a trace of wind or tire noise and the thing that often disturbs the peace (and is harder to put a finger on), suspension noise, is notable for its absence. It glides along very nicely indeed and if you lift off, that momentum continues. Rolling resistance is aided when you have reasonably good aerodynamics (0.29Cd) and high weight, but even so there seems to be no mechanical drag to speak of.

Unless you engage one-pedal driving (via the screen, obvs). Steer clear of the auto mode, which can be a bit snatchy, but regular one-pedal works nicely."

– Ollie Marriage, Top Gear

"The Volvo EX90 will be a great, comfortable, refined luxury SUV; I'm sure of it. It's quiet. Beautiful. Spacious. Classy. But it is also a work in progress, and I can't recommend you buy one yet.

Volvo still has too much work to do to get its new flagship all-electric SUV in fighting shape to where it can build on the legacy of the XC90, the car that made modern Volvo what it is today. What you see here does represent the future of Volvo, so I'm eager to see what it can do one day when it's completely dialed in.

You can skip all the numbers and describe the power in a word: Plentiful.

I only drove the Twin Motor Performance version, but I can't imagine springing for it. I never had to use more than half throttle, and there's not much joy in pushing a three-row family hauler to the limit. If you're so inclined, you'll find that the torque-vectoring rear axle makes the EX90 surprisingly sprightly on corner exit. I could feel it shuffling its power to the outside wheel and slingshotting me out onto the straightaway.

But that's hardly what this vehicle is for. Volvo's chassis engineers know it. First and foremost, the EX90 is a big, cushy cruiser. While previous big-wheel Volvos often displayed a sharp edge to their ride on bumpy sections, the EX90 strides gently over rough pavement. It's too stable and precise to call it "floaty," but equally as comfortable as a bargey old Caddy. It rides exactly as a luxury SUV should, proof that Volvo's chassis team had time to perfect the EX90's air suspension. I'll have to see whether the steel-springed Plus model feels as polished.

– Mack Hogan, InsideEVs

"At more than 2.7 tons, you can't expect the Volvo EX90 to be a frugal car or cheap to run. However, we managed almost 3.0mi/kWh during favorable conditions on the West Coast of America, resulting in a range of a touch more than 320 miles — slightly (but not significantly) down on the official quoted range of 374 miles. Every version gets a 111kWh (107kWh usable) battery.

While a typical U.K. winter might cause that test figure to drop slightly, even 2.5mi/kWh would return a real-world range of almost 270 miles. The standard heat pump should mitigate those losses somewhat, but we'll have to revisit that when we get a car back in the U.K. later in the year.

Not only does the EX90 return a respectable range, it'll also recharge at up to 250kW – even without the trick 800-volt architecture that underpins several Audi and Porsche products. That, Volvo claims, makes the EX90 good for a 10-80 percent charge in around half an hour.

Building on the successful second-generation XC90, which launched the best part of a decade ago, the all-electric EX90 gets a cleaner front end with an evolutionary take on that car's 'Thor's Hammer' daytime running lights. These are set into pixel-like segments and are animated — giving a unique 'welcome' signature when you lock or unlock the car. The rear end is typical Volvo too, with a set of LED taillights that stretch right up to the roofline.

The cabin looks and feels minimalist but not at the expense of functionality, with Volvo opting to fit a set of digital instruments and a head-up display in addition to the large 14.5-inch central screen. Suffice it to say, the smaller EX30's failings (no dials or HUD) are fixed in the EX90, with a much more intuitive user experience.

– Richard Ingram, Auto Express

"While you'll find lidar tech on a couple of other cars (the Polestar 3 and Lotus Eletre), where it's either optional or hidden away, here on the EX90 it comes as standard and sits pride of place at the top of the windshield. This, says lidar supplier Luminar CEO Austin Russell, is because of Volvo's reputation in safety: 'It's not just about the sexy new feature.' Sexy? In the flesh this lidar lump is actually quite prominent on the EX90, and makes it look a bit like a London taxi. Though it's certainly capable: No matter the conditions, it can see 120 degrees side to side, and up to 250 meters ahead with 1-centimeter accuracy, priming the car for most eventualities.

For Volvo head of global design Robin Page, the lidar positioning wasn't the easiest thing to work with aesthetically, so alternate solutions were sought: 'We wanted to try and get it behind the windscreen, but as the [lidar] rays go out, they hit that glass surface and shoot off into the air.' Obviously not a good thing. Thankfully, the aerodynamic challenges weren't too hard to negate, due to a tiny 'edge' in the unit that encourages cleaner airflow.

The type of customer who might buy this Volvo flagship is probably one that car companies want to listen to, especially as the first available iteration of the EX90 will set you back a little over £96,000 in the U.K. in 2024. A cheaper, single-motor car with less power and more range will follow later, which will be priced around $80,000 in the U.S. and £75,000 in the U.K.

The EX90 has a problem, though. Not from a rival, but from a sibling under parent company Geely — one that is going after almost exactly the same customer: an affluent buyer who likes safety, Scando design, electric power, and superb build quality. You see, the new Polestar 3 — launching way before the EX90 — shares the same EV platform. Starting at $83,900 (£79,900), the 483-bhp Long Range Dual Motor model will hit 62 mph from rest in 5 seconds and manages 379 miles on a charge. Throw Polestar $89,900 (£85,500) and you'll get the Long Range Dual Motor With Performance Pack, which bumps the power and torque up to 510 bhp, knocks the range down to 347 miles, but gets you to 62 mph in 4.7 seconds. Both cars will hit 130 mph. As you'd expect from cars based on exactly the same platform, the Volvo and the Polestar are dimensionally similar: The EX90 is a shade over 5.0 meters long, 2.1 meters wide, and 1.7 meters tall; the Polestar is 4.9 by 2.1 by 1.6 meters."

– Alex Goy, Wired