Volvo EX30: Long-term review

This past month has been a busy one, not allowing much time to get away for long drives in the EX30. Not that it’s a bad thing, the tiny Volvo is excelling as a daily driver, getting around Melbourne’s inner city areas.

Its diminutive size is great for finding gaps in traffic and its instant torque is a hoot for zipping around in almost complete silence.

There are parts of our neighbourhood which do bring to light one of its shortcomings though.

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One of the streets in our area that I use almost everyday runs parallel to the main drag, heading towards our central business area. Locals and people in the know use it as a rat-run as it avoids the traffic, buses and seven sets of lights. At the end of the straight there’s an S bend that was quiet fun to run through. Unfortunately there were far too many talentless drivers hitting them too fast who ended up losing control of their cars and straddling the concrete barriers – as if trying to grind them with a skateboard.

The council caught onto this and a few years back dropped enough speed humps onto it that it now resembles a BMX track. Driving the street now with the EX30’s firm ride demands that these be treated with respect as going over them a touch too briskly can be jarring – it will also draw the stink-eye from my partner.

That’s been one common take with any passengers who’ve had a ride in the bumblebee-coloured Volvo. All other comments have been flattering of its styling and build quality.

Regardless of the ride, it doesn’t deter using the road (much to the disgust of a neighbour involved in the project to reduce traffic) but annoyingly the cadence of slowing down and accelerating repeatedly always blows out fuel figures. Even with that, it’s still quicker than the main strip – yes, I have timed it.

So far I’m finding I only need to top up the battery once a fortnight and there’s a DC charging station that’s less than two kilometres away. The app for the service lets you know how many of the four stations are available and functioning, so it helps avoids wasting time showing up to a full house.

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Charging has generally taken under 40 minutes going from under 20 percent back up to 90, costing $30-$45 depending if it’s off-peak.

I’ve tried charging from a wall socket at home but that’s painfully slow, taking around 22 hours to charge up 80 percent of the battery. We own a plug-in hybrid which we charge at home every second day or thereabouts, so I’m finding the charging station far more convenient. The single car driveway unfortunately is not ideal for owning two cars that need to be plugged.

I’m yet to experience range anxiety as some of the road testers have had to suffer on extended jaunts, but if I was still working at an office and travelling 60 kilometres on a daily basis like I used to, careful planning for charging would certainly be part of the owner experience. Forking out for a home charger would certainly be a strong consideration if that was still the case.

For all the naysayers that oppose EVs so far I’ve enjoyed the experience of living with one. If only it made a bit more noise.