Volvo C40 Recharge a modern day electric pocket rocket

The world is changing and Volvo is a premium brand which has always been at the forefront of ushering in change. It’s only when you look way back into the past that you truly get an idea of just how much things have changed.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the Volvo cars with a C or a 40 in their designation were the C30 T5 R Design and S40 T5. These performance offerings ran state-of-the-art, petrol-guzzling, 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged powerplants. And they were fast.

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Back in the day

The 162kW/320Nm C30 T5 R Design could hit 100km/h in 7.53 seconds and 180km/h in 24.42 seconds. But only if you got your launch right and didn’t miss a gear while running through the six-speed manual gearbox.

The S40 T5 offered 7kW more in the power department, while still running the torque. This saw the sedan hit 100km/h in 7.58 seconds and 180km/h in 23.73 seconds. Once again, only if your gear changing skills were up to the task.

Fast-forward a few decades and Volvo’s current compact performance offering, the C40 Recharge, has no internal combustion engine. It is now powered by a 78kWh battery that offers 300kW and 660Nm of instant power and torque.

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Volvo C40 lightning fast

Turbo lag died with the dinosaurs and a single-speed transmission ensures uncomplicated, lightning-fast launches, as well as overtaking acceleration whenever needed.

In 2023, fast means this compact coupe SUV got to 100km/h in 4.82 seconds during The Citizen Motoring‘s road test. And to 180km/h in a mere 14.65 seconds in not much more than 400m of road.

To put this in perspective, the petrol guzzlers would come near this full electric C40 off the line. But then they would need almost a full 1 000m to reach 180km/h.

Charing won’t break the bank

What has also changed, and this is a cut-and-paste job from my XC40 P8 Recharge road test, is that it is cheap to “fuel”.

Yes, I know Eskom drives us mad by constantly switching the country off. But if you put your car on charge each night like you do your cell phone, you won’t have any issues with range. If you are in need of a fast emergency charge, then just pop in at one of the high-output public charging stations. There, your problems will be solved instantly.

Prepaid electricity costs me R3 per kWh and my average “fuel” consumption came in at 21kWh per 100km. This translates into R63 per 100km, or comfortably less than three litres per 100km of fuel.

At R1 285 000, there is nothing with an internal combustion engine that comes close to offering the economy and performance of the C40 Recharge.

Volvo C40 road test results