Volvo Reveals C40 Recharge: It's An XC40 Recharge With A Lot Less Headroom

From the waistline down, it is the same car.

By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

Mar 2, 2021 at 8:58am ET

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Volvo did a much better job with the XC40 Recharge than Mercedes-Benz did with the EQC. Despite being based on a combustion-engined model, it offers a frunk. We cannot say the same about the C40 Recharge. Volvo’s new electric car is basically an XC40 Recharge with a lot less headroom.

The only difference between the XC40 and the C40 is the roofline. In the latter, it is coupe-like, which should make it more energy-efficient. Sadly, it hasn’t, according to Volvo itself: the 78 kWh battery pack gives it a 420-km, the same one the XC40 has.

The technical specifications keep confirming that there is very little to the C40 that is really new. Both cars are 4.43 meters (174.4 inches) long and 2.04 m (80.3 in) wide. Even acceleration times are the same: 4.9 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and 4.7 s from 0 to 60 mph. Frunk size? You guessed right: it is the same, at 31 liters (1.09 cubic foot).

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The only differences are the style and the height: 1.58 m (62.2 in) against 1.65 m (65 in). Ironically, the front passengers on the C40 have slightly more headroom than those on the XC40: 100 centimeters (39.4 in) compared to 95.5 cm (37.6). At the back, that relation gets inverted: 93.2 cm (36.7 in) for the C40 and 97.4 cm (38.4 in) for the XC40.

According to the company, the C40 Recharge is “the first Volvo model in history designed as pure electric-only.” It would be more appropriate to say it has the first roof conceived for an electric vehicle – even if it apparently makes no difference in lowering its drag coefficient and the rest of the electric-only project is still missing.