Phone in pocket, I step into the sleek-looking Volvo EX90 EV, and as I approach this three-row SUV the driver door unlocks, the seat motors to the correct position and the mirrors and steering wheel find their prescribed sweet spots. Favorites and climate settings recalibrate.
OK, full confession: That’s how it’s supposed to work. The reality, I must confess, is that my first time stepping into the EX90 I spent around 10 minutes navigating a labyrinth of different screen settings. Each time my drive partner and I changed position, we had to go through the same thing. Much like Tesla, Volvo has completely purged all of these controls, and they’re no longer fingertip controls available at any time; you can’t even tweak them when you’re at a stoplight in Drive.
Why? Well, design minimalism, of course. While the EX90 has a profile that’s predictably Volvo, boxy and clean on the outside, minimalist verging on austere on the inside—fashionably so—with all the expected Volvo cues, from Thor’s hammer lights to chiseled taillights, pre-loaded but overtly bit-mapped here. At a glance, it simply looks like an evolution of Volvo for the electrified age and doesn’t go out on a limb.
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
The 14.5-inch touchscreen system is the core of the EX90’s interior, and from a first sample it’s one of the better ones designed on the Google Android Automotive OS that’s starting to give a number of infotainment systems a similar look if not layout. Volvo has given its screen a different structure, though, locking climate-control settings and quick navigation to the home screen, apps, and settings at the bottom of the screen. With widgets and contextual icons just above that, the vast majority of the layout is dedicated to navigation—although you can also add it to the 9.0-inch gauge cluster.
Those who really don’t like the way Tesla has decided to move all the controls to the touchscreen and gone super-minimalist with ancillary controls won’t be delighted by this approach. But unlike in Tesla vehicles, Volvo gives you that reconfigurable gauge display, a head-up display, and options to tweak the layout of the touchscreen.
Of all the things that Tesla leaves to the screen, Volvo has left us turn-signal and shift stalks, and it has opted not to make moving climate-control vents a screen task. I’m happy to lift my hand and move the vent. Thanks, Volvo, it’s a nice touch point.
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
Volvo’s first software-defined vehicle
Volvo backstops its entire story about the South Carolina-made EX90, which arrives at dealerships this fall and has been waylaid by software issues, with details about how it’s a software-defined vehicle. Consider it a given that the interface is likely to evolve and add features with a lifetime of vehicle updates on the way. Volvo points to its technology partnerships with Google, Qualcomm, and Nvidia and suggests the EX90 is the opening salvo for tech and an interface that will filter down through the future EV lineup. Volvo says it will keep data for navigation and over-the-air updates live even if customers let their 5G data subscription for apps and streaming lapse; it hasn’t yet provided an idea of how much data will cost for this new system beyond an introductory period.
Getting more comfortable with the tech and with the perspective of several hours of driving time, I was reminded that Volvo hasn’t forgotten in the EX90 about what it does best—making people feel comfortable, safe, and pampered, without overtly flaunting it.
Volvo was already moving upscale when the current XC90 family first came out, and it feels like the EX90 continues to move in that direction inside. Despite the uber-minimalist, almost austere look to the interface and dash, the EX90 has a very rich, finely textured look and feel throughout the cabin—at least in the top Ultra versions I drove at the launch event, so the jury remains out for more affordable versions. Front seats have extendable thigh bolsters and fit a wide range of sizes; second-row seats are ample for adults; and yes, you can fit a 6-footer in the third row, although it’s hard to get in and out.
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90 performance
For 2025, the EX90 is offered in two powertrain variants, each in Plus or Ultra trims. In the Twin Motor Performance I drove, the dual-motor system makes 510 hp and 671 lb-ft of torque altogether, and it can accelerate to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. Twin Motor versions instead make 402 hp and 568 lb-ft. Both units are permanent magnet motors, with somewhat different outputs, but both versions use a disconnect clutch at the rear motor to operate the EX90 as a front-wheel-drive vehicle during cruising or light acceleration, while the rear motor typically works at off-the-line launches. A Performance AWD effectively takes the place of a sport mode, as it locks the rear motor on from 19-81 mph, balancing the dynamics in corners. There’s an off-road mode too.
Looking entirely at straight-line performance, the EX90 is astonishingly quiet, and as quick as the numbers suggest. Volvo purged the cabin of noise and vibration without resorting to active noise cancellation, and the EX90 doesn’t have sound supplementation; it comes down to cleverly chosen bushings, including fluid-filled mounts for the motor units.
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
For a version that tips the scales at around 6,100 pounds and is the heaviest in the lineup, the EX90 was also delightfully nimble—although I can’t speak for the entire lineup quite yet. That’s because the Ultra model includes an air suspension, as well as semi-active (multi-mode) dampers, with a choice between soft and firm ride settings, as well as soft and firm settings for steering feel. I ended up preferring the soft setting for both, as the steering centered more naturally in that setting and the EX90 rode better in the soft setting, without sacrificing any of the dynamic control when pushed hard—but I did notice the soft setting brought a little more nosedive in hard stops.
On that matter, I’m not at all a fan of the mushy brake pedal feel and the limited range of regenerative braking options. Other than an “auto” setting I didn’t completely get the feel of, you have a choice of either turning on an aggressive one-pedal driving mode, or turning regen off completely and coasting in what feels like Neutral. Sitting at a steep incline with my foot on the brake pedal, I could raise or lower the pedal a couple inches without knowing where the friction point of the brake pads was. Volvo gets the pedal feel right in the XC40 Recharge, so this may be an anomaly. And please, for the sake of passengers, let’s hope they give us a middle regen setting.
2025 Volvo EX90
A 300-mile range for EX90 in the real world?
A 111-kwh battery pack is stocked with nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) lithium-ion cells, and Volvo makes 107 kwh of that available as usable capacity. A road-trip fast-charge of 10-80% takes 30 minutes, according to Volvo, with a connector of 250 kw or higher. But it points out that you’ll add only five minutes to the session by using a 150-kw connector. And with its 11-kw onboard charger, expect a full charge in less than 10 hours on a 48-amp, 240-volt home charger.
The EX90 has one other very impressive charging toolset, and it’ll keep getting better as accessories and over-the-air updates roll out: bidirectional charging. With a unit available starting late this year from Volvo partner dcbel, EX90 owners will be able to back up home power or perhaps, in the future, sell power back to their utility.
Volvo points to U.S. EPA-cycle range estimates of 310 miles with the 21-inch wheels, or 300 miles with the 20-inch or 22-inch wheels.
By early indications of this drive, in 80-degree weather, the EX90 will return about that or more in the real world. In about 185 miles of driving in Orange County between two different vehicles, and including a wide range of traffic and road conditions including high-speed freeway cruising and mountain roads, I saw nearly 2.8 miles per kwh—working out to be 300 miles without thinking about efficiency.
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
2025 Volvo EX90
EX90 safety, Pilot Assist: Very capable but conservative
As up-front as Volvo is in reworking the interface, its very appropriately named Pilot Assist driver-assistance features are far more conservative. Pilot Assist doesn’t use mapped highways in the same way, and it and Volvo’s active-safety suite instead factor in something none of those other vehicles have: lidar. With its Luminar lidar sensor, the EX90 can see pedestrians up to 250 meters ahead, according to Volvo, and it gets a longer, more accurate view of what’s up ahead than camera systems.
Yet compared to GM’s Super Cruise or Ford’s Blue Cruise—and certainly versus Navigate on Autopilot—Pilot Assist takes a conservative approach. Order up an automated lane change and it requires both hands on the wheel and lots of time, and you can’t take your hands off the steering wheel and its capacitive sensors for more than 14 seconds at a time.
It’s pricey. The 2025 EX90 starts at $81,290, including the $1,295 destination fee. In the Plus you do get a vast set of luxury feature including four-zone climate control, third-row air conditioning, a power-folding third row, a power tailgate, a heated steering wheel, and heated first and second-row seats. Top-trim Ultra versions like the one I drove, with the air suspension, massage seats, soft-close doors, and flush door handles, are above that at $85,640 for Twin Motor and $90,640 in Twin Motor Performance guise.
That aside, Volvo clearly hasn’t lost sight of its brand. With the still-extant XC90 it’s helped owners feel comfortable, safe, and pampered, without being an overt statement of luxury. The 2025 Volvo EX90 carries all of that forward and goes boldly into the future.
Volvo paid for travel expenses so that we could bring you this firsthand test drive review.
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