• Volvo South Africa says the first batch of pre-ordered EX30 EVs are on their way to our shores.
• More than 150 Volvo EX30 vehicles were pre-ordered locally, with pricing starting at R775 900.
• While there is no precise date of availability, the EVs are expected in the first quarter of 2024.

In June this year, Volvo unveiled its latest all-electric SUV in the form of the EX30.

Shortly thereafter, Volvo South Africa opened up local pre-orders for the EV, with more than 150 pre-orders being registered as of September this year. Now the company says that the first batch of pre-ordered EVs is on its way to South Africa, as the initial allocation looks to be filled in the early part of 2024.

At the time of writing, no official launch date has been mentioned, but Volvo SA is expecting to have its new EX30 vehicles available within the first quarter of next year.

“The highly anticipated EX30 will touch down as one of the most affordable electric vehicles (EVs) on the market, with the five-strong line-up bearing a starting price of R775 900,” noted Volvo in a press release shared with Hypertext.

“Typically, South Africa is not in the first wave of a new model’s global launch. But that’s changed with the EX30, as our initial allocation is already inbound. This means we’ll see the first examples on local roads at the same time as they arrive in major markets in Europe, North America and Asia,” added Greg Maruszewski, MD of Volvo Car South Africa.

As such, the company is quite buoyant about how this new EV will perform locally.

While loadshedding and a relatively small charging station network still serve as hurdles to EV adoption in SA, a number of car makers have pushed ahead in bringing the latest models to our shores. With the EX30 starting below R800k, it would certainly hold an advantage in terms of pricing compared to some of the other luxury European brands and their EV offerings.

The EV also looks to be pretty handy in terms of performance too, if the numbers are anything to go by.

To that end, a 315kW twin motor powertrain in present, which also makes the EX30 the fastest-accelerating Volvo ever at 3.6 seconds for 0-100 km/h. There is also an extended-range model in the lineup which is capable of covering up to 480 kilometres on a single full charge.