The Car Connection Expert Review
Likes
- Spry driving feel
- Super, super quiet interior
- Volvo design simplicity
- Truly next-gen safety sensing
- Available bidirectional charging
Dislikes
- Too many controls consolidated to the screen
- One-size-fits-all brake regen
- Expensive
- Long hood, small frunk
Buying tip
features & specs
The 2025 Volvo EX90 electric SUV makes some giant leaps in safety, interface, and more.
What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Volvo EX90? What does it compare to?
The 2025 Volvo EX90 is a seven-seat crossover SUV with a full battery electric powertrain. It compares with a limited but growing number of three-row electric vehicles, including the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, Rivian R1S, Kia EV9, and Tesla Model X.
Is the 2025 Volvo EX90 a good SUV?
If you can manage the high price of entry—more than $80,000—the Volvo EX90 channels some of the tech-minimalist approach of Tesla and heads upscale from there, without turning its back on all Volvo’s other core attributes. For the time being, without a safety score yet, it earns a TCC Rating of 8.6 out of 10, but it’s a safe guess its score will rise once that arrives. (Read more abouthow we rate cars.)
What's new for the 2025 Volvo EX90?
The 2025 Volvo EX90 is new from the ground up, but the shape and proportions look similar to the winning design of the XC90, which has served as a bellwether of safety, style, and performance since the second generation launched in 2016.
Inside, the look is more overtly fresh and minimalist, with a 14.5-inch touchscreen oriented vertically and ingesting all of the buttons and dials traditionally found on the dash. The screen stops short of the floating center console, and bright metallic trim frames the wood-paneled dash and console alike. A small, horizontal 9.0-inch digital instrument cluster perches above the steering wheel, and a fixed glass roof brightens up the cabin.
The EX90 uses two permanent magnet motors powering either axle for standard all-wheel drive. EX90 Twin Motor versions make 402 hp while Twin Motor Performance versions offer 510 hp. A 111-kwh battery pack provides an EPA range of up to 308 miles, and the EX90 can fast-charge from 10-80% in as little as 30 minutes. It’s also the first Volvo with bidirectional charging capability, with officially supported hardware for home backup set to launch later this year.
The EX90 seats seven passengers, with three seats in the middle row and two in the rear. A low, flat floor and loads of front legroom underscore this model’s dedicated EV platform, although the frunk is too shallow for much. The look and feel of the upholstery is top notch, yet much of it is cleverly sustainably sourced and recycled; Volvo estimates that 15% of the plastic used in the cars comes from recycled plastics.
Like other Volvos, the EX90 will come standard with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, adaptive LED headlights, and parking sensors. Volvo says the latest update to its suite of safety tech gets smarter over time, in part from over-the-air updates, and lidar combines with driver monitors and new hardware for a hands-free driving system “in the future,” Volvo says. Crash-test ratings are pending, but Volvo makes it a priority on all its vehicles.
How much does the 2025 Volvo EX90 cost?
Twin Motor and Twin Motor Performance versions can both be had in Plus or Ultra trims. The starting price for a Twin Motor Plus is $81,290, including the mandatory $1,295 destination charge; Ultra versions cost $85,640. Twin Motor Performance versions cost $86,290 and $90,640, respectively.
All versions are equipped like luxury vehicles, including a fixed panoramic glass roof, four-zone climate control, third-row air conditioning, Bose audio, a power tailgate, a power-folding third row, heated first and second row seats, and a heated steering wheel. Ultra versions add an air suspension, flush door handles and soft-close doors, massage seats, and more.
All EX90 models include Phone as Key functionality, which will turn your smartphone (iPhone or Android) into a key using ultra wideband technology, linking all your settings to it, supposedly. Volvo’s shifted a lot of controls to the touchscreen, although wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be supported and a 5G data connection supports streaming, navigation, and software updates.
There’s some important context to all of this. The EX90 is built on an entirely new platform that truly maps out a “software-defined vehicle,” with all the computing power and sensing to anticipate future features. Lidar sensing is included and used for the EX90’s active safety systems to detect hazards farther in advance and with greater accuracy. Volvo’s Pilot Assist driver-assistance system may act conservatively next to Tesla, but Volvo’s sensing suite might enable vastly better and safer semi-automated driving as the updates roll-out.
Where is the 2025 Volvo EX90 made?
In Ridgeville, South Carolina, alongside the Polestar 3.
2025 Volvo EX90 Styling
The design of the Volvo EX90 undersells the innovation.
Is the Volvo EX90 a good-looking car?
It is indeed. While an evolutionary design on the outside holds back a bit in revolutionizing the Volvo look on the outside, it syncs Volvo up with the future on the inside. The way Volvo has navigated luxurious minimalism earns it a point outside and two inside, for a total of 8.
From some paces back, the 2025 Volvo EX90 reads as the next XC90, or certainly part of that family, made modern. The EX90 is actually a clean-slate electric vehicle, and yet Volvo didn’t seize the situation as radically as it might have, from a design standpoint, to reinvent the SUV form or the way its cabin space is apportioned—as BMW did with its iX, for instance.
Walking around on the outside, the light signature might be the biggest departure, with the sideways T-shaped headlights Volvo calls Thor’s hammer chopped into cubes and extending to the lower bumper area. The Volvo emblem slashes through the solid panel grille, and the hood has twin recesses that seem to channel air down the sides of the car. It strikes an XC90 profile, and the wheels sport five-spoke running-man designs. There’s an integrated rear roof spoiler, and a lightbar stretches across the liftgate like a staple, yet the vestiges of the XC90’s vertical taillights running up the sides to the spoiler remain, in the liftgate at least. The Ultra versions upgrade to flush door handles and can have showier 22-inch wheels.
Inside, Volvo goes a minimalist route that more clearly evolves the design language and the interface together. In many ways it’s the utilitarian ethos Tesla has been striving for, played out with the thoughtful materials of a true luxury car. The end result is a cleaner interior with more focus on the fine, responsibly sourced materials and surfaces that Volvo has been showing off in its past few generations of vehicles. The cabin look and feel is light, thanks partly to the glass roof included across the lineup, with brightwork keps spare, for the most part, and subtle textures abound. On a deeper look around the interior, users will find a whole host of controls, toggles, and adjustments have been moved to the touchscreen, for better or worse, but that’s functionality rather than design and styling.
2025 Volvo EX90 Performance
The 2025 Volvo EX90 may impress as plush, but it’s a perky performer.
Quick acceleration and a great ride-and-handling balance defy impressions in this quiet, soft-riding vehicle, and they both earn a point. Another point comes from its pure-EV powertrain. A squishy brake pedal and the lack of more control for brake regen might be enough for a demerit, and we can’t yet say whether models without the air suspension ride and handle as well, but for now our rating sits at a 8.
For 2025, the Volvo EX90 lineup consists of Twin Motor and Twin Motor Performance versions, both of which have dual-motor propulsion systems providing all-wheel drive. Twin Motor versions deliver 402 hp and 568 lb-ft while Twin Motor Performance versions offer 510 hp and 671 lb-ft. Both have two permanent-magnet motors, but Performance versions offer a significantly higher potential output at the rear wheels.
One key equipment difference that will change the way the EX90 rides and drives is the air suspension, paired with semi-active (multi-mode) dampers. It comes in Ultra versions, which is all we’ve driven so far. With it, the EX90 has a rather plush, soft ride at face value, with a reassuring underlying firmness when pushed hard in the corners. It handles surprisingly well for a vehicle that weighs more than 6,000 pounds.
Soft and Firm settings from the driving dynamics screen tweak straight-ahead ride comfort to your liking, while Soft and Firm settings also let you tweak the steering feel. In either case, the EX90’s ride is astonishingly quiet and well-isolated. The only thing we’re absolutely not sold on in the EX90, based on a first drive, was its brake feel—and to compound matters, the lack of a regen mode between Neutral-style coasting and a rather abrupt one-pedal driving mode.
Volvo says that either of these AWD EX90 models can tow up to 4,840 pounds.
Is the Volvo EX90 4WD?
So far all EX90 versions have dual-motor propulsion, amounting to all-wheel drive. Two settings on the EX90’s driving dynamics screen affect the way the all-wheel-drive system behaves. One of them is an Off-road mode, only available at speeds below 25 mph. The other is a performance AWD mode that keeps power flowing through the rear motor all the time between 19 mph and 81 mph, helping deliver more power to the rear wheels in corners than otherwise would. Without the mode engaged, the system sends power to the rear wheels only as needed for quick launches and traction needs.
Single Motor models are likely on the way too, but they haven’t been officially confirmed for the U.S. yet and wouldn’t arrive until next model year at the earliest.
How fast is the Volvo EX90?
Twin Motor versions can get to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, while Twin Motor Performance versions make that dash in 4.7 seconds. Based on experiences with other electric vehicles, the two will likely feel comparable at city speeds with the Performance pulling away as decidedly quicker on the open road.
2025 Volvo EX90 Comfort & Quality
The EX90 sells suburban families on comfort, versatility, and responsible sourcing with a modern twist.
The look and feel of the EX90’s cabin fits the mission: channeling the plush utility of the XC90, and moving it forward with a modern twist for the electric era. The EX90 seats seven passengers, with three seats in the middle row and two in the rear.
Those front seats are fantastic and earn a point, so does the EX90’s rear seat comfort, ability to seat five comfortably, its cargo space and versatility, and its top-notch materials, fit, and finish. That adds up to a 10.
To that mission, Volvo says 15% of the plastic used in the EX90 comes from recycled plastics, and it’s turned to some distinctive yet luxurious materials inside, including wool blend upholstery or Nordico material made from PET bottles plus forest material, real responsibly harvested wood, and carpets made partly of reused materials. The look and feel of the cabin is light—partly thanks to the glass roof given to all models—and outside of the brightwork of the steering wheel the shiny bits are kept to thin bezels.
Volvo’s front seats are proportioned just like those we’ve been accustomed to enjoying from the brand, with extendable thigh cushions and good back support; somehow, Volvo manages to make them adjustable and comfortable for a very wide range of driver sizes. Doors open wide in the second and third rows, and most adults will find the seating point a natural height for getting in. Between the second and third rows, it’s more of a juggling act. Three 6-footers can potentially sit behind each other, but best to put the most limber one in the third row as access is slim.
U.S. specs for interior volume weren’t yet available, but the EX90 offers a low, flat cargo space, with enough room behind the third row for a half dozen or so grocery bags; power-fold the third row and the space offers an impressive 50.2 inches of cargo floor from the second row to the back. Flip both rows down and the cargo length is nearly 81 inches.
One of the few disappointing pieces is that the frunk is quite shallow and is divided into three portions by hard dividers. It doesn’t even leave the space for a daypack—best to just throw the mobile charger up there to have it handy.
2025 Volvo EX90 Safety
The EX90 has a whole suite of active safety features, but no crash test results yet.
How safe is the Volvo EX90?
No crash-test results for the 2025 Volvo EX90 are available quite yet, but safety is what Volvo has built its reputation on and we expect top-tier occupant safety scores. The EX90 will come standard with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, adaptive LED headlights, and parking sensors. Volvo includes eight cameras, five radars, and 16 ultrasonic sensors to inform those systems.
The 2025 Volvo EX90 is also one of just a few models in the world, as of yet, to include lidar sensing as a standard feature. Called Light Detection and Ranging, it “sees” objects and surfaces with a very high level of accuracy and long range—so it can see a pedestrian as far ahead as 250 meters, according to Volvo. The automaker estimates that lidar alone will help cut severe accidents by up to 20%.
The EX90 includes a so-called “driver understanding system” that looks at camera inputs from the driver’s eye plus steering inputs and processes the level of driver distraction on a flexible scale, identifying impairment, drowsiness, distraction, focus, and eye-gaze patterns. That informs how the suite of active safety systems will react.
As in the XC90, Volvo includes an Integrated child booster cushion good for kids 33-80 pounds and more than 38 inches tall; it will help keep you from lugging child seats around from vehicle to vehicle.
2025 Volvo EX90 Features
The EX90 goes all-in on luxury and tech features. Bring your phone, and dig into the touchscreen menus.
The 2025 EX90 isn’t cheap, or especially high in value for money as an EV. But it's a very well-equipped electric SUV, with a quick, responsive infotainment system. Its 4-year/50,000-mile warranty coverage is strong, too. Each of those elements brings a point, for a total of 8. As for the EX90’s choices to move nearly every adjustment, like Tesla, to the screen and even make family phones the keys, we’re neither giving that pluses or minuses quite yet until we see how they work in the real world.
Twin Motor and Twin Motor Performance versions are both offered in a choice between Plus and Ultra trims. In its Plus trim, the EX90 includes a fixed panoramic glass roof, four-zone climate control, third-row air conditioning, a head-up display, an air purification system, Bose audio, 20-inch wheels, a power tailgate, a power-folding third row, wireless phone charging, heated first and second row seats, and a heated steering wheel.
Key added features for the Ultra include the air suspension and active chassis system, soft-close doors, laminated rear windows, puddle lamps, 21-inch wheels, and front-seat massage. A premium Bowers & Wilkins audio system with Dolby Atmos is optional, as are 22-inch wheels.
All EX90s also include a 14.5-inch vertically oriented center touchscreen display, built on Google’s Android Automotive OS and including Google HD Maps, plus a 9.0-inch reconfigurable instrument cluster. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be supported.
Volvo says that it will include an introductory period for the EX90’s 5G data connection, while that will require a customer subscription later, Volvo says it will continue making the data complementary past that for over-the-air updates.
All EX90 models include Phone as Key functionality, which will turn your smartphone (iPhone or Android) into a key using ultra wideband technology—with an NFC smart card key as backup. With multiple beacons within the vehicle, the EX90 can determine which phone entered at the driver’s door and seamlessly update memory settings for the seat, steering wheel, mirrors, and more for that occupant.
A version of Volvo’s appropriately named (nudge, Tesla) Pilot Assist driver-assistance system is included in the EX90, too, and it might help ease stress on long highway trips. Whether steady cruising or making one of its semi-automated lane changes, you’ll need to keep both hands on the wheel.
Which Volvo EX90 should I buy?
We haven’t driven an EX90 without the air suspension and active chassis system, which renders us unable to advise you on whether the Ultra is truly worth it. Based on experiences with the outgoing XC90 and its air-suspension versions, our hunch is on the Twin Motor, in Ultra guise, for $85,640.
How much is a fully loaded Volvo EX90?
A top-spec Ultra, with the optional Bowers & Wilkins audio plus 22-inch wheels, adds up to $94,640.
2025 Volvo EX90 Fuel Economy
The 2025 Volvo EX90 carries around a lot of energy but does smart things with it.
Is the Volvo EX90 good on gas?
The 2025 Volvo EX90 goes up to 308 miles, by the EPA cycle, on 107 kwh of usable battery capacity. That’s with 21-inch wheels; versions with the 20- and 22-inch wheels are rated at 296 miles, according to Volvo. Although corresponding EPA combined efficiency ratings aren’t out yet, that indicates the EX90 will land under the 3.0 miles per kwh that distinguish a top score of 10 but well above the 2.0 mi/kwh that makes it a 9.
That’s not as many miles per kwh as the three-row Kia EV9, but it’s in the same vicinity, in terms of efficiency, as the Audi Q8 E-Tron, BMW iX, and Mercedes EQS SUV. All EX90s come with a heat pump, too, which will help it maintain impressive range numbers even in chillier weather.
Volvo has an onboard trip planner and when you add a charging station as a destination or stop as one as part of the planned trip it will precondition the battery pack temperature for the fastest possible charge rate. Volvo says that the EX90 will reach a peak charge power of 250 kw; keep in mind that it only charges near that peak briefly. Volvo cites 10-80% charge times of 30, 32, and 35 kw, respectively, with 250-, 200-, and 150-kw chargers, so don’t hesitate to settle for a 150-kw connector.
To make the most of the big battery, the EX90 will offer a DC bidirectional charging, initially in the form of a home energy station from the V2X tech firm dcbel, allowing home blackout protection, vehicle-to-home peak shaving and smart charging, as well as future vehicle-to-grid functionality. The cost will be around $5,000 plus installation.