We tried hard to make it work. But SA is not ready (yet?)
We tried to make it work. But SA is just not ready.
We had a significant level of feedback to our test of the Volvo EX90 a month or two back. Most of it supporting our views. A little anti too. So we asked for the car back for a second go at it, to see if we really tried hard, perhaps we could make it work.
Now to qualify our standpoint, as you will read in our fist stab at it, we feel that South Africa is not quite ready for EVs yet. Yes of course, they commissioned a fancy new solar charging station fifteen hundred miles away on some forlorn northern freeway. And the charger infrastructure is (supposed to be) growing.
And naturally, if you’re the one in a hundred thousand with a solar plant for a home, then you are a hell of a lot closer to making it work. But we are among the ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine South Africans that don’t find ourselves in that privileged situation. So we reckon our point of view, well, sticks.
Living in the sticks just makes it worse
Unfortunately for EVs, we are also among the growing population of Saffers who now live remotely in a relatively far off little village that still has to wipe the gunk out of its eyes to even understand that EVs are actually a thing. There are however now one or two fast chargers in the vicinity. If you can call it that. So we said what the hell, let’s give this another go.
Starting with the car, look at it and the EX90 really looks the part. This one’s Norwegian winter mist hue works so well with those monster wheels, crisp lines and that police light like knob on the roof. Makes for a truly different, and quite authoritative look. Looks are the one thing all of us like about the big electric Volvo.
Moving on, we dig the cabin look too. And we tried our best to get our fossil minds around this button and knob devoid cockpit. It takes a some getting used, probably more than just the two weeks we’ve had with EX90 to get your head around it. We’d far rather have our buttons back where we can reach out and touch them. Like you do for the light switch next to your bed. Ot your loo roll in the dark of night. Normal, you know?
EX90 is super comfy, looks great and goes like stink
Performance is ludicrous for a car this big. It’ll scare most supercars. But that kind of behaviour also sucks the battery dry so quickly that it’s probably not worth it if you intend travelling any reasonable distance on the charge. Which gets us to the point of our little experiment. As noted, there’s a 130 kW charger in the vicinity. If you call 53 kilometres away ‘in the vicinity’. Anything closer, which tries to call itself an EV charger, is useless.
There’s another fast charger station a little further away in Somerset West and a third at Canal Walk. And apparently a private one in Belville. And that’s it for the greater Cape Town and Boland area. But Willowbridge is a cool mall so we went there because it’s Woolies is good, there were a few other big city odds and sods we could get to, grab a quick sushi and be done.
Keeping an eye on the live report if one of the two 130 kW Willowbridge jacks were open, we set off with just on 200 km range remaining indicated. Both slots were occupied when we left, so we took a coffee en route. Happily enough the bay was open when we got there. Plugged her in at 160km range, tapped the card and whoopee, Saturday morning shopping!
Hallelujah! A fast charger for EX90 in the Cape…
Three quarters of an hour later, EX90 was fully charged with 400 clicks on the clock when we set off down to Tokai. We went out to Kalk Bay with our hosts, before dropping them back off and heading the 120 odd kilometres we drove to get home. Guess the range when we got home? 210 km! The entire exercise designed to charge our EV up while doing our Saturday rounds stumped up a princely ten kilometres of extra range.
To put that into another context, had we needed to refuel an ICE car that morning, we would have been able to do so at one of about 900 petrol stations in the area, which fluffs out to collectively present about 5000 individual pumps, the closest being 2 km away. And the biggest distance between two garages in the Cape is 17 kilometres. Compare that to three EV stations, or six plugs that are actually worth charging at some 50 km apart.
Sure, if you live abroad in a country that takes EVs seriously and there are more fast chargers than petrol pumps, then EVs make perfect sense. But back here in sunny South Africa, where despite a whole lot of smoke, mirrors and bullshit, driving an EV is a bit like trying to breathe underwater. It does not work. And will not unless there’s a radical, multibillion investment in charging infrastructure. And what’s the likelihood of that?
In reality, EX90 deserves so much better
One also has to wonder why globally, and even in EV mad markets like Norway, three-quarters of EV owners still own ICE cars. Not even those markets are confident enough to fully switch to EVs. And considering that only 0.2 percent of all cars sold in South Africa in 2025 were EVs, it seems that the public is well enough aware of the struggle.
Which is a shame. Because cars like this otherwise magnificent Volvo EX90 deserve so much better. And they’re not likely to get it, any time soon. – Michele Lupini
Images & test data: Giordano Lupini
ROAD TESTED: Volvo EX90 Twin Motor Performance
Total output: 380 kW 910 Nm electric
Front Motor: 180 kW 420 Nm
Rear Motor: 200 kW 490 Nm
Motors Type: Permanent magnet synchronous
Drive: Direct AWD
Battery: 400V 111 kWh lithium iron
TESTED:
0-60 km/h: 2.22 sec
0-100 km/h: 4.37 sec
0-120 km/h: 6.01 sec
0-160 km/h: 10.54 sec
400m: 12.7 sec @ 173 km/h
80-120 km/h: 2.85 sec
120-160 km/h: 4.53 sec
CLAIMED:
VMax: 180 km/h
Energy: 20.7 kWh/100km
CO2: 0 g/km tailpipe
Range: 615 km
Warranty/Service: 2y unl./ 5y 100K km
LIST PRICE: R2.65M
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