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Volvo EX30 long term drive

When the Volvo EX30 was announced in June 2023, I thought this is a car I could own. I prefer smaller, compact cars, which is why I drive a Mini. And I want my next car to be an EV.

So, when I received my long-term review unit for the next two and a half months, I was excited. But that excitement started to fade the day I received the car.

My original Volvo EX30 review unit

Before I get into my experience, I’ve covered the EX30 for Brainstorm, Forbes Africa, and City Press, plus Recharged, so I’m not repeating that info. This post is around the reality of driving the EX30 long term.

The unit I drove was the Ultra Twin Motor Performance model, which is listed for R995 900. It’s the top of the range model that goes from 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds.

Basic connectivity and pairing issues

The day I received the car, I struggled to do the most basic thing – pair it to my smartphone on the dedicated Volvo EX30 app. I’ve not had this issue with previous Volvos. You pair it after putting in the VIN number.

I tried every method I could think of to troubleshoot from parking closer to my house to reach my WiFi, to resetting the connectivity, etc. I also created a whole new Volvo ID to start from scratch.

Also, the MiFi dongle provided to me did not pair to the car. I had to type a complicated password way too many times (more than 10 times) and it just said, “unable to connect”. I ended up using my phone to hotspot.

After I reset the infotainment system and paired it successfully, I ran into another issue. Despite the car having 320km of range and 85% battery, the app displayed conflicting info – 125km and 30% battery. It simply refused to refresh.

The EX30 gets swapped out with another unit

It was then decided that the car would be swapped out. I was told the unit I had was part of the initial 125 that arrived in SA with connectivity issues where the car was not talking to the app.

I was traveling abroad that week so within days of receiving the car, it was collected and swapped out with another unit.

The swapped out Volvo EX30

The weekend I got back, Volvo pushed out a big update to the app. The car worked for a few days before I experienced another separate issue – when I opened the app it showed “car is in use”.

The EX30 app is unusable

This meant I couldn’t access any feature on the app, i.e., the app was unusable as everything was greyed out.

The reason the app pairing and syncing is important to me, apart from loving apps, is when I go to charge the car using public chargers, I can monitor it remotely and leave when done.

The new car also refused to pair to the WiFi dongle. There was data on it but it repeatedly said, “unable to connect”. Bear in mind, it’s time-consuming swapping upper and lower case with numbers on the car’s keyboard, which took longer than it should. This also meant I couldn’t use Google Assistant, I usually ask it for directions instead of typing for so long.

EX30 app was unusable

I decided to drive to my sister about half an hour away on a Sunday, and because the car was offline, I didn’t know there was a massive traffic jam, which I got caught in for an additional 45 minutes. To say I was frustrated was an understatement.

The car runs on Android and uses Google Maps for navigation – an app that requires an internet connection to work with real-time traffic info.

The EX30 gets collected again for fixing

I also happened to be travelling abroad again later that week, so the car was fetched to be fixed a second time. What also made it worse, the software updates and certain features were disabled from my side.

A week later, I received the same unit, which appeared to be fixed. I was happy that the internet was finally working and that I could access Google Maps in real time. I simply refused to go anywhere with offline maps and get caught unaware in traffic.

By the way, the car does not appear to support Apple CarPlay, so I couldn’t pair my smartphone to it. I checked on the Play Store. I had to rely on the car being connected all the time.

After yet another app update, the app became unusable again. I was eventually told how to reset the TCAM, the car’s connectivity module, which fixed this issue.

The EX30 charging issues

I had no issues with the car for at least ten days. Hooray! Then I went to Mall of Africa to charge, like I have been doing previously.

The EX30 this time, refused to charge. It went through the pre-charging and initiated the charge, but I knew better than to leave before I saw it charging for over a minute. The charge would cut after 30 seconds.

I called Rubicon, and after seven failed attempts, they finally initiated the charge remotely from their side. I went to a coffee shop to work and Rubicon, who was also monitoring it, told me it had disconnected. They initiated it again.

A few days later, when the car was on 50% so I went back to Mall of Africa to recharge it without wanting to be stranded near 20%, and the same thing happened. After three attempts, I left without charging the EX30 due to pressing deadlines.

The issue I had at home, is that when I connected the car, it was set to be at a maximum of 32A on my charger, which is the setting for all previous EVs, but the EX30 refused to go beyond 4.9A. This meant in over 2 hours, it charged TWO PERCENT, which was 2kWh. I couldn’t charge the EX30 at home.

As the car was nearing the 20% mark a few days later, I tried other dealerships, one Audi and one BMW. The same thing happened – car would go through the motions of pre-charging, start charging, and then cut off after a short while.

Charging errors at various chargers

I want to add at this point, I’ve been charging and testing EVs for years, I know how to operate the chargers, I’ve even made videos about it. I’ve only ever encountered all these unexplained issues with the EX30. No. Other. EV.

Eventually, the car was fetched, while I was at a media event, to be charged and brought back home later.

At this point, I was left both scarred and scared to drive the EX30. I was afraid to run the battery down and get stranded at a charger.

I went to another event at Mall of Africa, and at least three other industry colleagues were there with their EX30s, and I was charging yet again next to a fellow journalist, but when the event ended, we realised it was only my car that was disconnected and stopped charging, not the other unit.

At this point, I was not at all surprised but even more frustrated and scared to drive it any longer and deal with this.

I was once charging at Sandton City, and the car stopped charging, so when I got back, I saw someone leaving me a note on the windscreen, very politely, written with eyeliner:

Let’s talk minimalist dashboard and UX

The EX30 stands out for its minimalist dashboard with no buttons, except what’s on the steering wheel. There’s no speedometer either, or driver display. You’re either love it or hate it.

But behind the steering wheel, there’s a sensor monitoring your eye and head movements all the time.

So, the moment you look left to see your speed, you get a warning to look ahead. I yawned a few times while driving, and the car beeped to tell me to take a break. I kid you not.

There’s also no power button, but this is standard with all electric Volvos, and I’ve gotten used to that. You simply put the car in a gear, and drive. Same for switching off, get into park and that’s it.

Then while driving, if another car comes in front of you or within proximity of the sensors, the car beeps, plus for speed limit warnings. When I first started driving around, I wanted to scream in frustration. The problem with SA roads, the lanes are sometimes not marked, or are different sizes, so the beeping is inconsistent.

It was extremely frustrating to drive a car that constantly beeps and you don’t know why. When you do look to the left to see the screen on why it’s beeping, it tells you to look ahead.

And it gets worse; when you turn off certain settings to make the beeping stop or the lane keeping aid, it will be switched on by default when you get back in the car. Because Volvo is a safety first, car. So this is part of the package.

Everything you want to adjust must be done on the infotainment display, even opening the glovebox. Some settings are not accessible while the car is moving, understandably. Accessing everything on the screen sometimes became frustrating to the extent I didn’t even bother with the glovebox.

Other niggles with the UX

When it came to charging the car, on the default home screen, you cannot tap it to go into the charging info from the top of the display. It is a multi-step process to tap into deep links just to see the charging info in real-time. I found this to be a poor UX experience.

And for something like pairing your smartphone and listening to music in the car. When you get back into your car, it does not remember your last track, nor does it play your music from when you left.

I had to frustratingly keep going into the Bluetooth settings and selecting my phone for it to play music despite being “connected”. Sometimes my music was not even playing despite the player showing the song playing. What?

When my testing period ended with the car, I went to wipe my data, and reset the car’s infotainment system. The cherry on top is that it refused to remove my phone’s name from the car. I rebooted it three times, after confirming I want to remove my device. It just remained on the list.

What I liked about the Volvo EX30

I know I mentioned a lot of issues with this car, so for what it’s worth, I want to add, I had no issues with the quality of the drive of the car. I love driving EVs for the instant torque, that thrill will always be there.

I also love the design and look of this car, especially the Thor headlights. And yes, being one of the fastest cars in the country is cool too but I wanted to prolong my range as much as I could.

I found the passenger row of seating comfortable with enough leg room, and well as the boot space for my needs. I didn’t need to pack it with anything out of the ordinary.

I created a user profile for myself on Volvo’s interface, and linked the car key to that profile, so whenever I approached the car, it would automatically unlock for me.

Also, when the profiles are all set-up, and you make any adjustments to the seats, mirror, or steering wheel, it asks if you want to update those changes to your profile, which is appreciated.

When I got into the car on cold winter mornings, it automatically put the heated steering wheel on, which is a great touch, afterward I would just turn on the heated seats. I loved driving the car in winter, especially before 4:30AM when it was 3°C heading to OR Tambo.

And not once did I have range anxiety, apart from the charging issues at 20%. I felt comfortable to drive to most places without worrying about charge. I also trickle charged when I could.

Google Maps has Volvo built-in features to let you know what battery percentage you will have when you reach your destination and when you return. I found it mostly accurate.

While I had issues with the Bluetooth picking up my phone, the audio quality was excellent on the Harman Kardon 1000W soundbar. It was a battle to deal with a frustrating UX and appreciating the sound to the extent that I would sometimes listen to the radio on short drives.

The one thing about the key though, there is no buttons. You need to place it physically on the door to lock it, which was hit and miss. You’re out in public, looking like a fool not knowing how to lock your vehicle.

The car also makes a sound in reverse so people around you are aware that you’re there. In supermarket parking lots when driving, often people don’t know you’re driving behind them, so the reserve signal was useful. But it does come with a lot of attention turned towards you.

There’s also a driving journal/logbook on the app to keep track of your trips, which you can export in CSV format.

As nice as those interior lighting options are, with different themes, all that goes out the window when you’re just trying to get from A to B without worrying about the car beeping.

In conclusion

Like I said in the beginning, the EX30 was a car I wanted to own and could see myself driving, but after spending over two months in it, I couldn’t wait to return it.

I got anxiety when I got in the car thinking about what could go wrong: losing connectivity, not charging, beeping for yet another thing I couldn’t figure out, or the app not syncing with the car while it was charging.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong, which gave me a lot to think about for an EV that I wouldn’t have considered. There is no guarantee these issues will be fixed, if my two months are anything to go by.

I can’t believe I’m typing this, but if there is such a thing as too much tech in one car, it’s the Volvo EX30. And not for being ahead of its time, which is a real pity as it’s the only Volvo I’ve driven with so many issues. Perhaps worth noting, it’s the only Volvo produced in China.

I’ve also previously stated that EVs are more about the software; the EX30 proves that.

I’ve seen raw data from Naamsa on NEV sales figures for the first half of 2024 in South Africa, and all I’m saying is, I hope the drivers of the 281 EX30 units sold are having a better experience than me.

Other reads:

Thank you to everyone at Team Volvo for trying to help with my endless issues. 

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