Volvo Touts Safety Tweaks for Its EV Platform

Volvo Car Corp. claims the upcoming all-electric variant of its XC40 compact crossover will be one of the safest vehicles the company has ever built.

The vehicle, which is Volvo’s first full EV, will be unveiled next month. Sales are due to start in 2020.

The new EV rides on a modified version of the carmaker’s Compact Modular Architecture. Volvo says it completely redesigned the platform’s front structure to deal with the absence of a piston engine.

Both the front and rear body structure have been reinforced to better protect occupants during a crash. The electric powertrain is integrated into the body to enable improved distribution of collision forces away from the cabin, according to the carmaker.

The battery is mounted in the floor, which Volvo notes improves packaging and lowers the vehicle’s center of gravity for improved safety. The battery is protected by an aluminum safety cage that’s embedded in the middle of the car’s body structure to create a built-in crumple zone.

The XC40 EV also will be the first Volvo model equipped with a new advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) platform that features an array of cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors. The scalable ADAS architecture uses software developed by Zenuity AB, the joint venture Volvo launched with Veoneer (formerly Autoliv Inc.’s electronics business) in 2017.