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Volvo claims that new XC90 will be "the world's cleanest and most powerful SUV"

By Scott Collie
July 10, 2014
Volvo claims that new XC90 will be "the world's cleanest and most powerful SUV"
The new Volvo XC90's hybrid drivetrain
The new Volvo XC90's hybrid drivetrain
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The Volvo D5 twin-turbo diesel engine
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The Volvo D5 twin-turbo diesel engine
The XC90 will be available with Volvo's T8 hybrid drivetrain
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The XC90 will be available with Volvo's T8 hybrid drivetrain
Volvo's T6 petrol engine
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Volvo's T6 petrol engine
The T8 tops the new XC90 range
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The T8 tops the new XC90 range
The new Volvo XC90's hybrid drivetrain
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The new Volvo XC90's hybrid drivetrain
The new XC90's "T8" setup
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The new XC90's "T8" setup
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We've seen the interior of the new Volvo XC90, and we have an idea of its shape, but until now there has been no word on what would be under the hood. Volvo has now released details of the engines that will power its new SUV.

There's no doubt, there are some exciting engines in the lineup. The range will be topped by Volvo's new hybrid T8 drivetrain, made up of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder Drive-E engine coupled with an 80 hp (60 kW) electric motor. The petrol motor is supercharged to provide strong low-rev performance, as well as being turbocharged to provide a little bit of extra top-end shove, and in hybrid mode the electric motor provides instant torque off the line. The petrol engine powers the front wheels, while the electric motor drives the rear.

The new XC90's "T8" setup
The new XC90's "T8" setup

Combined, the T8 system provides about 400 hp (298 kW) and 640 Nm (472 lb.ft) of torque. But the hybrid system will do more than just provide extra power. When the battery is fully charged, the XC90 can be driven up to 40 km (25 miles) on pure electric power, which for many people will allow them to cruise around town with zero emissions.

This combination of electric and petrol power means the XC90 returns an incredible 60 g/km of CO2 on the New European Drive Cycle.

As well as the hybrid T8 powertrain, the XC90 also can be optioned with a more conventional set of diesel and petrol engines. The D4 turbo diesel engine will make about 190 hp (142 kW) and 400 Nm (295 lb.ft), all the while returning economy figures of 5 liters per 100 km (47 mpg). The D5 bumps power up to 225 hp (167 kW) and 470 Nm (347 lb.ft), and Volvo claims its 6 liters per 100 km economy figure is "best in class."

The T8 tops the new XC90 range
The T8 tops the new XC90 range

There are also two petrol engines available: a supercharged and turbocharged T6 with 320 hp (239 kW) and 400 Nm and the T5, which puts out 254 hp (189 kW) and 320 Nm (236 lb.ft) of torque.

Volvo is expected to release the XC90 in August. From its screen-focused interior to the interesting T8 hybrid, the new car should be a strong challenger to the established luxury SUV crowd.

Source: Volvo

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14 comments
Scott Collie
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Scott grew up with a passion for cars and a love of writing. He now combines the two by covering all things automotive for New Atlas. When he’s got a spare moment, you can usually find him freezing himself silly in search of fresh powder to ski.

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14 comments
Electric Driver
Strictly speaking Tesla model X (which should be available by the time new Volco XC90 hits dealerships) is the cleanest and the most powerful SUV / Crossover:
It will have 2 electric motors - delivering 310 kW (416 hp) of power and 600 Nm (443 ft lb) of torque EACH!
Volvo XC90 will be delivering a pathetic 40km electric range - Tesla model X will be delivering 480 km pure electric range and access to US, Europe and China expanding network of supercharges.
Purchase price wise - Tesla model X will probably be comparable to XC90, but of course being electric - maintenance costs and "fuelling" costs are negligible.
Volvo better start innovating because this car this obsolete before it starts shipping from the factory.
zevulon
yes but the tesla has only 100 super charger stations nation wide, and the superchargers still only charger your car at 40 miles of highway speed per 10 minutes of charge so the result is that you cannot profiteably purchase enough real estate to build 1000 more super charger stations without tesla BEGGING parking companies to DONATE their real estate.
begging for free parking space is not a sustainable method of building a recharging network.
there are 160,000 gasoline stations in america and most are operated independently and make profit based on a simple business model.
tesla super charging stations will remain few in number and you will have to enjoy your clean horsepower within driving range of your house, or near a maximum 12kw kilowatt charging station you use to trickly a few more miles of charge into your car while you are away from home.
tesla has an army of paid posters and commenters that are run by goldman sachs and wall street to plaster good news about tesla all over the internet for years.
once the supercharger network doesn't get built into 1000's of super charger stations, people will realize the 'growth rates' are over and a 30 billion dollar market cap company will lose much of its value leaving a bunch of suckers in the dust while the bankers laugh.
the future of electric transportation , the real future with TENS OF MILLIONS OF VEHICLES belongs to light electric four wheel vehicles and electric 2 and 3 wheel vehicles. not to heavy electric cars with massive batteries.
there will not be tens of millions of tesla and chevy volt and ford fusion on the road ever because NONE OF THESE CARS ARE PROFITEABLE TO SELL. even tesla loses money without carbon credits and zero interest rate loans.
Chevypower
If they had the technology to charge an electric car in 3 minutes and provide a range of 500 miles or more, the Tesla would be a winner. The market would buy into it without subsidies or other gimmicks. Zevulon has pointed out these drawbacks, and I think the T8 will be the real winner for those of us who live in the real world.
SilentHightimes
Is this a joke whats up with all these car company's putting out electric trash 25 miles really? That's like 12 miles one way i can ride my bicycle with the kids in a cart and save time for that distance
I'm sorry to me if it cant go 300 miles its a waste of my money!!!
The Skud
Unfortunately, great though the Tesla looks on paper, it still needs a much larger system of recharge stations before it can cover most long-distance trips with the ease of an IC car of like size and passenger capacity. Physics cannot lie.
Daishi
@zevulon I don't drive a Tesla but the website lists supercharge stations at 170 miles per 30 minutes or ~56 miles per 10 minutes. You could be right about 40 miles per 10 minutes at highway speed.
We will see how things go with the super charge stations now that they have opened up the technology to other companies for use. From a post I saw online I think the biggest difference is they use a 480v 200 amp feed and most other charge stations are 220 or 240v. Other people can potentially build 480v change stations and it doesn't necessarily have to be Tesla building them all. Besides, in the absence of a super charge station you can use the common J1772 adapter at a normal (240v) charge station. An adapter for CHAdeMO (400v+) is on the way too.
I don't really agree with you that all the Pro-Tesla people are just wall street shills. I am unapologetically pro Tesla and I don't own one of their products or any of their stock.
@Chevypower gasoline doesn't even meet your 500 miles per 3 minute requirement and after 500 miles of driving I'd be ready to stop to get something to eat and use the bathroom anyway. For most people 500 mile trips in 1 shot are a rare corner case rather than a common use case. You could go 500 miles in a Tesla with one stop along the way at a superchage station.
If I owned a shopping mall I would put in a super charge station there just to attract people who wanted to find something to do while their car charged. All that's left is for fast charge stations to become as common as J1772 and its really only a matter of time before it happens.
In terms of CHAdeMO vs Tesla, CHAdeMO does 62.5 kW max and is a more bulky plug than Tesla that will do up to 120 kW. That means that without adopting Teslas (now open) charge standard essentially nothing else is going to charge as fast.
If your goal is not using gasoline for a fuel source that's an important advantage for Tesla.
Chevypower
@Daishi, I don't really understand your rant. You are getting overly technical with your "bathroom breaks." Surely, you must have understood my point. Yes, a driver may need to stop off at the grocery store and the post office along the way too, but that's irrelevant to my point. Feel free to be so blinded by your loyalty to Tesla that you fail to see all its current (no pun intended) drawbacks.
Daishi
@Silent Hightimes plug in hybrid is far from trash. A lot of people just vastly underestimate its usefulness compared to regular hybrid. 25 miles is probably enough to drive to work every day on EV alone, if you can charge there its enough to drive back too.
What ends up happening is that when the first 25 miles of every trip you take is done on EV alone it /vastly/ cuts down the amount of gasoline you actually use because nobody commutes 300 miles to work every day.
Even though the Chevy volt only goes about 35 miles on EV before using fuel the average Volt owner gets over 900 miles out of a 9 gal tank of gas. Because people tend to drive short distances most the time that "junk" distance of only 35 EV miles translates to a real world number of about 100 miles traveled per gallon of fuel used (about 43 km/liter). That's about twice the mileage of a Prius for about the same price.
Any major automaker that doesn't have significant plans for producing plug in hybrids is asleep at the wheel.
If Lithium Ion prices continue to drop at 15%/year a lot of calculations start making sense in a couple years. It allows Tesla to make their "Model E" but it also means it won't make sense for hybrids not to be plug in based on being able to recoup the additional battery costs in savings after only a few years. From the perspective of the automakers they'll subsidize some of the costs to comply with government fuel restrictions anyway.
Mariusz Gyan
Chevypower
Most of the people have 2 cars or more. If they want to drive to some remote areas they will choose gasoline car. Tesla with it's 400 km range is enough to drive 90% other journeys. This is much. When I look at what I'm using ma car to - Tesla would cover 100% my car uses.
hkmk23
Touareg 5 litre V10. 310 horsepower. 553 ft.-lbs. of torque at 2000 rpm.
0-60 in 5.2 seconds. Top speed 155mph. weight 3 tonnes. Trailer capacity 3.5 tonnes. Long run economy 25.82 mpg.
I know because I have got one....had it from new for the last 5 years.
And...they did a motor mag test....it pulled a Boeing 747 (157 tonnes) on the runway, But get this, to get traction they had to put 7.5 tonnes of ballast in the back........try putting 7.5 tonnes in the back of a Volvo....!
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