• September 27, 2026

Volvo ES90 Packs More Power Than Any Volvo Prior

Volvo’s new flagship and S90 replacement is here. It’s called the ES90, and with the new name comes many new features. For one thing, it’s not a sedan, it’s a hatchback. For another, it’s fully electric and has more power than any production Volvo before it. It even sits higher than its predecessor, but is more aerodynamic. There’s quite a lot to talk about, so let’s dig into the details of this super-sweet Swede.

Volvo

Volvo is a Swedish automaker owned by Geely since 2010 and headquartered in Gothenburg Sweden. Founded in 1927, it has evolved into a premium automaker renowned for its safety, famously giving away free access to the patent for the three-point seatbelt in 1959, saving countless lives since. Volvo has also continually pushed to include the best safety tech in its cars ahead of time, and set a mission in 2007 that by 2020, no one would be killed or seriously injured in a Volvo. Today, that mission has evolved to avoid all collisions in a Volvo. Volvo was also an early adopter of EV technology and had planned to go all-electric by 2030, but recently pushed back this deadline, instead aiming for a 90-100% electric or plug-in hybrid goal by 2030 instead.

Founded

1927

Founder

Assar Gabrielsson, Gustaf Larsson

Headquarters

Gothenburg, Sweden

Owned By

Geely Holding Group

Current CEO

Jim Rowan

Saying “So Long” To The Sedan Shape

Teaser images of the ES90 suggested that it would look fairly conventional, but seeing it fully revealed, that’s not quite the case. There are still nods to the sedan idea, particularly the rear deck lid. With how far the roof comes to the back, though, the deck lid is significantly truncated. That lengthened roof comes with a real hatchback, though, so the revised shape brings additional practicality. In fact, Volvo says that the ES90 has up to 15.8 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats, up from 13.5 in the S90. With the 40/20/40 split seats folded, space increases up to 44.4 cubic feet. Volvo also included a frunk with about 1 cubic foot of usable space.

Compared to the S90, the ES90’s proportions differ beyond just the roofline. Some of this is due to the fact the ES is 3.5 inches shorter than the S in length, but 3.7 inches taller and 2.1 inches wider. Ground clearance increases by an inch to about 7, with some variance due to equipment and load. The wheelbase has expanded by 1.6 inches, though. This results in very short overhangs and a fair bit of visual mass. It’s arguably a bit blocky and stubby compared to its predecessor, but Volvo’s squared-off design language fits it reasonably well. Surprisingly, considering the added height, the ES90 is more aerodynamic than the S90 with a 0.25 coefficient of drag. The best the S90 ever got was 0.26.

The interior continues the themes set by the EX90 and EX30. Most controls are operated through the 14.5-inch center infotainment screen, and the driver gets a 9-inch screen plus a head-up display for speed and other driving information. The rest of the dash and doors are simple and uncluttered. It’s packed with plenty of features and technology, though. The ES90 includes four-zone automatic climate control, a panoramic sunroof, built-in Google applications, an air purifier and interior sensors for detecting if anyone, whether a child or pet, has been left in the car. The panoramic sunroof can be had with electrochromic dimming, and a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system is available.

A Fast Volvo With Fast Charging

Volvo will offer three different powertrains for the ES90. The base version will have just a single motor making a respectable 329 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque, which will propel the big hatch to 60 mph in an also respectable 6.7 seconds. It will be rear-mounted and power the rear wheels. Going to all-wheel drive brings in a pair of lower-output motors, one for the front and the other for the rear. Combined, they make 443 hp and 494 lb-ft of torque, and they bring the 0 to 60 mph time down to 5.3 seconds. At the top of the range is the Twin Motor Performance. This combines a couple of higher-output motors to make 671 hp and 535 lb-ft of torque. That eclipses the 510-hp EX90 by 161 ponies. Those motors also allow the ES90 to get to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds. No matter how fast any of these ES90s make it to 60 mph, they all top out at the same speed of 112 mph.

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Two battery packs will also be offered. The single-motor ES90 gets a 92-kWh pack with 88 kWhs usable. The dual-motor cars get 106-kWh packs with 102 usable kWhs. Both packs are the first from Volvo with an 800-volt architecture, which lets them charge faster at 350-kW-capable DC fast chargers. Volvo estimates a charge from 10% to 80% taking just 20 minutes, which is 10 minutes faster than an EX90. Now since the ES90 is based on the SPA2 platform like the EX90, we’re curious if the EX90 will upgrade to these new batteries in the near future.

Volvo ES90 side profile charging
Volvo

Range for the ES90 hasn’t been given using the EPA’s measurements, though Volvo does have WLTP numbers. The single-motor car is rated for 404 miles and the dual-motor for 435 miles. As always, we have to note that WLTP numbers tend to be far higher than those from the EPA, so expect range below 400 miles in the US.

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It Is Coming To The US

Even though the US market isn’t the most hospitable to sedans or sedan-like vehicles, Volvo does intend to import the ES90 to the country. It doesn’t have an exact timeline for when that will be, though. The first region to get the car will be Europe, and orders are open now. Other regions will get it later in the year, or possibly in early 2026. So it might be a bit of a wait, but America should be able to experience the burliest Volvo yet.

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