Volvo has been experimenting with EVs for 50 years and has been selling them in the US since 2021, so the technology is nothing new for the automaker. However, none of its efforts so far have been known to deliver class-leading range, a topic that is top of mind for EV aspirants who are worried about being left chargeless in the infrastructure gap.
Volvo is hoping to change that with volvo ex60It is the company’s first EV that aims for up to 400 miles on a single charge and even faster DC fast charging times. However, to accomplish this, Volvo engineers refused to add a larger battery and be done with it, and instead turned to software to make better use of the charge already in the car.
In 2024, Volvo Cars partnered based in london with Breathe Battery Technologies. Founded in 2019, Breathe uses software to monitor battery health as well as optimize charging and performance for batteries not only in vehicles, but also in consumer electronics.
“The mission of our company is to do more with the power you have,” Dr. Yan Zhao, CTO and co-founder of Breathe Battery Technologies, said in an interview with Gizmodo.
This was important to Akhil Krishnan, head of program management for the EX60 at Volvo Cars, as he typically drove about 170 miles from the January show in Stockholm to Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg in the Swedish winter weather. They made it comfortably, in part because of Breathe’s software, which Volvo and Breathe say is aimed at optimizing battery performance without sacrificing power or performance of vehicle accessories like cabin heating and cooling.
“We wanted to make sure this car has charging stops the same way you would a stop to refuel,” Krishnan said, “and that includes charging times that more closely resemble refueling times.” “It should be able to add 170 miles of range in under 19 minutes.”
Battery conditioning is nothing new for modern EV drivers. Since the first Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf were introduced in the early 2010s, owners have been encouraged to use a smartphone app to pre-condition the vehicles during charging and before driving, to reduce the extreme effects of temperature on the vehicle’s battery and the tendency for drivers to blast the heater or air conditioning, as has been the case in internal combustion vehicles for decades.
The EX60 is designed to be Volvo’s longest-range EV, with a version coming to the US later this year, aiming for up to 400 miles. It’s going to be released around the same time, at the same size and (probably) the same price BMW iX3 And Mercedes-Benz GLC Electric SUVs that target the same range. Basically, these are long range EVs – 400 miles has increasingly become the new target of 300 miles range. It’s Volvo’s ambition to maximize battery life in different climates, and throwing in a big, expensive battery pack that may not even add meaningful range in some circumstances is considered not enough.
“For us, bigger batteries will not be the solution,” Krishnan said. Cold not only reduces range; It may also seem impossible to charge to 100%, which is why a larger, expensive battery may be less helpful than a more efficient overall system.
Akhil acknowledges that Volvo’s current EV relies on an app for preconditioning, like the one introduced more than a decade ago, but calls it “primitive.” He says what has been achieved with Breathe on the EX60 is far more practical. Instead, the Breathe’s preconditioning takes advantage of built-in AI that powers safety and driver assistance features, as well as built-in Google Maps and Google Gemini that are native to Volvo. It evaluates ambient temperature and battery temperature on a given route to determine how to optimize the cells most efficiently and extend the range of the battery pack which will range from 80 kWh to 112 kWh depending on the model.
“Google Maps tells you where your destination is and what the temperature is,” he said. “All this information is going to the car and it knows what [inside temperature] You want. “It takes all the stress out of planning a long trip.”
Breathe and Volvo aim that soon there will be enough EX60s on the road in different parts of the world that algorithms will be able to instantly predict weather and road conditions in enough areas to better condition the vehicles before traveling there. Zhao says this is key to driving EV adoption in places where public charging infrastructure is not optimal based on the number of vehicles that plug in at a given time.
Volvo Cars is an investor and shareholder in Breathe Battery Technologies, however, neither company would disclose the amount or percentage of shares. And although the EX60 was conceived as something that would use Breathe’s software from the beginning, the Breathe company had no involvement in the development of the car.
Zhao and Krishnan agree, however, that Breathe’s capabilities dictate some engineering on Volvo’s part, or that of any future automotive partner. First of all, the EX60 is the first Volvo EV to be built on an 800-volt architecture from the start, allowing all of its underlying technology to run smoothly and enabling its low fast-charging time estimate. While some of Volvo’s new EVs, including the EX90 already on sale, have moved to 800-volt architecture for 2026, the Breathe will be exclusive to the EX60 for the time being.
While Volvo is still a safety-defined automaker in most people’s minds, it is trying to become a software-defined automaker this decade. There have been some bumps along the way, but it feels it has finally reached the next level with the EX60 electric SUV, which the company sees as a pivotal moment not only for its future but for its future as an EV company.
Following Volvo’s minimalist Scandinavian ethos, the Breathe deal helped the automaker achieve its goals without going overboard.
“Our company’s mission is to do more with the power you have,” Zhao said.
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