We recently took a trip from Pretoria to Golden Gate National Park in the Free State in Volvo’s fastest electric vehicle — the EX30 — and found the 800km journey incredibly comfortable with minimal charging challenges.
In the event that this charging station was not functional or offline for some reason, we would take an alternative route that passed another charger on the N3 about 70km onwards. Google Maps shows the real-time status of chargers on GridCars’ network, and the EX30’s version of the app can also communicate with the onboard computer to estimate how much range would remain after reaching a destination.
The charger’s slower extra 22kW AC side was not working and could not be activated remotely by GridCars. We unplugged and let the e-tron take over the DC side as it had just 40km of range left and still had to take the family to their home in Johannesburg.The Google Maps integration in the EX30 showed how much battery we would have left upon arrival at each desintation. Where a charger was available, it would also recommend a minimum charge level to reach the next destination.