Volvo announces Brazil’s largest investment in fast charging infrastructure for electric cars

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Volvo Brazil announced on Wednesday, 15th that it would make the most significant investment in fast-charging infrastructure in Brazil.

Taking another step towards the electrification of its cars, the Chinese-owned Swedish company’s Brazilian division will create routes with fast chargers on highways, enabling longer trips with electric vehicles. In addition, Volvo also announced that it would make the entire XC40 line 100% electric.

The brand’s ambitious plan is divided into five stages, the first of which will be up and running by the beginning of 2022. In this first stage, 13 electric corridors covering 3,250 kilometers will be created, leaving São Paulo and connecting cities such as Belo Horizonte (MG), Curitiba (PR), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Uberlândia (MG), Baixada Santista and the northern coast.

Each of the stops will be able to charge two vehicles simultaneously. The 150 kWh fast chargers can charge a car like the XC40 Recharge Pure Electric model in less than 40 minutes. “We have the ambition to connect all of Brazil through electric corridors,” says Rafael Ugo, marketing director of Volvo Car Brazil.

According to Ugo, Volvo’s idea is to provide electric vehicle owners with the possibility of making intercity and even interstate trips, which is highly complex today, given the scarcity of chargers on the Brazilian grid.

Volvo says that all chargers will be installed at stopovers and convenience locations so that users can leave their cars charging while they eat lunch, for example.

Volvo’s initiative to create an electrified road network in Brazil is accompanied by a partnership with EcoRodovias. With one of the country’s largest road infrastructure companies responsible for nine concessionaires throughout Brazil, Volvo will install Wallbox chargers at 52 operational or service bases for EcoRodovias users.

“We intend to have more points for an emergency load, making it easier for people to travel and reassuring them if they have any unforeseen problems,” says Ugo. The installation of the points on the highways managed by EcoRodovias will be carried out until February 2022.

According to João Oliveira, General Director of Operations and Innovation at Volvo Brazil, just like the almost one thousand chargers the brand already has throughout Brazil, the new electric points installed over the next few years will continue to be free of charge.

“Today, we know that 90 percent of electric car charging is done at home. Do you have to be a Volvo customer to use the chargers? The good news is that you don’t. The brand will allow its chargers to be used in hybrid and electric models of various makes.

People still don’t have much confidence in charging their cars on the street. We want to provide comfort to these users, showing that they will have a place to set their cars even on longer trips,” says Oliveira.