2026 Volvo ES90: Genre-busting luxury EV priced for Australia

The Volvo ES90 is launching in Australia as the brand’s first electric passenger car.

Or is it? Volvo says the high-riding liftback blurs the line between sedan and SUV, offering the elegance of the former but the higher ride height and more spacious interior typically associated with the latter.

It’s available to order now, and will be released in Australia in two single-motor rear-wheel drive variants: the Plus SingleMotor priced at an auspicious $88,880 before on-road costs, and the Ultra Single Motor at $107,990 plus on-roads.

Customer deliveries will begin early in 2026.

Volvo hasn’t confirmed a dual-motor all-wheel drive version for our market. Depending on the variant, Twin Motor ES90 vehicles offered overseas offer up to 500KW of power and up to 700km of WLTP electric range.

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Comparing list prices (excluding statutory on-road charges), the ES90 costs thousands less than the Mercedes-Benz EQE300 ($135,200), Genesis Electrified G80 ($155,000) and BMW i5 ($155,900).

At 5m long and 1942mm wide, it’s almost exactly the same size as the BMW i5, though it rides on a longer 3.1m wheelbase.

It has a drag coefficient of 0.25Cd, which Volvo says is the lowest of any car it’s ever built – though it can’t quite beat the 0.22 figure of the Mercedes-Benz EQE.

There’s 424 litres of cargo capacity under its rear hatch, expanding to 733L if you drop the rear seats which fold individually. There’s also 22L of storage space under the bonnet, which Volvo says is perfect for stowing charging cables.

The ES90 is based on the same SPA2 platform as Volvo’s flagship EX90 electric SUV, which starts at $124,990 before on-roads, but features an 800V electrical architecture supporting faster charging.

Single-motor ES90s have a 92kWh battery and a 245kW/480Nm rear-mounted electric motor that’s claimed to make them good for a 0-100km/h time of 6.9 seconds.

Range is 554km under the WLTP cycle, and Volvo says you can add 300km of range in 10 minutes using a 350kW DC fast-charger.

The ES90 also brings the Volvo Cars Superset tech stack, a single set of hardware and software modules that’ll be used in all the brand’s upcoming electric cars.

Standard equipment across the two-variant range includes:

• 9.0-inch digital instrument cluster
• Head-up display
• 14.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Google built-in with embedded Google apps
• 4-zone climate control
• Heated front and rear seats
• Heated wiper blades
• Heated steering wheel
• Digital Key Plus
• Key card entry
• Ambient lighting
• Panoramic glass roof

The Ultra also features a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system with Dolby Atmos.

An electrochromic version of the glass roof is available, allowing you to adjust the transparency of the glass.

There’s also a long list of standard safety equipment, which includes rear occupant detection, safe exit warning and a surround-view camera with 3D view.

Its suite of active safety and driver assist technology is powered by one LiDAR unit, five radars, seven cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.

The ES90 joins the EX30, EX40 and EX90 electric SUVs in Volvo’s lineup, and helps fill a void left by the demise of the combustion-powered S60 and V60 Cross Country passenger cars axed earlier this year.

Indeed, it’ll be Volvo’s only passenger car in a local model lineup that otherwise comprises only SUVs.

Pricing

MORE: Explore the Volvo showroom