While EV adoption numbers in Sweden can’t touch those of its next-door neighbor, global leader Norway, the Swedish EV fleet hitting 15% last year seems high when you consider how much Swedes rely on battery-draining vehicle heating for at least half the year. Volvo, which still wants to be an EV manufacturer, even after scaling back its transition goals, has to face not only a nation with climate extremes but patchy rural charging networks head-on.
Volvo has been experimenting with EVs for 50 years and selling them in the U.S. since 2021, so the technology is nothing new for the automaker. However, none of its efforts so far have been known for class-leading range, a topic that’s at the top of mind for EV intenders worried about being left chargeless in the infrastructure gaps.
Volvo is hoping that changes with the Volvo EX60, the company’s first EV to target as much as 400 miles on a charge and much quicker DC fast charging times. To accomplish that, though, Volvo’s engineers said no to adding a massive battery and calling it a day, and instead turned to software to make better use of the charge the car already has.
In 2024, Volvo Cars partnered with London-based Breathe Battery Technologies. Founded in 2019, Breathe uses software to optimize charging and performance, as well as monitor battery health, for batteries not only in vehicles, but consumer electronics.
“Our company’s mission 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.
That was important for Akhil Krishnan, Head of Program Management for EX60 at Volvo Cars, as he drove from the January reveal in Stockholm to Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg—about 170 miles—in typically Swedish winter weather. He made it, comfortably, in part because of Breathe’s software that Volvo and Breathe say aims to optimize battery performance without overtly sacrificing power or performance of vehicle accessories, such as cabin heating and cooling.
“We wanted to make sure that this car would have charging stops similar to if you made stops to refuel,” Krishnan said, and that includes charge times that more closely resemble refueling times. “It should be able to add 170 miles of range within 19 minutes.”
Battery conditioning is nothing new for modern EV drivers. Since the first Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs were introduced in the early 2010s, owners have been encouraged to use a smartphone app to precondition vehicles while charging and before driving to mitigate the effects temperature extremes had on the vehicle batteries and drivers’ tendencies to blast the heater or air conditioning as they have for decades in internal combustion vehicles.
The EX60 is designed to be Volvo’s longest-range EV with a target of up to 400 miles on one version coming to the U.S. later this year. It’s scheduled to appear around the same time as the similarly sized and (likely) similarly priced BMW iX3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC electric SUVs that also target the same range. Basically, these are long-distance EVs—with 400 miles quickly becoming the new 300-mile range goal. Maximizing battery life in different climates is Volvo’s ambition, and throwing in a big, expensive battery pack, which might not even add meaningful range in certain circumstances, is not seen as sufficient.
“For us, a bigger battery isn’t going to be the solution,” Krishnan said. Cold not only decreases range; it can also make it seem impossible to charge all the way to 100%, which is why a big, expensive battery can be less helpful than a more efficient overall system.
Akhil acknowledges Volvo’s current EVs rely on an app much like those introduced more than a decade ago for preconditioning, but calls it “primitive.” He says what’s been accomplished with Breathe on the EX60 is far more practical. Instead, Breathe’s preconditioning takes advantage of the built-in AI that’s assisting safety and driver assistance features, as well as built-in Google Maps and Google Gemini that’s native to the Volvo. It evaluates the ambient temperature and battery temperature on a given route to determine how to optimize the cells most efficiently and prolong the range of battery packs that will range from 80 kWh to 112 kWh, depending on the model.
“With Google Maps, it knows 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 the long trip planning anxiety out of everything”
Breathe and Volvo’s goal is that there will soon be enough EX60s on the road in different parts of the world that the algorithm will be able to quickly predict weather and road conditions in enough areas to better condition vehicles before traveling there. Zhao says that’s key to EV adoption in places where public charging infrastructure isn’t optimal based on the number of vehicles that need to plug in at a given time.
Volvo Cars is an investor and shareholder in Breathe Battery Technologies, however, neither company will disclose the amount or percentage of shares. And although the EX60 was conceived as something that would use Breathe’s software from the start, Breathe the company didn’t have a say in the car’s development.
Zhao and Krishnan agree, though, Breathe’s capabilities dictate some engineering on Volvo’s part, or for any future automotive partner. First, the EX60 is the first Volvo EV built from the start on an 800-volt architecture, allowing it to smoothly run all of the built-in technology and enable its short fast-charging time estimate. While some of Volvo’s newer EVs, including the EX90 already on sale, have moved to an 800-volt architecture for 2026, Breathe will be exclusive to the EX60 for the time being.
While Volvo is still a safety-defined automaker in most people’s heads, it’s been trying to be a software-defined one this decade. It’s had its share of hiccups on the way but it thinks it’s finally advanced to the next level with the EX60 electric SUV, which the company considers a watershed moment not just for its future but 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.
