Volvo Support for XC40 Recharge Pure Electric Charging in the vehicle's center display | The center display can be used to set charging level, unlock the charging cable and set current intensity (amperage).
Maybe someone from Volvo could update us when this missing "timer to schedule charging" is coming? Incredibly, this functionality has been missing and unaddressed regardless that cars are already in customer hands! Software update events at port and dealer pre-delivery venues took place at the expense of customer delivery delays - yet in the most grievous manner Volvo seems to be pretending that the VOC app will fix everything, We need this charge timer capability both in the car and in the VOC app ASAP. It's already in the Owners Manual, as it rightly should be, so when can we expect to have it in the vehicle, Volvo?
Yeah, Volvo definitely needs to get their act together on this and other things. My other EV is a Tesla. Tesla completely crushes Volvo in terms of OTA software upgrade capabilities.
Did Volvo release this car too early? I get the OTA process can resolve some things, but to have key functionality missing day one is like it was rushed out the door.
It looks like you're asking for opinion here so I'll throw in a couple of pennies.
The entire auto industry is being overshadowed by Tesla at this point. They have a huge fan base that is generating sales and helping the stock price. They've done this without a racing team.
Volvo is eyeing parts of Tesla's model and attempting to see what they can emulate. That means that they needed to release this car on this schedule and force themselves to play catch-up.
A big difference is that Tesla is a software company building cars and Volvo is a car company relying on Google for software. This puts Volvo at a disadvantage in the short term as they have a harder time pressuring the software team. Long term it should be a big advantage both in cost and reliability. It's even possible that full self driving will appear at Volvo before Tesla.
If Volvo had waited any longer for roll out they would have launched into a more crowded market full of id.4 and higher end versions of the Mach-e. With OTA Volvo can deliver a functional vehicle, offer incentives to keep customer satisfaction high and put pressure on software teams to deliver more quickly. This will mean that Volvo has a better product on the lot when the next wave of new EVs hit. They will also tap into the "always getting better" atmosphere that Tesla has used to build consumer confidence. This will be huge when seeking against non-OTA vehicles. They will have a demonstrated track record of rapid improvement.
So, while I sit here with our new car in the shop with an undiagnosed computer issue, I honestly believe that Volvo is making the right moves to position itself for success, as long as it keeps the current customers happy by continuous incremental improvement .
Volvo has two last hurdles to overcome and that is communication and the dealer network. The dealers, at least in the US, aren't happy about a model that cuts then from the sales process. Volvo needs to figure out how to make that work or get enough investment to start buying out recalcitrant dealers.
As far as communication goes, that's a tough nut. The software industry has a term called vaporware and Musk has mastered the concept. He's even killed his PR department to give himself more latitude. In the Trump era his over-promises seemed trivial, but FSD has to be one of the biggest snake oil scams ever. Tesla has collected thousands of dollars on the promise of complete autonomy without any evidence they can ever achieve it. My understanding is that Tesla maintains those funds in an account to return them at some point.
In light of this the missing software in the XC40 is trivial. So if Tesla can disrupt the industry by selling under-baker products Volvo will succeed, especially since the next drop, the C40, will arrive worth an more mature package and that will provide the momentum they need.
I'm disappointed that my Model 3's software still isn't capable of adding a navigation waypoint - three years after I bought the car. In the interim Tesla has added fart noises and various games to the UI. I'm not surprised that FSD hasn't shipped - without a LIDAR crutch, and relying only on camera video, the car would need to be as smart as a rat for FSD to work. It's not that smart.
I'm looking forward to using Google's UI in the XC40P8 for better trip planning.
Yeah I get the rush, but they need to also look at Tesla's biggest complaints, buggy quirky software. I get these are computers on wheels. I do see that in a few months the field will be crazy crowded. Kia/Hyundai EV6/Ioniq 5, VW just hit and their AWD is coming later this year., Mach-E, and more. I do think Volvo's biggest hurdles will be the lower range, which later this year will look like the early days of the Leaf and then the inefficiency the EV has compared to most other EVs and then pile on the price tag and it is a hard nut to swallow. It does seem they too the short path to EV vs. develope a dedicated platform and that the XC40 P8 was a quick entry while they baked their dedicated platform.
I posted about this elsewhere, but just installed a Wallbox charger with a 25 foot cord and it is set to charge from 11 pm - 5 am when our rates are super low.
I should know better being in tech for over 30 years, but I feel like these EVs are just using us as beta testers. I am kind of missing more simple cars that just **** worked.
The built-in charging timer appears to be coming in OTA v1.8 later this year. Someone leaked a Polestar 2 screenshot of it. It's a little odd that the GUI is showing a 12hr clock while the user clearly has their current time in 24h mode.
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