Volvo’s turnaround plan includes not only improving its software, but also equipping its future electric vehicles with some of the most advanced battery technology available outside China.
The EX60 mid-size electric SUV will go on sale in the U.S. and global markets next year, and it will have battery options with two different chemistries, Anders Bell, Volvo’s Chief Technology Officer, told InsideEVs in an interview at the brand’s U.S. manufacturing plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina.
Bell did not confirm the exact battery chemistry on the EX60, but suggested that lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries are “absolutely” on the table for the next-generation SPA3 platform that the EV will ride on.
Volvo’s two major battery suppliers are China’s CATL and Korea’s LG Energy Solution. CATL manufactures both LFP and traditional nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, whereas LGES primarily makes high-nickel cells.
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The Volvo EX30 already gets two battery options in Europe, a 51-kilowatt-hour LFP pack and a 69-kWh NMC variant. Only the latter is available in the U.S. Volvo might follow a similar strategy with the EX60. The bigger news, however, is the shift to prismatic cells.
“We have standardized a form factor of cells, large prismatic, which will then allow us to be cell omnivores as much as possible,” Bell said, referring to the shape of the cell allowing it to accommodate any battery chemistry.
BMW’s round battery cells and prismatic battery cells.
Prismatic cells are common in China and are now gaining popularity in the West. Volkswagen plans to use prismatic cells for its affordable EVs starting next year. General Motors will also use large-format prismatic batteries in its full-size SUVs and trucks starting in 2028, featuring lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) batteries. “It’s like a VHS cassette, but slightly bigger,” Bell said.
He added that the prismatic cells allow cost and weight savings while also making the body stiffer. Moreover, the EX60 will use a cell-to-body approach, meaning that the battery will be structural to the SPA3 platform, not a bolt-on addition—this allows automakers to simplify the batteries and pack more energy inside.
The EX60 will also feature other big upgrades, such as Nvidia’s Drive Thor computer, capable of 1,000 trillion operations per second. It will also get the third generation of Volvo’s drive units with 93% efficiency, the automaker said during its Capital Markets Day in Sweden last year.
It will be made at Volvo’s main plant in Gothenburg, Sweden, and go on sale sometime next year. It will lock horns with the Tesla Model Y, BMW iX3 and the new electric Mercedes GLC, among others. In other words, expect it to be Volvo’s most important EV yet.
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