Volvo XC60 T8: A Plug-and-Play Driving Sensation

Plug-in hybrid variant of Swedish mid-sized crossover is beefy, roomy and economical

- Christopher Tan

Singapore is particularly suited to electric vehicles (EVs) for well-known reasons—the same ones that make it rather ideal for plug-in hybrid vehicles too.

The city-state is compact, and the average motorist here clocks no more than 50km a day. Singapore is pretty built-up and, hence, road speeds are quite low. The Government is also growing the charging network ambitiously, aiming for 60,000 chargers by 2030.

Plug-in hybrids are cars with an engine and a motor. The motor is powered by a battery that is recharged by an external power source. If fully charged, most modern plug-in hybrids can be driven for a day almost entirely in electric-only mode in Singapore.

These include the just-released Volvo XC60 T8 plug-in hybrid. The car is powered by a 2-litre turbocharged engine driving the front axle and a powerful motor driving the rear. The rear motor is fed by an 18.8kWh battery.

Combined, the engine and motor produce 455hp and 709Nm of torque, endowing the XC60 with the attributes of a sports car.

Standstill to 100kmh is accomplished in a blistering 4.9 seconds, while top speed is artificially limited to 180kmh to be in line with Volvo Cars' zero-fatality aim.

The car's four-cylinder engine kicks in seamlessly and makes a stirring, growling sound not dissimilar to that of power plants from Milan or Bologna. And you get to enjoy this aural delight at low engine speeds too.

This is a stark difference from the Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid test-driven in August 2020. The S60 T8—which was supercharged, turbocharged and electrically assisted—did not feel as quick as its 4.4-second century sprint suggested, and it was largely devoid of sound and fury.

In the XC60 T8, the engine and motor work beautifully together to make response as instantaneous as an electric vehicle's (EV), and acceleration as tireless as a beefy V8's.