Volvo EX30 Appalling after care

Scoutingdebs

Hi, does anyone have any advice for.other EX30 owners affected by the battery fault?

I own my car so handing it back isn't an option. I understand several people with a PCP have gone down this route.

I was advised back in December 2025 of the fault and not to charge my car above 70%.

I then received a letter advising of the same in January and today I've had a further letter which again, repeats the same advice. No suggested date for resolution.

When I complained about the additional costs of charging on the road, I received a credit voucher but that does not compensate me for the time spent charging mid journey, which when I could charge to 100%, wasn't an issue.

This car is no onger fit for purpose and I find it frustrating the time that the company is taking to resolve this.

When I bought the car I opted for interest free credit, paying 50% up front and the remainder over 3 years. So I'm paying over £500 per month for a car that isn't giving me what I signed up to.

Oh and to add further insult I'm now getting emails asking whether I'd like to change my car. No, I'd just like the one I'm paying for to work as it should!

Any advice would be appreciated!

born_again

Who is the finance with?

Go back with the change the car with a YES, given the limits they have imposed.

Jenni_D

When charging at DC rapid chargers there's no point in charging beyond about 80% anyway, as the charge rate starts to slow noticeably beyond 80%, and falls off a cliff above 90%. Anyone trying to charge to 100% on a DC rapid is a fool .. the 80-100% is as long as the 10-80% time, if not longer.

Not that this is an excuse for Volvo though.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910815#Comment_81910815

Think what OP is saying that they are advised not to charge above 70% at all, thus meaning that a 100% home charge could have got to destination & back. Now they have to stop & charge. Even so that should be no more the 10/15 mins at worst. As you only need enough to get home/destination to charge as they did before.

Rated 10 to 80% is 26 to 30 mins. ZapMap (Volvo site too slow to load)

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910815#Comment_81910815

This isn't true. I charged my car from 45 to 95% at Tebay and it took 20 minutes. The rate slowed a little above 80%, but it was not significant.

Scoutingdebs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910804#Comment_81910804

Finance is o% through Volvo.

I don't want to start again with a further finance deal having only had the car 2 years. That's just saddling myself with another x years of payments.

Life in the slow lane is right - I only charge on the road to get me home (rather than to 100%) but by the time I've detoured from my route to find somewhere then charged, I'm easily adding 30 mins to my journey when prior to this I just did the trip without the need to stop.

I'm surprised there's not been any group action taken against Volvo for their poor handling of this issue.

eskbanker

I'm surprised there's not been any group action taken against Volvo for their poor handling of this issue.

If you mean group action in the sense of coordinated legal action, then this takes years or even decades, so if the issue only came to the fore two or three months ago, it's way too early for that, especially if the cause of the grievance is the delay itself.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81910978#Comment_81910978

Take it up with Volvo Finance under S75.

TBH. I remember back a few years & Ford Kuga PHEV had battery issues. Took well over 18 months till everybody was sorted. They could not charge battery at all.

It takes time for manufacture to find problem, then prove the fix works & then run it out to customers. Given a 3rd party battery supplier, will just add to the time, as it may not be a battery issue, could be a hardware/software issue with BMS (Battery management system) or other battery system such as Hyundai/Kia's well know issue with ICCU (intergrated charge control unit)

A_Geordie

I'm in the same boat, albeit salary sacrifice scheme. It's a battery module related issue and I understand (through the lease provider) Volvo have confirmed this so are looking at shipping replacement battery modules. It's the time to manufacture and ship out and then book in with a Volvo that's going to be a potentially significant wait period.

Just to confirm, when you say you own the car, your finance is a personal loan agreement?

I have heard people were offered the £200 credit and I should add a warning that by accepting that offer, you may have scupper yourself in reclaiming further costs because it could be seen as an offer of settlement to resolve this battery fire risk issue - unless you made it clear that you reserve your right to claim further costs at the time. Not conclusive, but don't be surprised if Volvo try to argue that point.

From a legal perspective, there is a duty to mitigate your losses so if swapping your car for a non-affected car helps to reduce your losses, then you should consider it. If you don't, then any costs over and above what could have been mitigated may not be recoverable, if challenged.

That's assuming you've been offered a like for like. I have the Twin Performance AWD model with the Ultra trim level but there is no like for like model available anywhere so I've been offered the same model but the 'Plus' trim level in the interim.

If you're not willing to hand it back then your only real option is to seek compensation. You are best waiting until the issue has been fully resolved, keeping receipts/evidence for additional charging costs that you wouldn't have needed if the car was fully operational at 100% battery capability. I suspect there will law firms jumping on this bandwagon once the dust settles so you can hang around and sign up to their group claims at the cost of giving up a significant amount of your compensation, anywhere between 25%-45%/50% is possible.

Alternatively, you could give it a go yourself, but the question is how do you calculate/put a value on your loss of use of the car and loss of enjoyment. One answer could be a % of the £500 you pay monthly and a really simplistic example of this could be £150 for each month you've been limited to 70% charging (I think end of December when the comms came out). That would be based on the formula of £500 * 30% loss of battery use = £150 compensation but there are many ways to skin a cat, some more advantageous than others. Perhaps similar legal claims/settlements could be indicative of what you might expect to receive.

Chandler85

I have an EX30, AWD in Ultra and apparently it isn't affected despite it being the correct year to be affected, in the correct spec etc. So I'm not 100% sure Volvo know exactly what is going on.

However, if people are getting letters etc confirming their vehicles are affected and have done a while back, then maybe it isn't affected.

Volvo customer care overall is pretty poor (use to have a Toyota where the service was infinitely better). My vehicle is going in to be checked over as it had tire pressure faults, the steering wheel buttons randomly don't work and a few weeks ago, none of the lights worked for half a day.

I like the car but it feels very much like it is still being tested.

I don't know what they will do with the battery issue, BMW had it with minis and they just did checks and changed software, as mentioned before Ford stopped people charging completely. Not sure Volvo are any worse then any other supplier in this regards even if the whole thing is slow and poorly handled, doesn't make it any better.

mavenmim

I could have written this OP.

I've been trying to reject the vehicle under the finance terms since I found out this was possible in May. I've written 14 complaints to VCFS, several to the dealership, several to Volvo and everyone passes the buck to someone else. The battery recall has been in place for 9 months and they've done nothing to compensate me or resolve the problem. Communication has been dire. It has cost me about £200/month in extra charging away from home, and made the car not fulfil the only condition I had when I bought it - being able to do 250 miles in one charge. It is now functionally limited to about 115 miles between charges. On top of that it has had a series of electrical and software problems, including cutting all acceleration on the outside lane of the M1, and the reversing camera has been faulty since February (independent inspector VCFS sent said it was an inherent fault and on them to fix, but they've done nothing).

I'm about an inch short of just dumping it on the forecourt of the dealer from which I bought it. Which is a shame, as it is nearly a really good car - if the service didn't suck and the software glitches were ironed out and the range was as advertised I wouldn't be complaining at all.