Volvo will launch its first EV on October 16, 2019. The new all-electric XC40 will be one of the safest battery cars on the road, the automaker says. Volvo, which is planning on fully electrifying its entire range, has unveiled some of the XC40's safety features.

The battery-powered XC40 will be the first all-electric production Volvo and will arrive in showrooms in 2020. Until now, the Swedish automaker had restricted its EV platform to the Polestar brand, which includes only plug-in and fully electric models like the Polestar 2.

The new ADAS platform has been described as a “scalable active safety system” that includes a range of radars, cameras and ultrasonic sensors. The automaker hopes to further develop the platform and use it as the foundation for future autonomous driving technology.

Volvo will use the battery pack and the powertrain as part of the structure and lower the center of gravity. The automaker designed the rear-mounted electric motor to integrate with the structure of the vehicle, therefore, collision forces will be prevented from encroaching into the passenger cell during a crash.

By 2025, Volvo hopes half its sales are electric vehicles. An XC40 T5 Twin Engine petrol-electric plug-in hybrid will also arrive in early 2020. The popular XC40 crossover has been updated with new range of engine specs, equipment and paint colors, including Thunder Grey, Glacier Silver and Pebble Grey.

The XC40 range, officially launched in Milan in 2017 before UK sales started in February 2018, marked Volvo’s first foray into the compact SUV market. The Volvo XC40 SUV has been built around a new compact car platform Volvo calls CMA (Compact Modular Architecture), which will also be used by the automaker’s Chinese parent company, Geely.

The XC40 was named Car of the Year by the magazine What Car? in January 2018, and it was given the European Car of the Year Award at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show.

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According to company president Håkan Samuelsson, the XC40 is “intended for a very important segment – probably the world’s fastest-growing segment: small, premium SUVs. So we have the right product for the future.” Production began at Volvo’s Ghent factory in Belgium in November 2017 and the first models were delivered in the UK began early in 2018.