- Volvo unveils new incentive that offers a year of free home charging
- Partnership with Swedish energy company Vattenfall makes it possible
- However, the savings aren’t quite as great as you think
Volvo has launched a new initiative for buyers in its home nation of Sweden, offering a year’s worth of free home charging for anyone who leases or purchases a new Volvo EV.
Available in February 2026 for anyone living in the Scandinavian country, the deal is a partnership between the automotive brand and Swedish energy company Vattenfall, which will offer fossil-free home charging for a year.
Volvo says the deal will cover up to 5,150kWh per year, which corresponds to around 25,000km (around 15,535 miles) of driving based on its EX90 WLTP efficiency rating.
Customers are required to sign a contract with Vattenfall, which will then supply energy to the home, alongside making use of Volvo’s smart charging in-car app.
This essentially uses software to shift charging times to lower cost and lower CO2 off-peak tariffs, which are typically at the quietest points in the night when energy usage for a region is generally at its lowest.
Volvo says that the electricity costs for charging a car at home will be calculated and deducted from a monthly Vattenfall bill.
But after doing a little basic number crunching, the deal equates to between £350 and £450 (around $470 / AU$720), based on a kW of off-peak energy costing around 0.85 SEK (Swedish Krona).
This would put the incentive in-line with what other EV makers have offered in the past, such as offering a free home wall charger or a year’s worth of credits on a fast-charging network, for example.
A potential global rollout
This recent move from the Swedish marque has two aims – it’s designed to tempt buyers into making the switch to EV, but also educate owners on the benefits of scheduling off-peak charging, which is nearly always greener and cheaper.
Depending on the success of the program, Volvo says it could lay the foundation for a broader global rollout, highlighting the fact that it believes EVs should play an active role in the future energy ecosystem.
Next year, vehicle-to-everything or V2X technology is being launched on those vehicles with the capability, such as the EX90 and the recently revealed ES90 saloon.
This will allow customers to use their EV batteries as an additional energy storage system for powering domestic settings, while also opening up the possibility of selling energy back to the grid.
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