Last week, Volvo Car Malaysia (VCM) announced that local units of the EX30 were involved in a global recall for a potential battery fire risk, and during the launch of the ES90 earlier today, the company shared a few more details about the issue.
Replying to our question regarding the recall, managing director Chris Wailes told us that it only involves a certain batch of less than 200 units made between 2024 and 2025, and that it is simply a preventative measure. The reason for this is that VCM does not currently know exactly how many cars in this batch are defective, but is recalling the entire batch anyway out of an abundance of caution.
“To be safe, because we’re Selamat, that’s what we’re doing,” Wailes said. “We can’t say “Volvo is known for safety” and then sit back and do nothing, if we believe there is a small potential – a very small potential – of a problem. It’s better to act and be transparent about it, which is what we’ve done.”
While there’s still no timeline provided for a definitive fix, Wailes said that “as we speak, there is a team of people in R&D in Gothenburg actively, 24/7, working on the fix,” and that that VCM will provide more information as it gets it. He added that the company has already notified owners of the batch about the recall, stressing that only those who have received the letter are affected. “Everybody else, the new cars that you see today, they have a different battery and they are not affected.”
To recap, the recall concerns a defect in the cells of the EX30’s largest-available 69 kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery, which comes as standard in Malaysia. In rare cases, this fault will allow the battery to overheat when charged to a high level, and in a worst-case scenario, this could lead to a fire starting in the battery. Volvo insists that the number of reported incidents is very small – representing 0.02% of the identified affected units globally – and that no reports of personal injuries have been reported.
While a fix is being prepared, owners are advised to avoid charging their cars beyond 70%. A charge limit can be set under the Charging settings menu in the infotainment touchscreen. For now, it’s unclear if the smart #1 and #3 and Zeekr X, all of which share much of the EX30’s mechanicals and use a similarly-sized NMC battery, are affected by the same issue.
GALLERY: Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance in Malaysia
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