CHARGING OFF

The Volvo XC40's electric sibling, the Recharge, is-gasp - a better car. Whodathunk?

- Pablo Chaterji

I will begin this story by saying that the new Volvo XC40 Recharge is very much like a laptop. Stay with me here before you begin to raise an eyebrow. When I got into it, muscle memory made me reach for a starter button — but there wasn’t one. After a bit of befuddlement, I slotted the lever into D and stepped on the gas (or should I say battery?), and the car whooshed forward. Its party trick is a sensor that’s built into the driver’s seat which tells the car to ready itself — talk about a seat-of-the-pants experience. When you’re done driving, you engage P, get out of the car, lock it and walk away; at this point, it’s in a sort of ‘sleep’ mode, ready to wake up and set off again when it senses your butt in the seat. A laptop, like I said. You can manually power down the car using a somewhat hidden option on the infotainment screen, in case you’re wondering.