From Starbucks to the Home Garage, Volvo designs new spaces for an electric future

Re-imagining the landscape of mobility creates new possibilities not only for our cars, but it also shapes the world around us. But, with opportunities come challenges. Consumers often cite charging availability and range anxiety as some of the biggest challenges to the adoption of EVs. Through recent partnerships with Starbucks, Compass, and Garage Living, Volvo Car USA has demonstrated how seamlessly electric vehicles can fit into our daily lives. With these partnerships, we are investing in infrastructure and highlighting how homes and spaces must evolve to usher in the next phase of a fully electric future.

A morning coffee from Starbucks in the US is what is fika in Sweden: indispensable. So why not meet our consumers where they are?

We recently announced our partnership with Starbucks to pilot our first public electric vehicle fast charging network along a 1,350-mile route between Seattle and Denver.

Beginning this summer, we will install as many as 60 Volvo-branded, ChargePoint DC fast chargers at up to 15 Starbucks locations. With charging locations placed about every 100 miles along the route, well within the battery range of most electric vehicles, drivers will have the freedom to move while also lowering their impact on the environment. Our goal is to make charging Volvo pure electric models as easy as going to Starbucks, and we hope to continue to grow this exciting partnership.

With home charging critical to the continued adoption of EVs, we teamed up with garage specialists Garage Living, and real estate innovators Compass, to design and build a modern EV ‘Recharge’ Garage inside a home in Palm Springs, CA.

As more homeowners embrace electric vehicles, we know garages must evolve to meet new demands for home charging, sustainability, versatility, and connectivity. Garages are traditionally an under-utilised space, but as EVs have zero tailpipe emissions, garages can naturally become a cleaner, safer and more flexible, multi-purpose space to be used for work, relaxation and more.

With over 60 media onsite in Palm Springs, we unveiled the Recharge Garage as part of Volvo Cars’ North American Recharge Drive event where media tested the C40 Recharge, as well as the new XC60 Recharge T8 extended range.

These unique partnerships reinforce our ambitious sustainability initiatives that includes full electrification by 2030, carbon neutrality by 2040, and our support for the Glasgow Declaration on Zero Emission Cars at the COP26 conference. The future of Volvo Cars is electric, and Starbucks, Compass, and Garage Living have all proven to be perfect partners in bringing our vision to life.

To learn more about the Recharge Garage, please see here . To learn more about Volvo’s partnership with Starbucks, please see here .

Anders Kärrberg, head of global sustainability, said: "I'm delighted that our APAC HQ Campus has secured a 100 per cent climate neutral electricity supply. This good news follows the securing of a similar supply for our plants in Chengdu and Daqing.

“Climate action is now as important as safety at Volvo Cars. We are committed to reducing emissions across our value chain on our journey towards becoming a climate neutral company by 2040. Addressing our operational footprint is key. Our global manufacturing plants are already powered by over 90 per cent fossil free electricity. This is further evidence that we are quite literally putting our own house in order," Anders said.