Luleå, Sweden – The mercury is sitting at -17 °C and we’re driving through the Swedish Lapland in the hometown favourite, the Volvo EX90. In the land of wagons and lingonberries, our black SUV stands out like a sore thumb yet it feels right at home on these snowy, majestic, but bitterly cold roads. We’re so close to the Arctic Circle, yet there’s still an IKEA only an hour’s drive away. By midday, the piercing sun peaks through the clouds to give us some warmth, and our EX90 soldiers on unfazed.

The EX90 is Volvo’s fourth fully-electric vehicle and it’s big not just in proportions but for the market in general. Three-row, seven-seater, fully-electric SUVs are few and far between. The Tesla Model X, Kia EV9, Rivian R1S, and Mercedes-Benz EQB are established competitors that can swallow seven but buyers are itching for more variety, especially from mainstream brands like Volvo. 

Our first drive in the EX90 took us to the beaches and sun-baked roads around Los Angeles but this time, we’re in Northern Sweden to see how it handles harsher winter environments. The first stop is Harads, a small locality located north of Luleå, home to just 500 inhabitants. The Volvo awakens from its evening slumber without issue and shudders off its morning frost. We select Drive and silently glide away with the two electric motors whispering in the background, a stark contrast to the agricultural noises coming from Volvo’s diesel and gasoline engines.

The journey north is a beguiling display of Sweden’s raw and unforgiving beauty. Lopped trees caked with layers of snow blanket our view out the windows, and on these roughly plowed roads, the EX90 offers tremendous pace when you seek it, and comfort and relaxation when you don’t. With the assistance of an air suspension, there’s a pleasing fluidity to how it drives and body roll is well-contained, but handling takes a back seat to compliance. We expected a slight vibration from the studded Michelin X-Ice North4 SUV tires but the dampers tune it out like a set of noise-cancelling headphones. Less hej, and more hejdå.

Trundling past fellow Volvo wagons and the odd pick-up truck, our EX90 eats up the kilometres with ease, the muted but direct steering offering security over the morphing and melting roads. We reach Harads by noon and turn into an unmarked but plowed opening, revealing a backdrop that wouldn’t look out of place on a segment from National Geographic. 

Björnträsk is frozen over this time of year and its 70cm thick layer of ice means it’s sturdy and safe enough to drive (and drift) our 2,747 kg electric sleds over. With a proverbial blank canvas to mould to their wishes, the team at Volvo created an ice track on this frozen lake just for us to discover and exploit the EX90’s true winter capabilities. 

It’s a rare sunny day, so we don’t have to squint to see the snow curbs and upcoming corners. The team told us that it was misty and foggy the day before, making it difficult to spot the braking points in a white blanket of camouflaged snow. But we’ve got studded tires, wide lanes, and hopefully enough skill and wit to keep our EX90’s paint scratch-free. We switched to a Sand Dune vehicle this time as it contrasts better on the video montage, which you can watch below:

Out here on the ice, it’s all about weight management, countersteering, and stabilizing or destabilizing with the pedals. The EX90 offers a stable-feeling platform under braking and has plenty of thrust on tap but it’s all about getting that torque to the ice, easier said than done when you’re trying to modulate it all with a thick pair of snow boots. 

With the heavy batteries mounted below the floorboard, the EX90’s low center of gravity helps us feel more connected to the ice underneath. Unfortunately, there is no method of switching off the stability or traction control (a very on-brand feature, Volvo). There is no dedicated TC button or any prompt within the driving settings or menus. We asked all the staff and engineers but the answer was a dismissive shrug and a wave to carry on, which is a bit of a shame as it means continuous drifts that flourish from corner to corner in perpetual motion are off the table. 

There are some settings we can tinker with, though. Selecting Performance All-Wheel Drive splits the torque evenly between the axles for a 50:50 bias but we prefer the standard setting and its more relaxed and loose behaviour. The next was one-pedal driving, which should have been called auto-trailbraking. While it seems counterintuitive, it is a very helpful function that provides near-instant weight transfer to the front wheels the moment you let off the throttle, curing understeer so the front end can bite, and keeping us from washing wide into the torso-high snowbank. The only downside is the inability to adjust the regen strength.

Around the ice, excessive entry speed is met with safe understeer but going at a slower 40km/h pace and just using the car’s momentum to let the rear slip makes for some good fun, as does a cheeky Scandi flick. It took a few laps to undo my habit of using the throttle to rotate a vehicle but it came together in the end. It did feel like I was fighting the TC system more than the track but lap after lap, grin after grin, it’s times like these that I remember why I love driving, and the challenge of fusing driver and machine. 

By the early afternoon with a belly full of reindeer stew and elk brisket, we venture off back into town, graced by a spectacular sunset that lasted for what felt like hours, a common sight this far up north but uncommon in the winter days of January. With the heated and massaging seats on, the Bowers and Wilkins speakers flattering our karaoke session, and a fearsomely capable and assured winter chariot at the helm, our snow-crusted EX90 rode into the dying light, still somehow completely unfazed.

Specifications:

Model: 2025 Volvo EX90 Ultra
Paint Type: Onyx Black
Base Price: $115,600
Wheelbase(mm): 2,985
Length/Width/Height (mm): 5,037 / 1,964 / 1,747
Curb weight (kg): 2,747
Powertrain: 111 kWh lithium-ion battery, two electric motors
Horsepower: 510 hp
Torque: 671 lb-ft
Drive Configuration: Dual electric motors, AWD
Claimed Range: 495 km
Tires: Michelin X-Ice North4 SUV: 265/45R21