Life with a Volvo T8 Hybrid

Volvo upgraded the T8 models in the USA in Mid-2022 to what they are calling the “extended range” model.  These newer hybrids have a bigger electric motor in the rear and larger battery capacity.  They can go about twice the distance on pure electric than the previous hybrid models and have more useful power (HP.)   We aren’t talking about a lot of miles but it’s enough for the typical commute and some errands. 

The previous hybrid models had an electric range of up to 20 miles or so while the extended range models can go up to 40 miles depending on conditions.

There are plenty of factors that can reduce the range a bit, such as using the heat or air conditioning heavily since these are electrically heavy demands.  On very cold or very hot days, you will see less range and in some extreme conditions, the car will refuse to use full electric.

The range on this 2023 model is more than enough for my daily work commute and some errands along the way.  I only live about 10 highway miles from work.

Think of the electric range being that of about 2 gallons of gasoline in an ICE car.

The earlier models seem to be intended more as a  traditional gas/electric hybrid while Volvo is pushing the pure electric mode of the later models quite a bit more.

The previous T8 models had a supercharger but the newer ones don’t.  They have more turbo boost and rely on the 140 HP electric motor for assisting the low-end.  They have very impressive acceleration.

About a week after I bought this car, I filled the gas tank and took my family on a trip to Seaside, OR.  It’s about 90 miles from home.   There is a mountain range between Portland and Seaside so it’s a good test of variable terrain.  The car did great.  I started out with a full charge and didn’t charge it again until we were back in Portland.  I averaged 46 MPG which I consider quite good for a 5,600-pound vehicle.

Since then, I’ve been plugging the car in to 110 house current using the provided Volvo charger.  It’s a 12 Amp charger @ 110V.  it takes most of the night to completely charge the battery.  I’ve been charging every night and haven’t used much gasoline.  Obviously my electric bill has increased but hot weather also hit so it's difficult to tell how much is the car and how much is the air conditioning.  I will be installing a smart charger so I can better monitor usage plus my power company has some (small) rebates for charging in off hours.

My last full tank of gasoline got me more than 2,200 miles and it still had a 1/4 tank left.  I don't remember exactly when I filled the tank, so I can't say how long ago it was but I was going on a trip and filled the tank at 1/4 tank.  It was showing 2,214 miles, 86.5 hours @ 146.7 MPG.  This was mostly city driving.  Pretty wild.  

Volvo switched to a Google Android based infotainment system somewhere around the start of 2023.

While I have no experience with the earlier system, I am pretty happy with the Google system. 

The navigation is top-notch.  You can even talk to it using a button on the streering wheel. You can tell it to do things like "navigate to the closest Best Buy" or an address. You can even tell it to turn your seat heaters on or off (which is kind of silly) or turn the A/C to max.

I like the ability to add Google Play Store apps like Spotify or Audible.  You can't just install any app, since not all are appropriate for a car, but there is a large library.  There's even a YouTube app so you can watch silly cat videos while you parked waiting for something. Probably easier to use your phone for this though.

I do have to reset the infotainment every month or so but I'm hopeful that the latest update fixes this.  My software was several versions old until the latest 3.7 over the air update.

I've had the car for about 5 months and I've had a few small issues:

• The High Voltage Coolant Heater (HVCH) has not worked since I got the car. It's the warmer season so I haven't needed heat much.  The HVCH was a frequent failure item up to about 2023 but supposedly the latest replacement units are better.  I had this replaced by the dealer under warranty.
• The Google Infotainment gets a little weird every couple month and needs a reset (hold down the home button until the screen goes black.)  
• Every once in a while the backup camera refuses to work. It just says "camera unavailable."  Reseting the infotainment brings it back.  There is a recall related to this and I think it was supposed to be fixed with the latest over the air update I just installed. 
• I've also had a strange issue where the celular data stopped working a couple times.  I reset the celular module by holding down the windshield full defrost button until the on-call light blicked red.  This fixes it but it takes some time for it to figure its' purpose in life after the reset.

This is neither a pro nor con, but in my opinion, this car is way overpowered.  Pushing a 5,600 lb vehicle to 60 MPH in under 5 seconds is pretty nuts.  Obviously, it's very nice to have all that power but I think it would fine with far less than the 315 HP gasoline engine.  Of course, since the T8 models are some of the most expensive models Volvo sells, people are going to expect more out of them and it’s a pretty simple matter for Volvo to add more turbo boost.  

I also think that it is difficult to track when I should be changing the oil. Volvo's oil change interval for gasoline engines is a crazy 10,000 miles.  This is too long if you want your engine to live a long time but hey, it gives a lower projected maintenance cost for the first few years and by the time it's a problem, the car is out of warranty. Engine oil gets weird if it’s in an engine exposed to oxygen and the byproducts of combustion for too long. Better to change it before it turns to jelly.  5,000 is much more realistic interval but how do you know when you've used your gas engine for 5,000 miles with a hybrid?  Maybe it just needs to be a function of how much gas is consumed? How many tanks of gas would be 5,000 miles? A B5 model gets ~25 MPG so I could calculate out 5,000 miles divided by 25 MPG divided by 19 gallon tank gives you roughly 10 tanks.  At my current rate of gas consumption, that would take far too long so, maybe it should be a function of time? Maybe change it every year?  Add the fact that the engine is used a lot without getting to completely warm up, then it should probably be changed more often. I don't know.  I guess time will tell.

I've had a big paradigm shift after moving to this hybrid from a full gas power car…   The convenience of just driving home and plugging in every night is very must understated.  Starting the next day with a full battery and not having to worry about getting gas on my commute is a game changer.  Seems trivial but it is very nice. 

I now can see the merits in having a full electric car but I wasn’t ready for that yet.  Many of the longer trips I take with my family are to smaller towns and places without much charging infrastructure. It would take more planning around charging stations than I am willing to commit to yet.  If I had two cars, it would make sense to have an electric car for commuting and errands and a gas car for longer trips.

My biggest issue with the T8 is the lack of a spare tire.  It makes me nervous to go on long trips in cellular dead zones without a spare tire.  Sure, most tire issues can usually be solved with a tire plug kit but I've run over debris and destroyed a sidewall in the past, so it makes me uneasy.   I actually got a good deal on a second set of wheels that I intend to use for snow tires, but I threw one of them in the back during my last trip and it made me feel loads better but it did take up way too much cargo space. Maybe a trailer hitch with a wheel mount?  Need to install a hitch for that though...