Tesla X vs Volvo XC90 in real life
With four kids and friends, to come to our weekend home in Isla de Valdecañas from Madrid, we need a 7 seater. If you want a «non van» 7 seater, and you are not American (your selection does not include gas guzzlers like the Suburban) your SUV choices are limited. They are a Tesla X, Audi Q7, Range Rover Discovery, Mercedes GLS, BMW X5. Over the years I had tried them all except our new Volvo XC90. Today I had the opportunity to test this beautifully designed car around the mountains of Gredos and I was very impressed. Yes the Tesla X is still the best I have ever owned, except for one important thing: range. The Tesla X range is not what Tesla says. Car makers lie, they lie with diesel (dieselgate) and lie with batteries (Tesla range) but they lie about different things, pollution vs range. While the acceleration of the Tesla X is mind blowing for an SUV if you accelerate your way up a mountain the real range of a Tesla X is 75% LESS than the real range of a Volvo XC90 diesel in similar conditions. It is also over 50% less of what Tesla says it is. So our weekend home 200km from Madrid is a challenge for the Tesla X but only. a quarter tank for the Volvo! If you drive fast and accelerate frequently up the mountains a Tesla X barely does 200km (they say 450km). If you are able to drive fast as you can do in Europe, and if you drive in mountainous terrain, the range of the Volvo is 3x to 4X greater.
Other than range the Volvo is way more spacious than the Tesla X and the even larger than the car I sold to replace it, the Audi Q7. If you like cycling you can’t fit a mountain bike inside a Tesla X but you can comfortably fit it in a Volvo XC90. Tesla seats don’t fold, they awkwardly move forward. And the software interface of Volvo is better than any European car and a close contender to Tesla. I was super impressed with the Volvo’s autopilot which has little to envy to the one of the Tesla although they don’t call it Full Self Driving, because it is not in either case. Volvo comes with Apple Car Play which, thanks to Apple, is better than the Tesla interface. The Tesla iPad type screen is amazing but good luck to see Waze in it as I see it in the Volvo. Moreover the Volvo XC90, with a ton of options is 30% cheaper than a Tesla X (€75k vs €120k). So my two cars now are the Tesla X and the Volvo XC90. My Audi Q7 is sold and lost its battle against the Swedes due to interior volume and user interface. German car makers refuse to deal with Apple and Google to their peril.
Electric cars are amazing in all respects except range and that is because a 100kw battery has the same energy as 16 liters of gasoline. Yes electric engines are way more efficient than gas but still that efficiency would translate to less than 30 liters of gasoline. Few would buy an SUV with a tank of 30 litres and that is what a Tesla X is. The Volvo has 71 liters of diesel and it consumes 9l per 100km going very fast and uphill (they lie and say 7l). Diesel is 25% more efficient than gasoline. A Tesla X is perfect for the flat NY Hamptons ride, but not for mountains like those of Western USA Switzerland or Spain.
Why do we keep the Tesla X? Because it is way better for the environment than diesel, because if you don’t need to go over 200km it is much better to have a “gas station” at home than going to a gas station, because electric cars need less servicing over all and last much longer and because the handling and acceleration are awesome (4.9s vs 7.2 seconds 0–100kmh). So EVs are powerful and fast machines with tremendous horse power, but all that speed an acceleration losses out to diesel if you frequently go beyond their range. But my challenge is that I find the Volvo XC90 as well as some other SUVs like the Range Rovers, and BMWs, better looking than the Tesla X. On matters of taste the world is divided into two camps, American taste and European taste. But some Americans like European cars but few European like American cars. What families like us need is a European designed electric SUV with better range than the Tesla X.
Families with two cars can have it all, one electric car and another diesel/gasoline. If you have only one car I recommend electric if your only rides beyond 200km are on vacations. Then on vacations you use fast chargers. Volvo tries to make you have it both ways with an electric diesel hybrid but this solution gives you less range on diesel, costs much more and gives you a tiny range on electric. Not ideal for us but maybe a solution for people whose car rides are either very short or very long.
