Love my car, but not the after sales issues.

I drive a Volvo EX30 purchased in December 2024. I took delivery of the vehicle in January 2025. While I genuinely love the car itself, my ownership experience has become increasingly frustrating.

The vehicle is beautiful, comfortable, safe, and incredibly easy to drive. Running costs are also excellent. Unfortunately, those positives are being overshadowed by a series of after-sales issues.

Firstly, EX30 owners were informed that some vehicles have a battery module issue and due to this, all EX30 owners were advised to limit charging to 70%. For someone who lives and works in Carletonville but travels to Johannesburg almost every weekend, this creates a genuine inconvenience.

I often need to charge up to 70% before leaving Carletonville, and then need to charge again in Johannesburg before returning home. I am simply not comfortable relying on the car's prediction that a 38% charged battery will get me home with only 15% remaining.

Today (4th July 2026), added another layer of sheer frustration. I arrived at the GridCars charger at Benmore Shopping Centre only to find it not working. I then drove to the Pantry on Jan Smuts Avenue, and only one charger was working. As an EV owner, charging infrastructure has to be reliable. Otherwise, the convenience of owning an electric vehicle quickly disappears.

Servicing has also been disappointing. While service intervals are convenient (30 000km/once in 2 years), my first service (last week) required me to travel to CMH Menlyn because CMH Bryanston does not service Volvos on Saturdays. All because it was decided (by Volvo) to reduce the number of dealerships that can do the setvices. As a healthcare professional, taking a full day off work for a routine service is far from ideal.

Then there is the issue of the GridCars charging voucher. As part of the purchase deal in December 2024, Volvo South Africa included a 20,000-token GridCars voucher. Mine was loaded in January 2025 after I took delivery of the vehicle. Today, 18 months after loading the voucher, I was informed by GridCars that the remaining balance has expired.

Whether or not an expiry date existed in the terms and conditions, this leaves a very sour taste for any buyer. If the charging voucher formed part of the incentive to purchase the vehicle, it seems unreasonable that unused value simply disappears. Will the same also apply for the 4000-token voucher loaded when you realised that some of your supp**** batteries are faulty? At the very least, this should have been made exceptionally clear to customers. And to be fair, when providing a voucher as a part of a deal, simple courtesy requires that you don't let it "expire".

To Volvo South Africa: your vehicles are excellent. Your safety standards are world-class, and I genuinely enjoy driving my EX30. However, after-sales support is just as important as the product itself.

Battery restrictions due to a faulty module, unreliable charging infrastructure, limited servicing availability, and promotional vouchers that expire all combine to diminish what should otherwise be an outstanding ownership experience.

To anyone considering purchasing a Volvo EV, my advice is simple: read every term and condition carefully before signing anything, particularly regarding charging benefits and promotional offers.

As for me, I'm now curious whether the 24-hour roadside assistance performs better than the rest of my after-sales experience. I sincerely hope it does.

Volvo South Africa, your cars deserve an ownership experience that matches the quality of the vehicle itself.