Mitsubishi eK X EV vs Volvo Es90

What's the difference?

And that’s the core takeaway from our time driving the Mitsubishi eK X EV – it’s a near-perfect tool for dealing with inner-urban congestion and tightly-packed city streets. After all, while cars have become progressively more bloated, our roads haven’t expanded in sympathy with that. The tiny measurements of the eK X EV and its slick and seamless electric powertrain allow drivers to flip that paradigm.

But even if Mitsubishi's Australian office chose to bring it here, it wouldn't be the first time the company has experimented with an ultra-compact EV in this country. Remember the i-MiEV from a decade ago? That too was a kei car EV with similar performance stats, however it languished in obscurity thanks to a high $48K price tag and a generally ho-hum offering.

By comparison, the eK X EV feels much more complete and better-equipped, though its price will need to be considerably sharper than the i-MiEV's if it's to convince would-be EV adopters to look away from the entry-level options from Chinese automakers like MG and BYD.

Will Mitsubishi take the plunge? It'll be chasing a niche within a niche if it does, but provided that audience uses the car within its urban-only design parameters, and provided Mitsubishi can offer it for a compelling price, the Japanese company could carve out a meaningful toehold in the EV space at the entry-level end of the spectrum.

More stylish than ever before, as quiet and refined as you'd expect from a luxury car and yet the stand out feature might once again be safety. Despite seemingly every new car being loaded to the gills with safety features, Volvo has managed to demonstrate industry best-practice and leads the way again.

I would encourage engineers from every other car brand to drive the ES90 to learn how to better integrate the modern suite of active safety features like forward collision warning and lane departure warning.

But beyond that, is the ES90 a car worthy of consideration? Well, pretty much everything it does the EX90 does too, so if you prefer an SUV that’s definitely worth consideration. But if you don’t want an SUV, if you prefer a sedan or just love to be different, the ES90 is a very attractive proposition in more ways than one.

As a member of the uniquely-Japanese kei class of vehicles, the eK X EV has to fit within a very specific footprint of 3.4 metres long, 1.48 metres wide, and 2.0 metres tall.

The eK X pushes up right to those limits, measuring just 5.0mm shy of those length and width restrictions while stretching to 1655mm tall, and in order to maximise interior volume each face is almost perfectly vertical and all four corners are right-angles.

The end result is a very angular one-box hatchback, with the raked-back windscreen and bonnet giving the front half a somewhat wedge-shaped profile.

Is it a beauty queen? Not by any conventional standard – it’s more bricklike than beautiful – but like most kei cars its shape is driven by its function.

All four wheels are pushed right to each corner, minimising intrusion into passenger space, and the generous side and rear glass areas allow a great view of what’s around you – ideal for staying out of trouble on crowded Japanese city streets.

Another pragmatic design feature is the presence of roof rails – optional in Japan (¥27,500, or $311), but probably a good idea for those wanting to gain some more cargo capacity by bolting on a roof pod (which would certainly make the eK X EV look even more comically proportioned).

The P grade also brings a roof spoiler and black plastic wheel arch trims (both of which can also be had on the G spec as part of a ¥71,500/$810 bundle that includes the roof rails), which gives the stumpy eK X a smidge of SUV flavour.

And as far as style goes, it’s certainly cohesive with other members of the Mitsubishi showroom. The brand’s narrow-eyed headlamps and X-shaped grille motif translate well to the eK X’s nuggety bod, looking very much like if an Outlander’s visage was squished into a compact 1.48-metre wide cube.

The two-tone paint of our high-grade test vehicle looks modern and appealing (though it’s an expensive option at ¥82,500/$935), while single-tone paint jobs are also available.

However, if you’re a fan of artful vehicle design then the blocky and boxy eK X EV probably won’t excite your retinas.

Discussing Volvo design will draw different opinions depending on your age. As a millennial, I grew up at a time when Volvos were, to quote a famous movie line from the 1990s, ‘boxy, but good’.

But over the past two decades Volvo has smoothed off those boxy edges and become one of the most style-conscious car companies in the world. It has embraced its now-unique place as a Scandinavian carmaker and uses softer edges and more Nordic design themes (such as light coloured interior woods) to ensure the ES90 is simply a good-looking car.

What it isn’t, at least not technically-speaking, is a sedan. That’s because it has a liftback rear-end design, rather than a traditional ‘three-box’ sedan with a conventional boot. That shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for anyone and it means it’s a far more practical design.

It also sits taller than a conventional ‘sedan’, which is an increasingly common trait for modern European sedans as they try to woo would-be SUV buyers. It’s not a lot, you certainly wouldn’t call it a tall or high-riding car, but it is noticeable.

Ends up as an ‘in-between’ design, neither one thing or the other. The closest thing it reminds me of is the short-lived BMW 5-Series GT, which is damning with faint praise, but it speaks to the challenge of making something that simply isn’t an SUV appealing to the modern SUV-obsessed market.

The very stylish cabin features that previously mentioned light coloured wood (at least in our test car) and that unique Scandinavian look. It’s the closest you’ll get to sitting in a Swedish lounge room on wheels.

While design might not be the eK X’s ace card, space efficiency absolutely is. 

Trust the Japanese to figure out how to make the best use of a compact volume – with compact apartments and ultra-dense cities being the norm for most Japanese people, it’s no surprise they’ve been able to extract the greatest utility possible from something the size of a kei car.

Those in the front seats get to enjoy some fairly cushy (though not super-supportive) chairs, with the driver’s seat being a little wider to cover the gap between it and the passenger seat.

Folding up the centre armrest also allows the driver to slide across to the left seat, perfect for getting out of a confined parking spot… or dates at the drive-in.

The steering column only adjusts for tilt and not reach, which is a bit of an ergonomics fail, but generally speaking there’s a surprising amount of room for ‘Western’ frames.

The manually-adjusted seats can slide a fair way back, headroom is substantial, outward vision is superb and, thanks to the narrowness of the eK X, literally everything is within arm’s reach.

The long shelf that spans the dash at mid-height is also a useful feature, an ideal perch for small items like keys, wallets, tissues and phones, while the cupholders are moulded into the dash itself and the climate control and shifter quadrant are housed in their own extension of the centre stack.

Below the climate controls, a bag hook is perfect for toting takeaway, purses or small grocery bags, and there’s some additional shelves and cubbies along with a USB-A, USB-C and 12-volt charger.

Peek under the passenger seat, and an under-seat stowage tray reveals itself, too. There’s even a pull-out compartment in the passenger door to house the owner’s manual. Everything in its right place.

Granted, with limited width there are some constraints on passenger space. The eK X’s rear bench only has room for two seats rather than three, but there’s enough shoulder room available to ensure it’s not as claustrophobic as you might think, and the rear bench is even mounted on sliding rails, has a reclinable backrest and offers more cushion length than the front seats.

With the seat slid all the way back there’s quite a lot of legroom for back seat passengers, while sliding it forward allows at least one piece of large luggage to sit in the boot while still giving enough space for passenger’s feet.

Other quality-of-life touches include some storage pockets high up on the front passenger’s backrest as well as bottle holders and cupholders integrated into the rear door cards, though, unlike the front seats, there’s no fold-down centre armrest or face-level air vents.

Mitsubishi doesn’t publish a cargo volume for the eK X EV, but the boot opening measures 1105mm wide and 875mm tall, with depth variable depending on the position of the sliding rear seat.

The rear seat backrests also fold down (though not flush with the boot floor), and supersized cargo can also be accommodated by reclining the front passenger seatback all the way so you can tote objects up to two metres long.

Under the boot’s floor hides an inflator kit and charge cable storage, though there’s no cargo blind.

In terms of space the ES90 is very generous, which it should be given it's a five-metre long car. There’s loads of room front and the back so you’ll seat four adults in absolute comfort, and can squeeze in a fifth if needed. Thanks to the relatively flat floor, as well as the panoramic roof that can either be opaque or clear, the cabin feels spacious and bright even in the rear.

As for luggage space, the boot measures 424 litres, and obviously it’s very easy to access via the power liftgate. But it’s still not as big as an SUV. The EX90 offers up 655 litres of space in its five-seat configuration. Which is at least a small part of the explanation why SUVs have become the more popular choice.

But what really stands out in the cabin isn’t the space, it’s the technology. The ES90 Ultra’s multimedia system is centred around a 14.5-inch touchscreen that runs all the car’s key functions; you also get a 9.0-inch driver’s display.

Notably, Volvo has opted to offer Google’s operating systems built-in, which means while you can still run Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, if you have a Google account you can sign-in and have your contacts, address book and other details integrated into the car.

It’s a really fast system, too, supported by the most powerful software Volvo has ever put inside one of its cars. Having a big tablet-style screen is great and feels very modern, but if it runs slowly, with lag between commands, it’s not as useful. This Volvo system, particularly the transitions between menus and even the voice assistant, reacts with lightning-fast speed.

Then there’s the sound system we mentioned earlier. It’s a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins set-up with 'Dolby Atmos' and an app called Abbey Road Studios. This app has been produced in conjunction with the iconic recording studio made famous by The Beatles. The speakers and the app were all developed together to provide a superior audio experience.

The speakers themselves are incredibly powerful while staying crystal clear, with the Abbey Road app providing the ability to change the sound between 'Modern' and 'Vintage' settings that make you feel like you’re inside a recording studio.

Put simply, it is as impressive a sound system as I’ve ever experienced in a car.

The ES90 range consists of two models at the time of publication both powered by a single, rear-mounted electric motor, with the twin-motor option available on the EX90 SUV currently not offered in Australia (emphasis on the word ‘currently’).

The range begins with the Pure from $88,880, before on-road costs, and is completed by the current range-topping Ultra variant, which we're testing, priced from $107,990, plus on-roads.

That means it’s cheaper than its direct rivals in the luxury electric sedan market. Audi’s e-tron GT starts at more than $200,000, the BMW i5 line-up is priced from $155,900 and the Mercedes-Benz EQE range begins at $134,900. So, even with this more expensive Ultra variant, Volvo has a clear head-start on the competition.

And Volvo hasn't managed that by skimping on standard equipment. The ES90 comes loaded with adaptive air suspension, 22-inch alloy wheels, a comprehensive safety package (as you’d expect from Volvo) as well as an electrochromic panoramic roof, a smart key you can add to your phone and 'Nordico' upholstery - Volvo’s sustainable synthetic leather.

There’s also a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system, but more on that later…

The eK X EV is powered by a single electric motor connected to the front wheels, and while all kei cars are limited by Japanese law to just 48kW, torque output has no such limitation.

Thanks to that loophole, and the generally torque-rich nature of an electric motor, the eK X EV produces peak torque of 195Nm, which is just 8.0Nm shy of the heavier petrol-powered Toyota Corolla.

A 20kWh lithium-ion battery pack supplies the motor with power, and is located under the vehicle’s floor. It’s a small battery, but it’s also a small car.

According to Mitsubishi, 20kWh is all most eK X EV drivers should need, but it’s about a third the size of typical EV’s battery these days.

As the name suggests, the ES90 Single Motor is powered by a single, rear-mounted electric motor that drives the rear wheels via a single-speed transmission. The motor makes a healthy 245kW and 480Nm, so the 0-100km/h sprint time is 6.6 seconds - sprightly for such a big car.

As alluded to earlier, there is a Twin Motor, all-wheel drive ES90 variant available in overseas markets, with 500kW, but Volvo Australia is yet to confirm when, or even if that will arrive here.

Our short (just under 30km) test drive was done entirely at urban speeds, with no significant highway component.

That plays into an electric car’s strengths, with minimal energy being used to fight aerodynamic and tyre drag, while the constant speeding up and slowing down for traffic and stop lights means a lot of energy gets put back into the battery via the regenerative braking system.

At the end of it, after using 23 percent of the battery (4.6kWh) to travel 28.3km, our average energy consumption measured in at 16.25kWh/100km, which is about par for a modern EV.

However, we were expecting a significantly lower result given the eK X EV weighs only 1080kg – half the weight of a Kia EV6 AWD. And Mitsubishi claims an average energy consumption of 12.4kWh/100km, with a city-only figure of just 10.0kWh/100km.

Couple that result with a 20kWh battery, and the eK X’s real-world range looks a lot more like 123km instead of the 180km WLTC Mitsubishi claims.

Granted, Tokyo traffic and streets aren’t a perfect analogue for Australian conditions, but there seems to be a big disconnect between the factory numbers and what we could achieve. Even for a city car, a circa-120km range may not be seen as sufficiently generous in Australia.

That said, there’s more than one way to deploy this car’s stored energy. You can use the eK X EV’s vehicle-to-load function to power household appliances through an adaptor, while another intriguing feature is the car’s Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) bi-directional charge capability.  

With V2H, a single connector can make the eK’s battery pack the source of power for an entire building. Useful in the event of a grid power outage, which is a real consideration for disaster-prone Japan.

As for regular charging, the eK X EV has a slightly oddball configuration. Open up the charge port flap on the driver-side flank and you’ll see an old-school Type 1 CCS connector positioned above a chunky CHAdeMO port.

While the latter is useful for bi-directional charging and has significant headroom for high-voltage fast charging, the Type 1 CCS port is probably less useful in Australia given most modern electric cars have moved to the more capable Type 2 CCS design.

If the eK X is to make any sense in Australia, that’s something that would likely need to be addressed along with its seemingly short legs.  

Built on Volvo’s 800-volt electrical architecture, the first Volvo to feature the technology, the ES90 is powered by a 92kWh battery that provides up to 554km of driving range on a single charge.

Volvo quotes an NEDC energy consumption of 18.5kWh/100km, with 300kW DC charging able to take the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in 22 minutes. A full, empty to 100 per cent charge using a 16A outlet will take 10 hours.

It should be noted that the EX90 SUV will be upgraded to the 800V architecture with the 2026 model year introduction.

Kei cars are something of a unique experience to begin with, an electric one even more so. Besides those compact dimensions giving it the ultimate ability to cut through dense traffic, the addition of an electric powertrain endows it with the torque necessary to feel properly zippy around the city.

And by ‘zippy’, we’re not joking. With all of that torque being channelled through a pair of skinny eco tyres on the front axle, the eK X EV has little trouble squealing its tyres if you’ve got a heavy right foot.

It might be tiny but it moves with the feisty urgency of a Jack Russell, and thanks to its kerb weight of just over a tonne, it’s a nimble and light-footed thing.

It’s a shame the steering is so lifeless, though at least its fingertip-lightness makes easy work of lane changes, U-turns, and everything in-between.

There are three drive modes – 'Eco', 'Normal' and 'Sport', but they just change the throttle sensitivity and alter the strength of the regenerative braking.

Alongside this, a one-pedal accelerator model allows the bulk of speeding up and slowing down to be accomplished by modulating the throttle pedal, but you still need to move your foot to the brake in order to come to a complete halt.

We drove mainly in Normal mode without the one-pedal function activated, and the car felt smooth and easy-going.

Power delivery is linear, the regenerative braking feels natural, with no noticeable step between regen and mechanical braking, and there’s just a faint hum from the motor and inverter when power is being delivered or generated.

It’s difficult to form an opinion on the eK X EV’s suspension. Kei cars aren’t typically the best when it comes to ride comfort, handling, or any other discipline that requires suspension talent, but we can say that it was at least reasonably comfortable.

Take that assessment with a grain of salt, though. The perfectly-graded streets of central Tokyo are ultra-flattering to any car, and with little in the way of huge imperfections, weird camber or any other kind of challenging surface, we’d have to reserve suspension judgements until we can drive it on more varied roads.

That said, for its intended purpose of crushing short journeys through inner-city environments the eK X EV does a stellar job.

As you’d expect from a luxury, electric car the ES90 is a quiet and refined vehicle to drive. Being a Volvo, the company has used its experience where it matters, and there is excellent insulation from the outside world. Unlike some EVs that lose the engine and hope that just makes things quieter, the ES90 gives you a genuine feeling of insulation from the exterior hustle and bustle. 

Performance is adequate from the single motor but it’s by no means a sports sedan with only 250kW/480Nm and such a big vehicle. But it has the instant response that is an EV trademark so it has all the performance this type of car and the drivers it will attract would likely need. If buyers start banging on the door for more power, Volvo can oblige, but for now it does the job you expect of a luxury four-door.

While it has the sedan silhouette, the taller body and raised ride height on the air suspension are noticeable. You will find yourself looking up at SUV drivers, but not all of them. It’s roughly the same seat height as you’ll find in a modern small SUV, so a slight elevation rather than a big boost.

The ride is what you expect from this type of car. You can adjust the suspension and steering between ‘soft’ and ‘firm’ settings, but even with the latter selected there is a lot of compliance and the ride remains comfortable.

The steering is fine most of the time, but when you have to do parking maneuvers you certainly notice the ES90's steer-by-wire technology. The steering literally feels like an old computer game steering wheel set-up, with very little resistance as the wheel lightly spins from lock-to-lock. It’s not a bad feeling, but it is a bit odd and takes some getting used to.

The ultimate take-away from the driving experience is just how relaxed it is - quiet and effortless are the two words that probably best sum it up.

This is obviously the area that Volvo is famous for, but with seemingly every other brand forced to raise their own safety features over the years, does the Swedish brand still do anything special on this front?

Absolutely.

Put simply the Volvo suite of active safety systems is better developed and better integrated. Every rival car to the ES90 will have a similar list of features, including adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, lane departure assist, road sign information and more. But Volvo has made it work so well that unlike rival models, you never even think of turning them off, they don’t beep and bong ad nauseum, they only work if you need them in an emergency - which should be the standard.

One thing to note is the ‘bump’ on the roof (you may see in the images) to house a Lidar system. However, Volvo split with its supplier and has decided to abandon this technology for the ES90. That means the 2026 model year examples will not have the roof bump, but still come loaded with five radars, seven cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors for the excellent coverage of the surrounding environment.

The only thing that stops the ES90 being worthy of a 10/10 safety score is the lane keeping assist could do with some fine-tuning, as it has a tendency to move in the lane slightly too much.

There is no current ANCAP score for the ES90, but the EX90 SUV does, and given the organisation's previous sharing of scores between different models based on the same core underpinnings, there is no reason to believe the ‘sedan’ wouldn’t be just as safe.

The eK X EV is not yet offered in Australia, so at this point in time it’d be premature to put a number on ownership costs, maintenance, warranty coverage and things like that.

However, with a 20kWh battery it would cost somewhere between $4.20 and $7.00 for a full charge on household power depending on where you live and the kWh rate your energy provider charges you.

As always, those with solar generation and/or home battery storage could whittle those running costs down to practically nothing.

The ES90 is covered by Volvo’s five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which is competitive for the luxury market even if it’s shorter than the cover some mainstream brands offer.

Servicing costs are currently unclear, at the time of publication. Volvo Australia typically offers five-year servicing plans for its models but is yet to finalise the cost for its electric vehicles.

Despite its long history in Australia, Volvo still has a relatively small footprint in this country with only 28 dealers/service centres spread across the country. However, more are planned to expand that coverage in the coming years.