Vehicle has no power or is not responding

If the vehicle's batteries are discharged, they will disconnect from the vehicle to protect themselves from damage. Your vehicle may not respond to some of your actions, including trying to unlock or start the vehicle. Depending on the situation, you may be able to use the batteries' reserve energy to help charge your vehicle.

• The vehicle is driven to 0% battery level and is not then immediately recharged.
• The vehicle is left with a low battery level. If not plugged in for charging, the battery level drops further, as the vehicle uses a small amount of power while parked.
• The vehicle is left without charging for a long time, which allows the battery level to drop.
• Low temperatures temporarily reducing battery capacity below the required level to keep the vehicle powered.

• Use of accessories or power-consuming vehicle functions.
• High temperatures, triggering battery cooling.

If the vehicle can't be started or driven due to discharged batteries, there are several recovery actions you can try, depending on the situation.

Recovering a responsive vehicle

If your vehicle's battery level is drained to 0% while turned on, your vehicle will remain responsive for a limited time. The batteries' reserve energy can power the vehicle and allow you to initiate charging of the traction battery. If you are driving when the battery level is drained to 0%, the vehicle will not stop immediately. However, it's important that you conserve the remaining reserve energy and stop as soon as it's safe to do so.

• If your vehicle is responsive and you can charge it where it's parked, charge it immediately.
• If your vehicle can't be charged at your current location, have the vehicle recovered and transported to a charging source. Make sure you do this as soon as possible to avoid a complete shutdown of the vehicle. This is important for battery health but it also keeps essential functionality available for you to use in an emergency.

Important

If you don't charge your vehicle quickly enough, the reserve energy will run out and your vehicle will become unresponsive. If this happens, you will need to take different actions.

Recovering an unresponsive vehicle

If your vehicle's traction battery is drained to 0% battery level while parked, the vehicle will be unresponsive and you won't be able to unlock or charge it as usual.

• If there is a charging source where the vehicle is immobilized, it may be possible to temporarily power the vehicle using a special exterior 12 V terminal. This can allow you to access the vehicle and initiate charging.
• If the vehicle can't be charged where it is, it needs to be transported by a recovery vehicle to a location with a charging source. An authorized Volvo workshop has the equipment to power the vehicle and charge it.

Using the 12 V terminal

In the event of a total loss of power, the vehicle will be unresponsive. So that you can access the vehicle and charge it, the vehicle can be powered for a short time using the externally accessible 12 V terminal. This is accessed by removing a small panel on the underside of the rear bumper, on the left side of the vehicle.

Warning

Do not use or connect anything to the on-board diagnostic port ​while the vehicle is being powered via the 12 V terminal.

• The 12 V terminal should only be used for the purpose of accessing and charging the vehicle as part of immobilization recovery.
• You cannot charge another vehicle or similar external source from this point.
• Do not connect another 12 V battery to the terminal.
• Only use a 12 V charger with a maximum charging current below 30 A. Connecting any power source that delivers currents higher than 30 A might open an e-fuse connected to the terminal, which will temporarily disable it.

Important

Minimum charge level

When powering your vehicle via the 12 V terminal, it is important to keep the connection stable. Do not disconnect the 12 V terminal until your vehicle has reached a battery level of at least 1%. If you remove the power source from the 12 V terminal before your vehicle's battery level has reached 1%, the vehicle's system will shut down. This can cause damage to the power source.

Powered-down vehicle

If you have connected a power source to the 12 V terminal and the vehicle powers down, it could mean an e-fuse has opened. Wait to see if it powers back up before disconnecting. If this happens repeatedly, it could mean there is a different fault. Contact an authorized Volvo workshop.

Other no-power scenarios

There may be cases where you are sure that the battery level is not low and your vehicle is still unresponsive or only partially responsive. In these cases, it might indicate that there is an electrical, hardware or software fault preventing the vehicle from working properly.

If you can't identify the cause of the problem or solve it by referring to the manual, contact an authorized Volvo workshop.