VOLVO has revealed its first fully electric vehicle, but the new battery-powered XC40 Recharge is not expected to come to the UK until late next year with an anticipated price tag of around £50,000.

The XC40 Recharge, based on the multi award-winning and best-selling XC40 small SUV, is the first of a family of fully electric Volvos and comes with a state-of-the-art, fully electric all-wheel-drive powertrain that offers a range of more than 249 miles on a single charge and output of 408hp. The battery charges to 80 per cent of its capacity in 40 minutes on a fast-charger system.

The XC40 Recharge will also feature a brand-new infotainment system powered by Google's Android operating system which is fully integrated with Volvo On Call, the company's digital connected services platform.

The new - and refreshingly original - Recharge branding will feature on all Volvo's future pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars. The company plans to launch a fully electric car every year for the next five years as it seeks to make all-electric cars 50 per cent of its global sales by 2025, with the rest hybrids.

From now on every Volvo model in the range will include a Recharge option, marking Volvo out as the only car maker to offer a plug-in variant of every model in its line-up.

And to encourage take-up of its plug-in hybrid models, the Swedish maker is offering buyers free electricity for a year, provided through a refund of the average electricity cost during that period. The company aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales next year.

To meet the anticipated growth in demand for its Recharge cars, Volvo plans to triple production capacity for electrified cars and will, as of next year, prepare a Designer's Choice selection of popular Recharge models, offering the potential for radically reduced delivery times.

"We have said this several times before," says Volvo president and CEO HÃ¥kan Samuelsson, for Volvo Cars, the future is electric."