Volvo’s pledge to go electrified rings in fresh era for scandal-hit car sector, The Independent
Volvo’s pledge to go electrified rings in fresh era for scandal-hit car sector
All fresh Volvo models from two thousand nineteen will love some form of electrical propulsion. And Volvo’s not alone
- Sean O’Grady
- Wednesday five July two thousand seventeen 15:40 BST
The Independent Online
Volvo made plain that one reason for its switch has been pressure from customers Reuters
The world’s car industry took another step away from its 130-year association with the internal combustion engine this week as Volvo became the latest car maker to make a decisive switch to electrification of its output.
Volvo Cars’ president and chief executive, Hakan Samuelsson, announced that all fresh Volvo models from two thousand nineteen will love some form of electrified propulsion, either as hybrids that will retain a conventional petrol or diesel engine, or as purely electrified models.
Depending on customer request, when this generation of models reaches the end of its cycle in the mid-2020s, then the last ever Volvo car with a petrol or diesel motor could roll off the production lines, possibly coinciding with Volvo’s centenary year of 2027.
Volvo to make only electrified cars from 2019
Mr Samuelsson said: “This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of one million electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.
“This is about the customer. People increasingly request electrified cars, and we want to react to our customers’ current and future needs. You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish.”
Manufacturers such as Volvo are also responding to tougher EU targets for emissions, where electrical cars, with zero emissions at the point of use, can drastically improve the overall green credentials of a model range, especially for marques such as Volvo that tend to sell larger saloons and SUVs. Companies that fail to reach these targets of their production will be fined.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo Cars is now wielded by Geely of China, and seems also to have been influenced by its parent’s activities a home, where there has been a radical shift in attitudes towards pollution.
China, motivated by a need to clean up its air and to reduce imports of oil, is now pushing electrical vehicles hard. Last year Chinese electrified vehicle sales reached 507,000 units, compared to 221,000 across Europe and some 157,000 in the US.
China’s electrified vehicles sales are expected to hop to around 700,000 this year, and growth around the world, albeit from a very low base, is set to explode in the 2020s and 2030s, alongside increasingly “driverless” vehicles. Apple and Google are well known for their plans in this field, and Tesla, the world’s very first electric-only car maker, is also one of its most valuable, its large silent and sporty saloons no longer such a uncommon look in the more prosperous neighbourhoods of Western cities.
Read more
In Europe, Sweden’s neighbour, Norway, however oil-rich, leads the way to electrification, with four out of every ten fresh cars electrically driven, and a massive public investment in infrastructure for charging points. These are essential in urban areas where electrical cars cannot be lightly charged from flats and terraced houses.
Volvo Cars will introduce a range of electrified cars, including five fully electrical cars inbetween two thousand nineteen and 2021, three of which will be Volvo models and two of which will be high-performance electrified cars from Volvo Car’s fresh premium brand, Polestar.
These five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid 48-volt options on all models, signifying one of the broadest electrified car offerings of any car maker, tho’ other makers, notably Toyota, have been developing those options for much longer.
Indeed, with even the next generation of the Jaguar XJ limousine rumoured to be an electrified model, every car maker is moving towards electrification at an accelerating rate. Some, such as Hyundai and Honda, are also developing electrified motors using on-board hydrogen fuel cells, a still more ambitious technological switch.
Customer resistance to electric-only vehicles on the grounds of limited range and high purchase cost is being eroded by rapid advances in battery technology, quicker recharging and official incentives.
Significantly, too, this marks a further step back from the reliance on controversial diesel engines of so many European makers.
Volvo made plain that one reason for its switch has been pressure from its customers, and this comes against a background of the VW diesel scandal and bad publicity about the health and environmental influence of the noxious emissions diesels can pump into congested cities.
Volvo was one of a number of makes, notably also including Peugeot, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the VW Group that have invested strongly in diesel technology over many years. Other brands, such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda, where diesels have traditionally been a much smaller part of the product range – and where petite petrol engines, unspoiled electrified or hybrids have figured more prominently – are being less badly hit by the backlash against diesel and the authorities’ moves to marginalise diesel cars.
Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City, for example, are reportedly planning to ban the most polluting cars and vans by 2025. Beijing, long one of the filthiest big cities on the planet, will substitute its entire fleet of taxis with electrified vehicles in the next five years. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will raise the capital’s congestion charge on diesels from £11.50 to £24 this October, with a budge towards a ban on filthier diesels from 2019. Some councils are also charging motorists more to park a diesel engine car.
Volvo’s pledge to go electrified rings in fresh era for scandal-hit car sector, The Independent
Volvo’s pledge to go electrical rings in fresh era for scandal-hit car sector
All fresh Volvo models from two thousand nineteen will love some form of electrical propulsion. And Volvo’s not alone
- Sean O’Grady
- Wednesday five July two thousand seventeen 15:40 BST
The Independent Online
Volvo made plain that one reason for its switch has been pressure from customers Reuters
The world’s car industry took another step away from its 130-year association with the internal combustion engine this week as Volvo became the latest car maker to make a decisive switch to electrification of its output.
Volvo Cars’ president and chief executive, Hakan Samuelsson, announced that all fresh Volvo models from two thousand nineteen will love some form of electrical propulsion, either as hybrids that will retain a conventional petrol or diesel engine, or as purely electrified models.
Depending on customer request, when this generation of models reaches the end of its cycle in the mid-2020s, then the last ever Volvo car with a petrol or diesel motor could roll off the production lines, possibly coinciding with Volvo’s centenary year of 2027.
Volvo to make only electrified cars from 2019
Mr Samuelsson said: “This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car. Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of one million electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.
“This is about the customer. People increasingly request electrified cars, and we want to react to our customers’ current and future needs. You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish.”
Manufacturers such as Volvo are also responding to tougher EU targets for emissions, where electrified cars, with zero emissions at the point of use, can drastically improve the overall green credentials of a model range, especially for marques such as Volvo that tend to sell larger saloons and SUVs. Companies that fail to reach these targets of their production will be fined.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo Cars is now wielded by Geely of China, and seems also to have been influenced by its parent’s activities a home, where there has been a radical shift in attitudes towards pollution.
China, motivated by a need to clean up its air and to reduce imports of oil, is now pushing electrified vehicles hard. Last year Chinese electrical vehicle sales reached 507,000 units, compared to 221,000 across Europe and some 157,000 in the US.
China’s electrified vehicles sales are expected to leap to around 700,000 this year, and growth around the world, albeit from a very low base, is set to explode in the 2020s and 2030s, alongside increasingly “driverless” vehicles. Apple and Google are well known for their plans in this field, and Tesla, the world’s very first electric-only car maker, is also one of its most valuable, its large silent and sporty saloons no longer such a infrequent view in the more prosperous neighbourhoods of Western cities.
Read more
In Europe, Sweden’s neighbour, Norway, tho’ oil-rich, leads the way to electrification, with four out of every ten fresh cars electrically driven, and a massive public investment in infrastructure for charging points. These are essential in urban areas where electrical cars cannot be lightly charged from flats and terraced houses.
Volvo Cars will introduce a range of electrified cars, including five fully electrical cars inbetween two thousand nineteen and 2021, three of which will be Volvo models and two of which will be high-performance electrified cars from Volvo Car’s fresh premium brand, Polestar.
These five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid 48-volt options on all models, signifying one of the broadest electrified car offerings of any car maker, tho’ other makers, notably Toyota, have been developing those options for much longer.
Indeed, with even the next generation of the Jaguar XJ limousine rumoured to be an electrical model, every car maker is moving towards electrification at an accelerating rate. Some, such as Hyundai and Honda, are also developing electrical motors using on-board hydrogen fuel cells, a still more ambitious technological switch.
Customer resistance to electric-only vehicles on the grounds of limited range and high purchase cost is being eroded by rapid advances in battery technology, swifter recharging and official incentives.
Significantly, too, this marks a further step back from the reliance on controversial diesel engines of so many European makers.
Volvo made plain that one reason for its switch has been pressure from its customers, and this comes against a background of the VW diesel scandal and bad publicity about the health and environmental influence of the noxious emissions diesels can pump into congested cities.
Volvo was one of a number of makes, notably also including Peugeot, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the VW Group that have invested intensely in diesel technology over many years. Other brands, such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda, where diesels have traditionally been a much smaller part of the product range – and where puny petrol engines, unspoiled electrical or hybrids have figured more prominently – are being less badly hit by the backlash against diesel and the authorities’ moves to marginalise diesel cars.
Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City, for example, are reportedly planning to ban the most polluting cars and vans by 2025. Beijing, long one of the filthiest big cities on the planet, will substitute its entire fleet of taxis with electrical vehicles in the next five years. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will raise the capital’s congestion charge on diesels from £11.50 to £24 this October, with a stir towards a ban on filthier diesels from 2019. Some councils are also charging motorists more to park a diesel engine car.