Chris Tomlinson

July 6, two thousand seventeen Updated: July 6, two thousand seventeen 8:18am

DETROIT, MI – JANUARY 9: Hakan Samuelsson (R), President and CEO, Volvo Car Group, stands with the Hain family from Sweden next to the autonomous Volvo vehicle they will be testing at the two thousand seventeen North American International Auto Showcase on January 9, two thousand seventeen in Detroit, Michigan. Approximately five thousand journalists from around the world and almost 800,000 people are expected to attend the NAIAS inbetween January 8th and January 22nd to see the more than seven hundred fifty vehicles and numerous interactive displays. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Pictures)

DETROIT, MI – JANUARY 9: Hakan Samuelsson (R), President and CEO, Volvo Car Group, stands with the Hain family from Sweden next to the autonomous Volvo vehicle they will be testing at the two thousand seventeen North American

Attendees photograph the Volvo XC90 Drive Me autonomous test SUV during the two thousand seventeen North American International Auto Demonstrate in Detroit, Michigan, January 9, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Photos)

Attendees photograph the Volvo XC90 Drive Me autonomous test SUV during the two thousand seventeen North American International Auto Demonstrate in Detroit, Michigan, January 9, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read

DETROIT, MI – JANUARY 9: Alan Batey, General Motors President of North America, talks about the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV, which won the Car of the Year Award at the two thousand seventeen North American International Auto Showcase on January 9, two thousand seventeen in Detroit, Michigan. Approximately five thousand journalists from around the world and almost 800,000 people are expected to attend the NAIAS inbetween January 8th and January 22nd to see the more than seven hundred fifty vehicles and numerous interactive displays. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Pictures)

DETROIT, MI – JANUARY 9: Alan Batey, General Motors President of North America, talks about the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV, which won the Car of the Year Award at the two thousand seventeen North American International Auto

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 20: The two thousand seventeen Green Car of the Year Award-winning Chevrolet Bolt EV is displayed during the Los Angeles Auto Display at the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 20, two thousand sixteen in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Auto Showcase is the very first North American event of the auto showcase season. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Pictures)

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 20: The two thousand seventeen Green Car of the Year Award-winning Chevrolet Bolt EV is displayed during the Los Angeles Auto Display at the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 20, two thousand sixteen in Los

All Volvos will be hybrids or one hundred percent electrified beginning in 2019, the CEO announced this week, admitting that his earlier resistance to clean technology was ill-founded and that his customers expect better.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson went from advocate for cleaner internal combustion engines to moving his company all-in on electrified power trains. Volvo says it can produce a 310-mile range on its electrical cars using existing technology.

“Things have moved quicker; customer request is enlargening. This is an attractive car people want to have,” he told journalists in Helsinki, Finland. “This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car.”

Yes, adoption of hybrid and electrical vehicles is happening quicker than CEOs at major, legacy automakers could have imagined. And while low gasoline prices in the United States have discouraged Americans from buying more fuel efficient cars, the rest of the world is moving toward electrified power.

Volkswagen, another European car maker that eschewed the fresh engine types, announced plans to phase out the internal combustion engine. The company will roll out two SUVs, a sedan and a hatchback that are battery powered in 2019.

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Chris Tomlinson

As Tesla commences delivering its Model three to customers, and has back-orders through the end of 2018, two thousand nineteen looks like it will be a breakthrough year for electrified vehicles.

Six fresh models have been announced for 2019, including long-range cars from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz.

Automakers are not producing these cars for the U.S. market, tho’, which is why we won’t see this transition as early as other nations. The real market for electrified cars is China, where the government is suggesting the middle class generous subsidies and incentives to buy electrical.

Unlike the United States, Chinese officials also are installing charging infrastructure across the country to ease range anxiety. Admittedly, dirty power plants will produce the electrical play for those vehicles, but the cars will slow China’s request growth for imported crude oil, a major concern of the government.

Lower Chinese request for crude is bad news for oil companies, since most are relying on growing request in China to keep afloat as request in the U.S. and Europe resumes to remain static or fall. China also is manufacturing ten low-cost electrical cars that can be exported to poor countries, another pole of future request for oil.

UBS, a financial services company, predicts that electrified vehicles will commence reducing gasoline request no later than 2031. Admittedly, hybrid and electrical vehicles are only one percent of cars produced today, but some estimate they will be thirty percent of fresh cars produced in 2030.

The most significant takeaway from Volvo’s announcement, however, is how the company’s market research shows that buyers want hybrids and battery-powered vehicles. So much so that the company is overhauling its entire power train line up.

Since the customer is always right, the market is responding to this switch. And the transformation is likely to accelerate in ways that we can’t yet imagine.

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