Volvo: All Our Fresh Car Models Will Have Electrical Motors in 2019

Volvo will be the very first traditional automaker to electrify every fresh car model it sells commencing in little more than a year. Some will be electric-only, and others will be hybrids or plug-in hybrids. But as of 2019, the company says, “every Volvo it launches from two thousand nineteen will have an electrical motor, marking the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placing electrification at the core of its future business.”

Volvo said it will launch five purely electrical vehicles inbetween two thousand nineteen and 2021, three of them branded as Volvos, and two more as Polestar high-performance electrical vehicles. Polestar has been Volvo’s spectacle sub-brand.

Volvo T8 powertrain: combustion engine, turbocharger, supercharger, electrical motor – four hundred hp total

Why the switch: Volvo looks to China, not just the US

The US is the largest or second-largest market for virtually every car suggested in the US. But since 2014, China has been Volvo’s largest market, followed by Sweden, then the US. Volvo sells just over a half-million cars worldwide, with a midterm purpose of selling 800,000 vehicles. It now says it wants to sell one million electrified cars by 2025. Volvo is possessed by a Chinese company, Geely Holding Group.

Air pollution is a serious problem in dozens of China’s cities, and electrified vehicles are seen as part of the solution. Volvo expects the world’s congested, polluted megacities will restrict or tax combustion-only cars. (Europe may have less pollution than China, but it has more stringent penalties for non-electrified vehicles.) Combustion-only vehicle drivers may pay a surcharge to inject the city boundaries, or pay more for parking. A plug-in hybrid might be permitted into a city only if the car came in on battery power, for example. A combustion-engine car might not be permitted, or the driver would pay a surcharge of $Five to $25.

“The announcement underlines Volvo Cars’ commitment to minimizing its environmental influence and making the cities of the future cleaner,” Volvo said in a statement. “Volvo Cars is focused on reducing the carbon emissions of both its products as well as its operations. It aims to have climate neutral manufacturing operations by 2025.”

Volvo XC60, a compact SUV that is Volvo’s best seller in the US.

According to Volvo, the five unspoiled EVs will be supplemented by a range of gas and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid 48-volt options on all models. “This means that there will in future be no Volvo cars without an electrical motor, as unspoiled [internal combustion engine] cars are step by step phased out and substituted by ICE cars that are enhanced with electrified options,” the company said.

Volvo’s statement shows up to say that existing cars without electric-motor components will still be sold beyond 2018, but that they’ll be eventually be substituted by electrified versions on a model-by-model basis. For high-end European automakers – despite the Geely investment, Volvo sees itself as a Swedish company – a vehicle often has a seven-year lifespan before an all-new model arrives.

Volvo previously announced it will concentrate on four-cylinder engines. To suggest anywhere from two hundred to four hundred hp, it will suggest the engines with turbochargers (T5 engines), both turbochargers and superchargers (T6), and turbochargers, superchargers and electrified motors (T8). Volvo may add an extra T-series name for a 48-volt hybrid that might have an electrified rather than belt-driven supercharger.

According to Delphi, 48-volt hybrids provide a significant improvement in fuel economy and emissions for most world markets, while in the US market it’s an inexpensive way to add spectacle. Delphi says a $1,500-$Two,000 investment in 48-volt systems could yield a twenty percent improvement in fuel economy.

“People increasingly request electrified cars and we want to react to our customers’ current and future needs,” said Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo president and chief executive. “You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish…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 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.”

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