[dZired]

Volvo Cars has announced that all of its new cars from 2019 will either be electric or hybrid. The company will not launch any new model with a sole internal combustion engine (ICE) as the propulsion source.

The company has also announced that it will be launching a range of new models that will be classified into three major categories - all-electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid. It is planning to launch a total of 5 all-electric cars between 2019 and 2021. Out of these, three will be sold under the Volvo name, while the other two will be a part of Polestar's line-up. Volvo had recently spun Polestar into a stand-alone company that will produce performance-oriented electric cars.

In addition to its all-electric range, Volvo will also be introducing a range of petrol and diesel plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid 48-volt options on all its models. The company will be releasing more details about its massive electrification drive at a later date.

The above announcement is part of Volvo's plans to sell a total of 1 million (10 lakh) units of electrified cars by the year 2025. Additionally, the company is also tweaking its manufacturing operations to make them climate neutral by 2025.

Link to Team-BHP News

[RaghuVis]

Wow! A Bold decision. Not that they are doing great sales in India but it is going to affect the sales for sure unless Govt. comes up with something to ensure we move in the direction of Hybrids/Electric.



A discussion is going around in another topic on an in-house Diesel engine supposedly developed by MSIL. We are going to be the among the top 3 in terms of car production in India by 2019 and our leader MSIL still does not have own diesel engine. Wonder when we are going to be really moving in the direction of Hybrids/Electric. Minister's dream of 2030 looks gloomy!

[blackwasp]

Bold move by Volvo, while the petrol-head in me is sad, I have come to accept that electric cars are the future for commuter/ mass market segments in the near future (and for all vehicles eventually). Companies like Tesla have made electric cars cool and are constantly improving the range or reducing the costs. I wonder if our government will help such electric car makers by giving them subsidies.

[sri_tesla]

I posted about this news in some other threads (EV deep dive and Volvo threads) instantly after heard of this news. But there are few caveats here that need to be clarified.

Volvo is considering mild-hybrid (48-volt) versions also as electrified. This is misleading. These are essentially ICE engine cars and many other automakers are doing this.

On the other hand they plan to release 5 fully electric vehicles between 2019 and 2021 which is a good news.

[V.Narayan]

Volvo straddles two countries with one of the highest subsidies for electric/hybrid cars - China and Sweden. Hence, other reasons apart this makes sense for them. These are two countries with (so far) a high inclination to buy electric. China offers $6300 of subsidy from their central government on top of which state governments are allowed to offer up to 50% more so almost $10,000 per car. Similarly Sweden offers a subsidy of $4500 for an all-electric vehicle and $2250 for a hybrid. Between January & April this year the Chinese bought 126,000 electric/hybrid vehicles up about 45% versus 2016. Not sure what would happen when subsidies go away. But for now the trend towards electrics and hybrids is inevitable. (data from Bloomberg)

[avira_tk]

I went through a few other articles that covered this and it seems to be more PR babble. Not launching new ICE vehicles, comes with the caveat that existing models will continue to have petrol and diesel engines. This means that Volvo will be selling regular cars for another 8 years. This is roughly when emissions norms will make ICE only vehicles nearly impossible.

The move to electric is because the Chinese are scaling up battery production and this has very little to do with the environment. Check out the autocar UK article on this.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/insight-why-demand-china-spurring-growth-electric-car-sales

[Skyline_GT]

If this news is to be believed it's the death of the Volvo brand amongst the car enthusiasts and petrolheads.
While the Indian market would be least affected from this move by Volvo it will surely show ripples in the European auto markets where Volvos are popular for their reliability and robust diesel engines.

On an off note-
How reliable would be these electric SUV's and Station wagons in terms of mileage and range covered per full charge considering SUVs and station wagons are most popular for cross country long distance journeys.
Nothing can beat a good old ICE in terms of mileage and range covered per full tank

[The Brutailer]

I'm sad. Whenever I read such things, I applaud Ferrari. They simply said we're not interested in electric cars. Yet they made the LaFerrari. Ironic right? Well it's not. Because Ferrari uses the electric motor to fill the gap in lack of power while changing gears or when that massive turbo is spooling.

Basically, it's pollutes lesser than a regular family car but when you take it to the track it's becomes brutal.

Wish all carmakers including Volvo would go in that direction. Or maybe we just have to accept that the death of the IC Engine is near. Will be a really sad day when that happens.

[mpksuhas]

On a related note, France to ban Diesel & Petrol vechiles by 2040.

News link

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

I posted about this news in some other threads (EV deep dive and Volvo threads) instantly after heard of this news. But there are few caveats here that need to be clarified.

Volvo is considering mild-hybrid (48-volt) versions also as electrified. This is misleading. These are essentially ICE engine cars and many other automakers are doing this.

On the other hand they plan to release 5 fully electric vehicles between 2019 and 2021 which is a good news.

Volvo doesn't have any mild hybrids. It only has a T8 hybrid engine right now which is a 316 HP petrol engine with a 108 HP electric motor for a total of 400 odd HP. This is a plug-in hybrid and has a pure electric range of around 30km.

Might change in the future but that is how it is now.

[Zed]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Volvo straddles two countries with one of the highest subsidies for electric/hybrid cars - China and Sweden. Hence, other reasons apart this makes sense for them. These are two countries with (so far) a high inclination to buy electric. China offers $6300 of subsidy from their central government on top of which state governments are allowed to offer up to 50% more so almost $10,000 per car. Similarly Sweden offers a subsidy of $4500 for an all-electric vehicle and $2250 for a hybrid. Between January & April this year the Chinese bought 126,000 electric/hybrid vehicles up about 45% versus 2016. Not sure what would happen when subsidies go away. But for now the trend towards electrics and hybrids is inevitable. (data from Bloomberg)

Youve summed up the situation really well. Volvo being part of the Geely group which has access to the innovative landscape for batteries and charging tehnologies in China is the other part of the puzzle.

On one hand theres the market pull for e-cars as consumers associate this segment with saving the enviornment and taking technology to the next level. And theres the push that government backed incentives create. Its this combination that e-car manufacturers are banking on for their business case. Take away the incentives, add some hi-visibility negative publicity from technical glitches or (god forbid) accidents and consumers may start thinking very differently about e-cars.

[feluda86]

If this is the way technology is moving forward, I wonder how automotive parts manufacturing companies (Eg. Bosch) whose major business comes from movable automotive parts, are adapting. 2019-2025 seem very near.