Buying a Volvo electric car? wattEV2buy explore Volvo EV models, sales, news & future Volvo A-EV self-driving cars. Volvo, owned by Chinese automaker Geely, targets 1 million electric vehicles or 10% of car sales by 2025 and build its first fully electric vehicle by 2019. Tha company
named its electric technology Drive-E. The strategy is based on the
company’s new Scalable Product Architecture. The first element of the
new electrification strategy involves the introduction of plug-in hybrid
versions of it’s 90 and 60 series of larger cars. This process has
already begun with the launch of the T8 Twin Engine All-Wheel Drive
plug-in hybrid version of the new XC90 SUV and will continue with
plug-in hybrid versions of the new S90 premium saloon and other
forthcoming models. The Company will also
broaden the range of plug-in hybrid cars it offers with the introduction
of a new front-wheel-drive Twin Engine variant. The Chinese-owned
automaker will further deepen its product offering with the
introduction of an entirely new range of smaller 40 series cars based on
its newly-developed Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which, like
SPA, has been designed from the outset for electrification. This makes
the Group one of the very few car makers in the world with two brand new
vehicle architectures designed to support both plug-in and pure
electric powertrain configurations.
Reuters reported that Geely Volvo decided to delay its plans to produce Lynk&Co
models at its Ghent plant in Belgium. The decision does not seem to
impact on the launch of Lynk&Co in Europe set for 2019 as the
company will export models to Europe from China. The decision is based
on macroeconomic uncertainty due to the ongoing trade war between the
USA and China and the secondary slow down in created in its major
market, China. The production plan set in March 2018 will now be altered
to look as follows: Q4 2018 – Production of its best-selling XC60 SUV destined for the USA to start Torslanda, Sweden instead of Chengdu, China as originally planned. The S60
luxury sports sedan will now also be produced in China as opposed to
just being manufactured in the USA as per the March 2018 plan. Geely Volvo still plans to export the Lynk&Co series to the USA in 2020. In related news, Volvo India announced that
it will introduce four new electrified models in the country over the
next three years. Volvo’s first electric vehicle for the Indian market
is the XC90 which started selling earlier in 2018. Volvo India will
assemble the XC90 plug-in
hybrid electric SUV in Bengaluru from Q4 2019. Auto NDTV quoted Charles
Frump, Managing Director, Volvo Car India, saying “The localization of
plug-in hybrids marks the future of electrification for us. Our
customers are increasingly becoming aware about the rise in pollution
levels and degrading environment. As a responsible luxury car company,
we believe electrification is the future. However, till the time we have
a supporting infrastructure, plug-in hybrids offer the intermediate
solution.” We can, therefore, expect that the majority of the four EV
models introduced over the next three years to be plug-in hybrids as
Volvo wait for the charging infrastructure in India to justify the
release of pure electric models.
Volvo reinforced its commitment to supporting the widespread transition
to the electrification of the automobile through an investment in San
Francisco based FreeWire. FreeWire’s EV charging technology aims to
solve the problem of fast charging stations being cost and labor
intensive. FreeWire’s Mobi Charger can plug into a wall outlet and
charge up to 10 cars a day, alleviating the need to uproot or upgrade
the power infrastructure of any facility, so there is no need for
permitting. The Mobi Charger is compatible with any electric vehicle.
Choose the Mobi Charger to fit your EV drivers’ preferred charging
speed. If preferences change, just plug in a different Mobi. The Mobi
Charger allows corporates to deploy fast chargers for their fleets or
staff easily and cost-effectively. Through taking advantage of Time of
Use utility rates a company can load the charger in offpeak periods and
dispatch the power at that rate any time of day. FreeWire is currently
working on a 120kW DC Fast Charging Mobi unit which can charge 480miles
in an hour.
Geely’s Chairman Li Shufu was quoted last month by the South China Morning Post saying, “We will have to invest in producing a higher number of car models locally.” This week CEO of Geely subsidiary Volvo,
Hakan Samuelsson, was quoted by Reuters at the release of its quarterly
financial data, “We will of course reshuffle here and take XC60s for
the US… from our factory in Europe, and let China produce for other
markets.” Mr. Samuelsson told the news agency that the shift has already
begun and that US-bound XC60 currently assembled in China would be
reallocated to other markets, with some imported back to Europe. Volvo
recently invested $1.1 billion in Charleston, South Carolina where the
S60 is assembled for international markets.
Volvo announced that the new VOLVO S60
launched in Q3 2018 will be the first of its range to be produced
without a diesel engine. All new Volvo models launched from 2019 will be
available as either a mild petrol hybrid, plug-in petrol hybrid or
battery electric vehicle. Last month, Volvo Cars reinforced its electrification
strategy, by stating that it aims for fully electric cars to make up 50
percent of its global sales by 2025. The announcement was made at the
2018 Beijing Auto Show, positioning it as a powerful player in China,
the world’s leading market for electrified cars. The new S60, a premium mid-size sports sedan, is based on Volvo’s
in-house developed Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), which also
underpins the company’s award-winning new 90 Series and 60 Series cars.
The S60’s estate sibling, the V60, was launched earlier this year in
Stockholm. The new S60 will initially be available with a range of four-cylinder
Drive-E petrol engines as well as with two petrol plug-in hybrid
versions. Mild hybrid versions will follow next year. Production of the new S60 will start this fall at Volvo Cars’ brand
new manufacturing facility outside Charleston, South Carolina. The
Charleston plant will be the only manufacturing location for the new
S60, meaning American-built S60s will be sold in the US market as well
as overseas through exports.
It is rumored that VOLVO’s owner, Geely,
hired three investment banks to pursue an IPO for the Swedish car-maker
with valuations estimated between $16 billion to $30 billion.
Volvo aunched a new investment fund, the Volvo Cars Tech Fund targeting
investments in high potential technology start-ups around the globe. The
aim of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund is to invest in strategic technology
trends that are transforming the industry, such as artificial
intelligence, electrification, autonomous driving
and digital mobility services. Volvo also announced its first
investment by the fund, a seed round investment into a California-based
technology firm developing advanced sensors. Start-ups funded by Volvo
will have exposure to the Chinese car market through the Swedish
automaker’s parent, Geely.
The fund will be managed Zaki Fasihuddin, currently Vice President of
Strategic Partnerships in the Volvo Cars Silicon Valley Technology
Center.
Renault Trucks, a Volvo
owned company, announced that it will bring a range of electric trucks
to market in 2019. Renault Trucks sees the technology as indispensable
for city center access. Renault Trucks have been field testing EV
technology with various partners such as Nestle and Delancy Group with
experimental full-electric 12 to 16-tonne trucks. Renault Trucks also
has a 4.5-tonne Maxity Electric truck since 2010. A dedicated assembly
line for all-electric trucks is being installed at Renault Trucks’
Blainville-sur-Orne plant in Normandy, France.
Volvo’s newly created brand, Polestar, started construction of its production center in
China where the company’s first car, the 600hp Polestar 1 Grand Touring
Coupe PHEV with an electric range of 150km will be produced. Yes, you
read correctly, the Polestar 1 will be the longest range PHEV on the
market. The plant is expected to be completed by mid-2018. Volvo plans
to assemble 500 units if the Polestar 1 a year.
Volvo and controversial raid-hailing company Uber entered into a $300
million partnership in August 2016 to develop robo-taxis built on
Volvo’s fully modular Scalable Product Architecture
(SPA). This week the two companies went further with the signing of a
non-exclusive framework agreement whereby Volvo will supply 24,000
self-driving cars to Uber from 2019 to 2021. Volvo developed the XC90
SUV with the help of Uber to fulfill the requirements specified for the
ride-hailing application. Uber will supply its own self-driving
technology while Volvo would be free to add its own autonomous tech for its own use. Volvo is expected to release its first fully autonomous car only in 2021.
The Swedish carmaker, Volvo, and the Chinese company, Geely
is fostering deeper relationships in the worlds largest market for
electric vehicles. In a press release by Volvo this week it was revealed
that the companies would establish a new joint venture technology
company to share existing and future technologies. We have seen this
cooperative trend in China for the last couple of months, which is a
departure from previous JVs between international and Chinese companies.
In the past international automakers were forced by law to enter into
JVs with Chinee companies to be able to sell their vehicles, which lead
to mostly older generation models being dished up to the Chinese
consumer as the international partners tried to protect their IP. The JV company will be owned 50/50 by Geely
and Volvo with its HQ in China and a subsidiary in Gothenburg,
Sweden. The Memorandum of Understanding agreed to on the 20th of July
between Volvo, Geely and newly formed LYNK & CO determined that the
companies will share vehicle architecture and engine technologies via
cross licensing arrangements of technologies managed by the new joint
venture. The IP for the technology will remain with the company that
developed it, but the technology itself will be available for use by
Volvo, Geely Auto, and LYNK & CO, via license agreements. Volvo Cars
and Geely already share technology, most notably the Compact Modular
Architecture (CMA) which is being used by Volvo Cars for its
soon-to-be-announced smaller range of 40 series cars and by LYNK &
CO.
Separately, it is also announced that Volvo will acquire a minority shareholding in LYNK & CO.
Volvo, Autoliv, and NVIDIA announced a partnership to develop AI systems to bring autonomous vehicles to market in 2021.
Volvo created a high-performance electric vehicle company by rebranding its
Polestar High-Performance Division. Volvo teased the new logo and
announced the new management, under the leadership of its Design VP,
Thomas Ingenlath, now Polestars CEO. Polestar will continue its
engineering work under its old logo but will turn the sub-brand into an
electrified global high-performance car company with the new branding.
Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson this week in an interview with the German publication, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, confirmed that the Chinese-owned Swedish company would utilize the springboard offered by Tesla and focus on electric drivetrains and stop developing diesel
engines. The company is expected to bring its first pure electric
vehicle to market by 2019. The vehicle is expected to be based on one of
its two Volvo 40 concepts revealed earlier this year shown here. Though
it’s not decided if it would be an SUV or sedan, the electric car will
be developed on the company’s new Modular Electrification Platform (MEP)
and build in China. The EV will have a minimum range of 250 miles and
priced around $40,000. Mr. Samuelsson acknowledges the role Tesla played
in creating commercial interest for high-quality well-designed electric
vehicles, an area aligned to Volvo’s strategy. Volvo just released a
new improved range of diesel and petrol engines and with European
regulation potentially adding as much as $340 per engine from 2020
diesel engines would just be too expensive to produce according to the
CEO.
This week Uber was forced to cancel its self-driving pilot in San
Francisco, its hometown. Although regulators are in possession of
footage showing an Uber pilot vehicle running a red light, barely
missing a pedestrian, a claim the company contest that it was driver
error and not the software, the ultimate decision was based on the
company not following proper permitting procedures. Although the
Californian DMV offered Uber assistance and a clear road to permitting
the company and State could not agree on workable rules around Uber’s
demand for its technology to be classified as SAE Level 3 automation. It is not the end of Uber’s efforts though as it is piloting retrofitted Volvo XC90 SUV’s and Ford Focus vehicles in Pittsburgh.
Volvo Cars and Uber join forces to develop autonomous driving cars. The new
base vehicle will be developed on Volvo Cars’ fully modular Scalable
Product Architecture (SPA). SPA is currently used on Volvo Cars’ top-of-the-line multiple award-winning XC90 SUV, as well as the S90 premium sedan and V90 premium estate.
Volvo Electric Vehicles
Volvo Pure Electric Models
Volvo Plug-in Hybrid Electric Models
Volvo Electric Car Strategy in the news
2018 Week 46 Volvo delays Lynk&Co production in EU
2018 Week 43 Volvo invest in EV charging start-up FreeWire
2018 Week 29 Some XC60 bound for the USA falls victim to trade war
2018 Week 20 Volvo V60 the first in the range to go without diesel
2018 Week 9 Volvo Cars Tech Fund targeting high potential technology start-ups
2018 Week 5 Renault Trucks to go electric in 2019
2017 Week 48 Polestar assembly plant
2017 Week 47 Volvo sells robo-taxis to Uber
2017 Week 29 Volvo and Geely to form EV tech JV
2017 Week 26 Volvo, Autoliv and NVIDIA to partner on self-driving cars
2017 Week 25 Volvo creates EV sub-brand
2017 Week 25 Volvo creates EV sub-brand
2016 Week 51 Uber remains with Volvo pilot in Pittsburgh after being booted from San Francisco
2016 Week 33 Uber Autonomous partnership
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