Every new Volvo car to have an electric engine by 2019
Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has announced its plans to become the first traditional automotive company to completely transition from internal combustion engines to electric engines by 2019
Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has announced its plans to become the first traditional automotive company to completely transition from internal combustion engines to electric engines by 2019.
The announcement came on Wednesday 5 July, and will see all new Volvo cars be either fully electric, plug-in hybrid, or a "mild hybrid".
The company said the announcement marks “the historic end” of cars solely powered by petrol or diesel and “places electrification at the core of its future business”.
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive, said in a statement: "This is about the customer. People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers' current and future needs.”
The Swedish car manufacturer first announced its commitment to electrifying its products back in 2015.
Earlier this year, Volvo announced the launch of its first all-electric vehicle is coming in 2019 with battery packs up to 100 kilowatt hours (kWh).
The pure-electric model will have a 100 kWh battery pack with an estimated 300 miles of range – depending on the vehicle’s efficiency.
The automotive company – which was bought by Chinese carmaker Geely in 2010 – said it would also launch five fully electric models between 2019 and 2021.
“This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car,” said Mr Samuelsson. “We have said we plan 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.”
Volvo has also promised to lobby for more charging infrastructure and educating consumers on the benefits of the technology, in order to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs).
Across Europe registrations for new EVs grew 38 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), and now constitute 3.2 per cent of the European market.
In the U.S. EV sales grew by 49 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
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