All Volvo cars will be electric or hybrid within two years

[Kaido]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/05/all-volvo-cars-will-be-electric-or-hybrid-within-two-years/

Every car it unveils by 2019 will have an electric motor, either as an all-electric EV, plug-in hybrid or hybrid, making it the first major automaker to stop selling cars with only gas or diesel engines. "This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," said Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson in a statement.

...

The company is planning to launch five EVs between 2019 and 2021 -- two will be rubber-burning Polestars, but three will be more sedate Volvo models. Those will be supplemented by gasoline and diesel plug-in hybrids that can run you to work or get groceries without using the gas engine. It'll also unveil new "mild-hybrid" cars that run mostly on gas or diesel, using the electric motor to save energy via regenerative breaking and coasting.

 

[bigi]

This is good. Finally most companies start to wake up.

 

[K1052]

This is good. Finally most companies start to wake up.

The debate around electrification has largely shifted from "if" to "when".

 

[sontakke]

Impressive recovery from the diesel scandal.

Am I missing the joke here? Yes they both start with letter "V" but the similarity ends there!

 

[Kaido]

Am I missing the joke here? Yes they both start with letter "V" but the similarity ends there!

I'm just gonna...quietly...edit that out from the OP. ROFL. Thanks for the catch.

 

[SNC]

Having driven a Bolt, near the bottom of the rung especially when talking about Volvo, there is zero reason not to move to electric for the majority of folks.
With the exceptions being, quiet, instant acceleration, no jerky shifts, and if you just happen to get your electricity from a solar array zero emissions, there is nothing dramatically different or wrong with an EV except for a bit of a size decrease to hold the batteries.

 

[Aharami]

For daily commutes, EV is perfectly fine. But it seems like a chore to take it on a road trip.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news...238-mile-electric-car-shows-challenges-remain

As such, most households will still need a dino fueled car for the foreseeable future

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

For daily commutes, EV is perfectly fine. But it seems like a chore to take it on a road trip.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news...238-mile-electric-car-shows-challenges-remain

As such, most households will still need a dino fueled car for the foreseeable future

Just give me a hybrid plugin that can do 100 miles on a single charge.

 

[thilanliyan]

Just give me a hybrid plugin that can do 100 miles on a single charge.

Chevy Volt is close to that isn't it?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Chevy Volt is close to that isn't it?

I always thought the Volt was pure electric. I took a look and damn it, you are right. That's my dream car! For me though, get it up to like 100 miles instead of 53 on a full charge. not sure what that 53 mile range means either. At 75 mph or 40 mph?

http://insideevs.com/2016-chevrolet-volt-real-world-highway-range-test-review-video/

OK, 37 miles at 75 mph while the heater was on (it was 37 degrees F out).

That's not bad but I'm in the same climate. I'd want a little more mileage. I'd love for this to do 50 miles at 75 mph in winter.

 

[bruceb]

It won't be in my garage. I prefer my nice GM 3.6 V6 330HP engine. Very smooth, quiet and powerful. Electric cars are just not quite ready yet. They are about 60% there, still have a lot to go with better battery technology and range and recharge times (which currently take about 1 hr or so when on a highway trip) .. They will figure it out eventually, but for now, no thanks.

 

[Rifter]

Electric cars i think are there, but the battery tech isnt yet. If they want to replace gas they need 300 mile range per charge, period, and fast charges, like 30min max. So people can at least drive farther than a short commute to/from work.

Because they way it is now you would still need a gas vehicle anyways for anything more than a 20-30 mile each way trip, which i think most people do often enough to warrant keeping a gas vehicle around for, and if you need to keep a gasser anyways you may as well use it to commute too and save the expense of buying a EV.

Now if they had 200-400 mile ranges it would replace the gasser in almost all situations and you would then only need to use gas for very long road trips, in which case you could rent one as that would make economic sense.

 

[tweakmonkey]

Because they way it is now you would still need a gas vehicle anyways for anything more than a 20-30 mile each way trip,

Bolt goes 230+ miles. Tesla goes even further... I have a super cheap 70 mile range car and I use it daily for a 40 mile round trip. Once a year id just rent a car for longer drives. But I have a backup gas car that's barely used now. If I had 200 miles it would be amazing. I'm sure there will be many 200+ cars soon. And I'd be willing to wait an hour on a 300+ Mile road trip to enjoy all the benefits of an ev for the other 360 days a year.

 

[K1052]

For daily commutes, EV is perfectly fine. But it seems like a chore to take it on a road trip.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news...238-mile-electric-car-shows-challenges-remain

As such, most households will still need a dino fueled car for the foreseeable future

This is a significant reason I hold a Model 3 reservation. Access to Tesla's charging network is a huge advantage. Nobody else in the US has stepped up to build a truly useful infrastructure.

A couple of convenient supercharger stops would have made that trip a piece of cake.

 

[K1052]

Bolt goes 230+ miles. Tesla goes even further... I have a super cheap 70 mile range car and I use it daily for a 40 mile round trip. Once a year id just rent a car for longer drives. But I have a backup gas car that's barely used now. If I had 200 miles it would be amazing. I'm sure there will be many 200+ cars soon. And I'd be willing to wait an hour on a 300+ Mile road trip to enjoy all the benefits of an ev for the other 360 days a year.

I can get basically anywhere in the metro area and back on battery power alone in my i3 with substantial charge remaining. I can easily go months without refueling the range extender which only sees work if I go downstate (infrequently), still it gets about 36mpg @ 70ish mph even though the car isn't very aerodynamic at speed. I'll probably opt for the base range on the Model 3 simply because I don't need more and have access to superchargers everywhere in the rather unlikely event of a longer road trip.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I like how the article states VW is heading that way too.....probably to avoid more EPA embarrassments. I still think that was a stupid situation they got into...even their dirty diesels are better than 90% of the gas engines out there.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

What about something like a 400 mile range and 30 minute recharge? That would be highly reasonable since you'd probably need to stop to eat for 30 minutes every 400 miles anyway.

They could even make a 600 mile range vehicle if the 50% recharge time were like 15 minutes even though a full recharge would be an hour. There are compromises that could be had. Granted more range means bigger batteries which means more weight.

 

[tweakmonkey]

Who drives 600 miles at a time and only needs a 15 minute break??? Personally I'd rather not carry 3x the weight for 600 miles range vs 200, especially considering I'm only using it 40 most days. Maybe they'll have a trailer battery option for road trips like that. I think if you can't wait 15-30 minutes every 250-300 miles you're probably in the minority. I might've done that when I was 20 but nowadays I'd much rather break my trips up a bit and enjoy the journey.

 

[Yuriman]

The Volt would be almost perfect for my needs. None of my local driving would ever touch gasoline. When I visit my father maybe one a month, assuming I don't charge at his place, I'd burn gas on perhaps the last 10 miles, and it's only a few times per year that I drive any farther.

The Accord plugin really would almost get there for me, and it has both more power and better economy when the gas engine kicks in.

Hard to justify replacing my perfectly reliable 70-100mpg car though. Gas is cheap right now and electricity is fairly expensive where I live, to the point that running off a battery only barely breaks even in terms of cost per mile.

 

[SNC]

It won't be in my garage. I prefer my nice GM 3.6 V6 330HP engine. Very smooth, quiet and powerful. Electric cars are just not quite ready yet. They are about 60% there, still have a lot to go with better battery technology and range and recharge times (which currently take about 1 hr or so when on a highway trip) .. They will figure it out eventually, but for now, no thanks.

Seriously! A 35k tesla BEFORE incentives 0-60 under 6 seconds, 215 mile range, full charge in WAY less then 30 minutes, seats 5 and is sexy as hell!!! EV not quite there yet.... Thats funny!!!

 

[sontakke]

I can get basically anywhere in the metro area and back on battery power alone in my i3 with substantial charge remaining. I can easily go months without refueling the range extender which only sees work if I go downstate (infrequently), still it gets about 36mpg @ 70ish mph even though the car isn't very aerodynamic at speed.

If only your i3 is NOT at dealer getting fixed [or was that another i3 owner?]

 

[Red Storm]

My next car will be electric. Not interested in hybrids at all. The model 3 looks awesome but I will wait for gen 2.

As for really long road trips, I can just rent a car if I ever do that. Can't wait for the day where my house and car run on electricity that is 100% solar powered. That's a cool future to think about.

 

[thilanliyan]

I like how the article states VW is heading that way too.....probably to avoid more EPA embarrassments. I still think that was a stupid situation they got into...even their dirty diesels are better than 90% of the gas engines out there.

With mileage probably, but not with NOx and particulate emissions IIRC.

 

[K1052]

If only your i3 is NOT at dealer getting fixed [or was that another i3 owner?]

Must be somebody else. The only non-scheduled service it's had was for a recall on the gas tank vent which took them all of 30 minutes to take care of.

 

[Scarpozzi]

With mileage probably, but not with NOx and particulate emissions IIRC.

It's always the mega-dense cities that ruin it for the rest of us. Smog reduction has ruined the auto industry and robbed us of true American muscle cars... Water conservation has ruined clothes and dishwashing machines that used to give us clean clothes and dishes after pumping countless gallons of purified water through them... They started putting far less bullets in gun magazines for the same reasons....because some big wig in NYC was concerned. I might as well move to Canada.