Volvo has doubled down on electrification. It previously stated intentions of offering plug-in hybrid variants of every model, and it's been following through with the likes of the new S90 sedan and V90 wagon. It only plans to get more aggressive with electrification in the coming years, announcing this week that it hopes to sell up to one million electrified vehicles (all-electric and plug-in hybrid models), in total, by 2025. It will work toward that goal by creating two plug-in variants of every model and introducing its first fully electric car in 2019.
Volvo has already laid the groundwork for an aggressive rollout of hybrids and electrics, developing the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), both of which can incorporate hybrid or all-electric powertrains. It plans to begin introducing at least one new chargeable vehicle each year, including an all-electric car in 2019.
It's nothing more than a press release, but it's another major brand signaling EVs will feature significantly in its future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 23 2016, @09:03PM
They're hoping nobody will find out they have as many cars as VW/Audi that are really gaming emissions testing.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday April 23 2016, @11:31PM
I keep thinking the combustion engine car will go the way of the CRT, gradually down to 50% market share over a decade, then abruptly collapsing to 0% less than a year later. The Year of the Flatscreen happened in 2009. The incandescent light bulb's prospects don't look much better. About the only place an incandescent is still preferred is inside an oven.
I don't want to be left owning a costly combustion engine car when the collapse comes. I'm hoping my cheap, old econobox lasts until the Year of the Electric Car, even if I have to hold it together with bungee cords and ropes.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday April 24 2016, @01:39AM
I generally am not an early adopter, because first generation devices are usually buggy as hell (not to mention expensive). With EVs, though, I think it will be better to be on the early part of that curve if you want to have any trade-in value for your gas car at all, and second because if you wait too long gas stations will start to go belly-up and it will get harder and harder to avoid range anxiety (anybody who lived through the oil shocks of the 70's will remember what that's like).
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @09:27AM
Why wouldn't gas stations become supercharge stations? Inertia? "I understand the way things work now and damn anybody who wants to change anything" syndrome?
Not that I doubt you. You seem to understand the lizard people better than I. Of course gas stations won't become supercharge stations. There's too many cattle that won't change until it's too late.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday April 24 2016, @12:37PM
I would think that is the way that gas stations would survive, but who knows if they have the wherewithal to afford the switch. I have already seen gas stations going out of business in the last 2-3 years, which is something you almost never saw before; perhaps that's a function of cheaper oil. I recall reading articles in that timeframe that say gas stations nowadays make their profits in selling you snacks and other drinks that you buy when there. If that's true then presumably having customers coming in because they're recharging instead of refueling wouldn't disrupt their margins too much. But the ones who don't make the switch will certainly not survive.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @01:57PM
I would't cry about some gas stations going out of business. Invisible hand of the market at work. Gas is a commodity, and the margins have been paper thin for decades. It's natural some wont have capital to transition. But even if they go out of business, they will be replaced by charging stations later on as long as there is a demand.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @10:37PM
Well, so far the trade in value of electrics has been terrible -- check prices on used Leaf, i-MiEV and other affordable electric cars. I'm leaving Tesla out of this comparison since they are up in luxury car price range. If you want to try an electric without making a big investment, this is a good time to buy one of these -- when they come in from typical 3 year lease.
Not sure why the market is going this way, some possible reasons:
* early adopters have cash and are willing to pay premium for new -- thus very few customers for a car with used battery
* low gas prices at this time make electric unattractive economically, for customers that bother to do the numbers
* electric market essentially limited to people with private driveway/garage parking, if you use public/street parking there isn't anywhere to charge overnight -- this is only made worse with the "new urbanization trend" going on in many metro areas with people moving downtown again
* many (~half -- see http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2016/01/05/auto-sales/78295542/ [detroitnews.com] ) new buyers want a truck/suv (even if it isn't a logical choice for their use case) and I don't think there are any choices at all for a pure electric truck(?) -- only some hybrid suvs.
* more?
In terms of the fleet turning over from gasoline to electric, think about the replacement rate. According to this site
http://www.statista.com/statistics/250351/replacement-rate-for-cars-in-the-us/ [statista.com]
it varies from 12% - 24% per year, so nothing is going to happen in one or two years, there isn't enough production volume to make them -- even assuming that all production plants were able to convert to electric.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 24 2016, @07:52PM
When there's enough manufacturing capacity to replace half the cars in a year, the manufacturers will plan to replace half the cars every year.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2016, @11:17PM
>> enough manufacturing capacity to replace half the cars in a year
You probably know some car owners. Would half of them be ready to buy a new car this year, and the other half ready to buy a new car next year? It doesn't work that way -- even if by some miracle there was enough plant capacity to replace half the fleet every year, cars last too long for sales to jump that high.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday April 24 2016, @11:23PM
Exactly.