Volvo C30 Electric - Testing [video]

The electric-powered Volvo C30 Electric is already out on the roads. The car was developed in an unusually short space of time, but what happened behind the scenes? This can now be seen in ten films that describe the project from start to finish.

World's Fastest Hybrid Truck Vs a Ferrari [video]

A drag race between a Ferrari 360 Spider and a Volvo big rig sounds pretty one sided, but this isn't just any big rig. The "Mean Green" was built by Volvo and features a twin turbo 16 liter engine good for 1900hp as well as a 200hp electric motor.

The company created the truck to be the world's fastest hybrid truck and from the looks of this video they are well on their way to claiming that title.

Siemens and Volvo Form Electric-Car Venture

German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said Wednesday it has agreed with Sweden's Volvo Car Corp. on a strategic cooperation agreement on electric cars.

The focus will be on the joint development of electrical-drive technology, power electronics and charging technology as well as the integration of those systems into Volvo C 30 Electric cars, Munich-based Siemens said in a statement.

It added that the first vehicles will be on the test tracks at the end of this year.

Beginning in late 2012, Volvo will be delivering a test series of up to 200 vehicles to Siemens, which will then be tested as part of an internal Siemens test fleet, the German company said.

Volvo Car Corp. was last year acquired by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. from Ford Motor Co.

For Siemens, the partnership is another step toward a greener image. Siemens touts itself as a pioneer in electric vehicles, and developed electric trams as early as the end of the 19th century.

Cooperations between companies are increasingly common in the development of environmentally friendly vehicles as a means to share the high entry costs and risks. General Motors Co. and LG Electronics Inc. also recently announced their partnership in the development of electric vehicles.

Volvo announces three range extended EV concepts

Volvo Car Corporation develops Range Extenders for electric cars - adding 1,000 km extra range

Volvo Car Corporation is now taking the next step in the company's electrification strategy by producing test cars with Range Extenders - electric cars that are fitted with a combustion engine to increase their effective range.

The projects, supported by the Swedish Energy Agency and the EU, encompass three potential technology combinations. Tests of the various concepts will get under way in the first quarter of 2012.

"This is an exciting expansion of our increasing focus on electrification. Battery cost and size mean that all-electric cars still have a relatively limited operating range. With the Range Extender, the electric car has its effective range increased by a thousand kilometres - yet with carbon dioxide emissions below or way below 50 g/km," says Derek Crabb, Vice President Powertrain Engineering at the Volvo Car Corporation.

The company's technological developments in this area currently encompass three different technology combinations, with three-cylinder petrol engines being installed to complement electric drive to the front wheels. All the variants feature brake energy regeneration. The engines can run on both petrol and ethanol (E85).
Two of the solutions are based on the Volvo C30 Electric. In both cases, the standard battery pack has been somewhat reduced in size to make room for the combustion engine and its fuel tank.

Technical concept I: Volvo C30 with series-connected Range Extender

This is based on a C30 Electric with a three-cylinder combustion engine producing 60 horsepower (45 kW) installed under the rear load compartment floor. The car also has a 40 litre fuel tank.
The combustion engine is connected to a 40 kW generator. The power it generates is used primarily to drive the car's 111 horsepower (82 kW) electric motor, but the driver can also choose to let the generator charge the battery, thus increasing the car's operating range on electricity. The Range Extender increases the electric car's range by up to 1,000 km - on top of the 110 km range provided by the car's battery pack.

Technical concept II: Volvo C30 with parallel-connected Range Extender

Here the car gets a more powerful three-cylinder combustion engine at the rear and a 40 litre fuel tank. The difference between this and the first solution is the parallel connection, whereby the turbocharged 190 horsepower engine primarily drives the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. This gives a better fuel efficiency rating when driving with the combustion engine cruising on the highway. Via a 40kW generator the battery can also be charged to give the car increased range on electricity alone.
Here too the electric motor is a 111 hp (82 kW) unit. The two power sources give the car more than 300 hp in total, and acceleration from 0-100 km/h of less than six seconds.
The Range Extender increases the electric car's range by more than 1,000 km - in addition to the range of up to 75 km provided by the car's battery pack.

Technical concept III: Volvo V60 with parallel-connected Range Extender

This is a solution whereby the entire drive package is installed under the bonnet at the front. The 111 hp (80 kW) electric motor is supplemented with a three-cylinder petrol turbo engine producing 190 hp (140 kW), a two-stage automatic transmission and a 40 kW generator. Power from the combustion engine drives the front wheels via the gearbox and recharges the battery pack whenever needed.

Up to 50 km/h, the car is always powered solely by electricity. The combustion engine is activated at higher speeds. What is more, it charges the battery pack when its charge drops below a predetermined level.

The battery pack is located under the rear load floor and it gives the driver a range of 50 km on electricity alone. The car also has a 45 litre tank for petrol or E85.
With this technology, the Range Extender increases the car's total range by more than 1,000 kilometres.

CO2-lean driving pleasure and comfort

The series-hybrid Range Extender in the C30 is part of an EU project in which the Volvo Car Corporation is the only car manufacturer among eight partners. The company's two parallel-hybrid Range Extender solutions are being developed with a grant of SEK 10.8 million (EUR 1.2 million) from the Swedish Energy Agency.

"These three projects allow us to evaluate the Range Extender's various possibilities. As with the C30 Electric and V60 Plug-in Hybrid, the goal is to make the cars exceptionally CO2-lean without compromising on customer requirements such as comfort, driving pleasure and practicality," explains Derek Crabb.

Volvo C30 Electric production begins deliveries start August 2011 [video]

Volvo has begun production of its C30 Electric, and initial deliveries to leasing customers, mainly companies, authorities and governmental bodies is expected to begin from August.

The car, which will be delivered to leasing customers throughout Europe including those in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway – is built on the regular assembly line in the Ghent factory and then transported to Goteborg for installation of the motor, batteries and other model specific electronics.

The C30 Electric has an operating range of up to 150 kilometres per full charge – charging can be done via a regular household power socket, with a full recharge taking about seven hours. The car has a 130 kph top speed and does the 0-100 kph sprint in 10.9 seconds.

Tests on a fleet of about 50 cars have been conducted since September 2010, mainly internally at the Volvo Car Corporation. In terms of production, about 250 cars will be built by end 2012, possibly more if market interest takes off, the company says.

Volvo Releases More Details for 2012 Volvo C30 Electric [video]

With the introduction of the 2012 Volvo C30 Electric to take place later this year in Europe, Volvo has announced some of the finer details for the all-electric, zero-emission hatchback. Volvo estimates that within 10 to 15 years, electric cars will account for up to 10 percent of new vehicles in the European Union, but even though its is launching a fleet of 250 test vehicles, it has yet to announce any timeline for mass production, but it did say that it expects an all-electric driving range of 93 miles with a top speed of 80 miles per hour.

Volvo uses a water-cooled electric motor mounted under the hood that produces 111 horsepower and 162 lb-ft which gets its electricity from a 24 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that can be charged in as little as six hours depending on the power source. The battery pack is mounted under the passenger compartment where the conventional C30’s fuel tank goes adding a hefty 616 pounds to the EV’s curb weight, and that added weight hampers the car’s performance. Even though EVs are known for their instant torque, the Volvo C30 Electric isn’t likely to be too thrilling off the line with Volvo claiming acceleration from zero to 70 kilometers per hour (roughly 44 mph) in 6.5 seconds.

Cold-weather driving has proven to be one of the ways most EVs are being tripped in terms of their expected range, so Volvo developed the C30 Electric with a climate control system in attempts to combat this problem. Instead of using the batteries to power a heating source in wintry weather, the C30 Electric uses a heater that is powered by bio-ethanol and in this instance the C30 Electric would create some emissions. Before the “Volvo lied” crowd gets too rowdy, there is also a heating element that is battery powered, but, if used, it would reduce the overall driving range. The fuel tank measures just 3.8 gallons and can be refueled from the same hole used for the fuel tank on the non-electric C30.

“The driver can program and control the climate unit to suit the trip. Ethanol is the default mode that is used when the battery capacity is needed for driving as far as possible,” said Lennart Stegland, director of Volvo Cars' Special Vehicles. “However, on shorter distances electricity can be used to power the climate system”
To maximize the driving range, Volvo engineered the C30 Electric down to the fine details such as weight-saving wheels and aerodynamic improvements which are some of the components that give this car a unique exterior styling. The biggest visual change to the C30 Electric are the exclusive, lightweight wheels that help shave 24 pounds from the C30’s curb weight and the new grille that houses the electrical connection, but the underside of the car is also slightly different as well with added panels for improved aerodynamics. All C30 Electric feature the sportier R-Design body kit, and the initial run of cars will feature a Cosmic White color with a light Ornioco Blue accents around the lower edges of the car and on the mirrors.

In true Volvo style, the automaker has designed the EV components to be as safe as possible especially with the batteries, combustible fuel and Volvo’s reputation for safety. The main differences on the C30 Electric are a retuned stability control system for the added vehicle weight and aluminum rear brake discs that further reduce weight and last longer since the brakes are used less with the regeneration system. Volvo even had a crash-tested C30 Electric prototype on display earlier this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Volvo C30 Electric will initially launch in Europe in the second half of this year, but China and the United States will likely get the cars during the 2012 calendar year.

"We have received very positive signals from the market so far. Fleet customers such as authorities and companies will lease most of the initial 250 cars,” said Stegland. “The cars will go to Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, U.S.A. and China. If demand continues to remain high, we will increase our production."

Volvo is among a handful of automakers introducing a mainstream EV going up against the likes of the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV and even the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera. Like some of its current EV rivals, certain functions of the C30 Electric (such as the HVAC system) can be preprogrammed to come on at a certain time or remotely operated using a computer or smartphone.

Fullycharged Volvo C30 EV Crash Test [video]

Robert Llewellyn was invited on a PR trip to visit Volvo in Sweden and have a look at how they crash testing the electric version of the Volvo C30.

GETRAG equips the Volvo C30 Drive Electric with powertrain unit

GETRAG has secured a contract from Volvo to supply the electric drive unit 1eDT240 for the electric version of the Volvo C30.

Volvo Car Corporation is building up a small fleet of the vehicle in the course of this year. This test fleet serves for research purposes, aiming for a high environmental profile, and will use a leasing model to selected customers such as companies and governmental bodies. So far, the car is not available for end-customers.

Currently the highest-performance single-motor drive unit 1eDT240 in the group's product portfolio uses a permanently excited synchronous machine with a maximum output of 82 kW (at a nominal voltage of the electric energy storage device of 360 volt). The coaxial drive unit was specifically developed for the demanding requirements of virtually silent purely electric driving. It is characterized by the partial integration of the electric motor and therefore for its very compact design.

The development process placed particular emphasis on noise-optimized gearing and very high efficiency. The maximum drive torque of 2,400 Nm offers sufficient traction force to make even sporty acceleration possible. The 1eDT240 drive unit benefits from use of large-scale series production parts from the GETRAG modular system.

If required, the 1eDT240 can also be equipped with a higher-performance electric motor delivering up to 145 kW. It can be supplied in three different transmission ratios.

"The 1eDT240 drive unit can be fitted in a wide variety of electric and hybrid vehicles with front or rear-wheel drive thanks to its compact, versatile design. This unit can cover the entire range from city to sports car and even light truck applications", commented Alexander Strube, Chief Program Engineer for E-Drive at GETRAG.

GETRAG has been active in the field of electric drive systems since 1992 and has already received several series production orders and a large number of development contracts in this area. Several electric-drive test fleets e.g. of the BMW MINI, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL and the Necar Series, have already been equipped with GETRAG drive technology.

Volvo Developing World’s Fastest Hybrid Truck

After improving a previous world speed record for the standing kilometer in June 2010 with a diesel model, Volvo Trucks is now developing a new diesel-electric hybrid version called "Mean Green" to claim the title of the World's Fastest Hybrid Truck in spring 2011.

A well known Swedish truck racing ace, Boije Ovebrink, is going to be the one to drive the hybrid and he's already very confident of a positive outcome. "I'd go so far as to say that 'Mean Green' is the world's fastest hybrid truck," Mr. Ovebrink said.

"I started building the truck from two half frames that had been earmarked for the scrap yard and the American VN cab came from a crash-tested chassis whose cab was totally intact," explains Volvo engineer Olof Johansson.

Conventional oomph comes from a 16-liter Volvo engine, fitted with Volvo Penta twin turbos that increase peak output to a whopping 1,900 hp (1,417 kW). The electric motor adds another 200 hp (149 kW) and 1,000 Nm (738 lb-ft) of torque to this explosive cocktail and can interact with the driven wheels through a modified I-Shift automated gearbox.

Weight reduction is crucial when you want to set these kinds of records, so Volvo engineers milled a new, 43 kg (95 lbs) lighter front axle and also removed the gear set for the first gear, as it was rendered useless by the huge amount of torque. That shaved off another 7 kg.

Even Mr. Ovebrink takes part in these weight-saving efforts. " They made me promise to lose 20 kilos and, so far, I'm half-way to my target," said the truck racing driver.

The first test runs will take place this month, so we'll be keeping an eye open for any updates

Volvo confirm C30 DRIVe Electric will go into production in early 2011

In a press conference at Paris Motor Show on Thursday September 30, Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volvo Cars stated that the future for Volvo lies in electric cars.

"We will set a standard in the industry," Jacoby said, revealing that the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric will go into production in 2011.

Le Mondial Automobile in Paris is the first international motor show for Stefan Jacoby in his new position. He joined Volvo Cars as President & CEO on 16 August.

In Paris, Volvo Cars displays the new sports wagon V60 to the public for the first time, alongside with the sporty R-Design version of both the S60 sedan and the V60.

During the press conference in the Volvo stand, Stefan Jacoby emphasised the importance of electrification. Present in the stand is the Volvo C30 DRIVe Electric, a sporty car that runs purely on electricity and has a range of 150 kilometres on a single charge.

The C30 DRIVe Electric will go into production in early 2011 and run in test fleets in Europe, China and the US.

Stefan Jacoby also stated that Volvo Cars will have a plug-in hybrid on offer in 2012, combining an electric power with a diesel hybrid power train. The Volvo plug-in hybrid will have ultra low CO2 emissions, below 50 grams CO2/km.

"We move into the future with the aspiration to design vehicles with minimised environmental impact, as well as the ambition to produce the world's safest cars," Stefan Jacoby said.


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Volvo C30 Electric - Battery Crash Test

Here's a Youtube video we found where Volvo crash test a C30 EV to make sure the battery is in a safe position.

The battery is marked with green to clearly show its location under the car.

This crash test was performed at 30 mph (approximately 48 km/h).

Highspeed material is filmed in 1000 fps.


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Tomorrow's Volvo: body panels serve as the car battery

Imagine a car whose body also serves as a rechargeable battery. A battery that stores braking energy while you drive and that also stores energy when you plug in the car overnight to recharge. At the moment this is just a fascinating idea, but tests are currently under way to see if the vision can be transformed into reality. Volvo Cars is one out of nine participants in an international materials development project.

Among the foremost challenges in the development of hybrids and electric cars are the size, weight and cost of the current generation of batteries. In order to deliver sufficient capacity using today's technology, it is necessary to fit large batteries, which in turn increases the car's weight.

Earlier this year, a materials development project was launched by Imperial College in London that brings together nine European companies and institutes. Volvo Cars is the only car manufacturer participating in the project. With the help of 35 million SEK (approx. 3.5 million EURO) in financial support from the European Union (EU), a composite blend of carbon fibres and polymer resin is being developed that can store and charge more energy faster than conventional batteries can. At the same time, the material is extremely strong and pliant, which means it can be shaped for use in building the car's body panels. According to calculations, the car's weight could be cut by as much as 15 percent if steel body panels were replaced with the new material.

Volvo Cars contributes its expertise

The project will continue for three years. In the first stage, work focuses both on developing the composite material so it can store more energy and on studying ways of producing the material on an industrial scale. Only in the final stage will the battery be fitted to a car.

"Our role is to contribute expertise on how this technology can be integrated in the future and to input ideas about the advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost and user-friendliness," says Per-Ivar Sellergren, development engineer at the Volvo Cars Materials Centre.

Initially, the car's spare wheel recess will be converted into a composite battery.
"This is a relatively large structure that is easy to replace. Not sufficiently large to power the entire car, but enough to switch the engine off and on when the car is at a standstill, for instance at traffic lights," says Per-Ivar Sellergren.

Immense interest in the project

Many people have visited the Imperial College website, which contains information about the project, and have seen the YouTube. Per-Ivar reads the visitor comments with immense interest.

"Almost daily I read new ideas about how this technology could be used or further developed. The potential is enormous and it's great that so many people are interested," he says.

If the project is successful, there are many possible application areas. For instance, mobile phones will be able to be as slim as credit cards and laptops will manage longer without needing to be recharged.


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Volvo ReCharge WHEEL MOTOR Test Drive (w/Video)

The camera work is terrible but this is VERY rare footage of a wheel motor powered EV being driven at speed. This is the Volvo ReCharge concept car driven on a fairly level race track.

All previous demonstration videos featuring vehicles powered by PML wheel motors, including the Volvo ReCharge and Ford F-150 and Lightning GT, have been at low speeds suggesting that the cars are either fitted with only one operational wheel motor and/or they are a long way short of their extravagant torque claims.

The 'sound' heard in this video is a result of the 16 khz carrier frequency used in the inverters. This frequency is within the audible range of human hearing. The inverters in silent BLDC or AC electric vehicles (like the Tesla Roadster) use a carrier frequency of 20 khz or higher.

LG Chem to supply Volvo with electric vehicle batteries

South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. said Monday it has been picked as a provider of lithium-ion battery packs for electric vehicles by Volvo Cars Corp., the Swedish automobile manufacturer.

The largest local maker of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, however, did not disclose when it will start providing the packs to Volvo Cars, citing a request by the Swedish carmaker. A battery pack is a set of individual battery cells.

LG Chem has signed a deal to provide electric vehicle batteries to five companies so far -- South Korea's top carmaker Hyundai Motor; CT&T Corp., a South Korean maker of electric cars; China's third-largest carmaker Chang'an Automobile Group; Eaton Corp., a U.S. commercial vehicle components maker; and U.S. automaker General Motors Corp.

"LG Chem predicts that it will sign four additional deals to supply the EV batteries at the end of this year," Peter Bahnsuk Kim, a vice chairman of the company, said in a statement.

LG Chem will start the construction of a US$303 million EV battery plant in the U.S. state of Michigan in July with the aim of starting mass production of EV batteries by 2012.

In June 2009, the company broke ground for an EV plant in Ochang, 95 kilometers south of Seoul, which is expected to cost 1 trillion won ($906 million). LG Chem plans to complete the plant by 2013.

LG Chem will start providing its EV batteries to GM and Eaton in the second half of this year.

Electric Cars Powered by their Composite Bodywork

Researchers from Imperial College London and their European partners, including Volvo Car Corporation, are developing a prototype material which can store and discharge electrical energy and which is also strong and lightweight enough to be used for car parts.

Ultimately, they expect that this material could be used in hybrid petrol/electric vehicles to make them lighter, more compact and more energy efficient, enabling drivers to travel for longer distances before needing to recharge their cars.

In addition, the researchers believe the material, which has been patented by Imperial, could potentially be used for the casings of many everyday objects such as mobile phones and computers, so that they would not need a separate battery. This would make such devices smaller, more lightweight and more portable.

The project co-ordinator, Dr Emile Greenhalgh, from the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, says:

"We are really excited about the potential of this new technology. We think the car of the future could be drawing power from its roof, its bonnet or even the door, thanks to our new composite material. Even the Sat Nav could be powered by its own casing. The future applications for this material don't stop there -- you might have a mobile phone that is as thin as a credit card because it no longer needs a bulky battery, or a laptop that can draw energy from its casing so it can run for a longer time without recharging. We're at the first stage of this project and there is a long way to go, but we think our composite material shows real promise."

In the new project, the scientists are planning to develop the composite material so that it can be used to replace the metal flooring in the car boot, called the wheel well, which holds the spare wheel. Volvo is investigating the possibility of fitting this wheel well component into prototype cars for testing purposes.

The team says replacing a metal wheel well with a composite one could enable Volvo to reduce the number of batteries needed to power the electric motor. They believe this could lead to a 15 per cent reduction in the car's overall weight, which should significantly improve the range of future hybrid cars.

Current hybrid cars consist of an internal combustion engine, which is used when the driver accelerates the car, and an electric motor powered by batteries, which turns on when the car is cruising. The cars need a large number of batteries to power the electric motor, which makes the vehicle heavier, meaning that the car uses up more energy and the batteries need regular recharging at short intervals.

The researchers say that the composite material that they are developing, which is made of carbon fibres and a polymer resin, will store and discharge large amounts of energy much more quickly than conventional batteries. In addition, the material does not use chemical processes, making it quicker to recharge than conventional batteries. Furthermore, this recharging process causes little degradation in the composite material, because it does not involve a chemical reaction, whereas conventional batteries degrade over time.

The material could be charged by plugging a hybrid car into household power supply. The researchers are also exploring other alternatives for charging it such as recycling energy created when a car brakes.

For the first stage of the project, the scientists are planning to further develop their composite material so that it can store more energy. The team will improve the material's mechanical properties by growing carbon nanotubes on the surface of the carbon fibres, which should also increase the surface area of the material, which would improve its capacity to store more energy.

They are also planning to investigate the most effective method for manufacturing the composite material at an industrial level.

The 3-year European Union funded project includes researchers from the Departments of Chemistry, Aeronautics and Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology at Imperial College London. European academic and industrial partners include Swerea SICOMP, INASCO Hella, Chalmers, Advanced Composites Group, Nanocyl, Volvo Car Corporation, Bundesanstalt Fur Materialforschung undprufung, ETC Battery and Fuel Cells Sweden.

EnerDel to Invest $237 Million in New Indiana Li-Ion Battery Plant

Lithium-ion battery manufacturer EnerDel announced today it will invest $237 million in a new manufacturing plant near its Indianapolis headquarters in order to meet anticipated demand for advanced battery systems used in both automotive and stationary smart grid applications. Backed by a mix of private funds and public incentives, the new facilities will more than double EnerDel's U.S. production capacity and create 1,400 new jobs.

The announcement came during a special unveiling at the EnerDel facility of the new EnerDel powered C30 electric vehicle platform for Volvo Cars, the best selling platform within Volvo. The unveiling was to commemorate 18 months of collaboration between the two companies, with EnerDel and Volvo management outlining the C30's imminent path to commercialization to gathered media and investors. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels joined EnerDel and Volvo executives for the event.

State and local economic development incentives are valued at $69.9 million, which comprises a state incentive package of $21.3 million and Hancock County package valued at $48.6 million. EnerDel has also applied for an additional $9 million from Federal Government development programs.

"Demand for high-performance lithium-ion battery systems is expanding dramatically, for vehicles of all sizes as well as the utility grid, and we are going to be fully prepared to meet it with a product stamped 'Made in America'," said Charles Gassenheimer, Chairman and CEO of EnerDel parent company Ener1, Inc.

All-electric Volvo C30 project presented for the first time

It looks like a regular Volvo C30 and it features the very same safety, comfort and space as the standard car. The difference is that it is powered solely by electricity, entirely without exhaust emissions, and has a range of up to 150 kilometres.

Volvo Cars' ambitious electrification strategy has quickly produced concrete results. In addition to the market introduction of a plug-in hybrid in 2012, work is currently under way on evaluating the viability of an entirely electric-powered car known as a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle).

In 2009, a small number of prototype versions of the C30 BEV have been built and tested internally by Volvo. In addition to focusing on performance and safety, much of the focus is on integration of the electric propulsion system with the rest of the car.

"The Volvo C30 is the first model we will try out with electric power. This car's excellent properties in city traffic and its relatively low weight make it particularly suitable, since electric cars are primarily expected to be used in and around cities and for daily commuting," says Lennart Stegland, Director of Volvo Cars Special Vehicles.

Technical solution

Electricity is highly suitable as a fuel for passenger cars. It is the superior energy efficiency of the electric motor compared with the combustion engine which suggests that electric cars will become increasingly common in the future as fuel prices rise and demands for low CO2 emissions become ever more stringent.

The Volvo C30 BEV is powered with a Litium-Ion battery that is charged via a regular power socket found in most homes.

Recharging an entirely depleted battery via the regular household power supply system (230V, 16A) will take about eight hours. If the car is charged with renewable electricity this means that emissions - all the way from electricity production to its use out on the road - will in principle be non-existent.

The electric motor is housed under the bonnet, just like the engine in a conventional car. One of the priorities within the BEV project is to find the optimal placing of the battery. Most likely is the prop shaft tunnel and the place where the fuel tank normally is located the best places. These locations are within the car's optimised crumple zone in the most common collision scenarios. Since the car runs solely on electricity, it requires a larger battery with higher capacity (24 kWh) than in the case of the plug-in hybrid (12 kWh).

Battery capacity

The C30 BEV is limited to a top speed of about 130 kilometres an hour, which will be more than sufficient for most users of this type of car. Acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometres an hour will take less than 11 seconds. The car will have a range of up to 150 kilometres. This range is longer and far better than the distance 90 percent of all Europe's motorists drive per day.

The same safety standards as always

Volvo Cars imposes the very same high safety standards on all its products irrespective of the type of fuel or power source used. Volvo's safety dedication is always focused on the human being and is based on solid know-how of real-life traffic situations. What is more, comprehensive in-house tests are carried out both virtually and in Volvo's highly advanced crash-test laboratory. If Volvo chooses to introduce an entirely new type of electric car on the market, it will be just as safe as any other car bearing the Volvo badge.

Volvo has theoretically identified all the electrification-related safety scenarios in the stages before, during and after a collision. After careful study of these scenarios, the company's engineers will create solutions for handling each and every situation identified, guaranteeing that any future electric cars fully match Volvo's renowned safety standards in every respect.

Market potential

Volvo Cars' main electrification track over the coming decades is plug-in hybrids. This applies in particular to the company's larger car models. The combination of electric motor and combustion engine is the solution that probably has the greatest potential from both the technical and commercial viewpoints. Plug-in hybrids offer long range, good environmental performance and at the same time limited dependence on expensive battery technology.

There are several factors that determine how successful dedicated electric cars will be in the future:

"The consumer must feel that this type of car is attractive both to drive and own. In order to ensure this, we feel that electric cars will have to be as comfortable and safe and offer similar levels of performance as cars with other power sources. The learning from the C30 BEV project will help us to fulfil all these criteria and showcase Volvo's determination to drive developments in the field of electrification," says Paul Gustavsson, Director of Electrification Strategy at Volvo Cars.