Tag: Volvo

NTSB to determine probable cause of fatal Uber self-driving crash

FILE PHOTO: A screen displays the company logo for Uber Technologies Inc. on the day of it’s IPO at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a Nov. 19 hearing to determine the probable… Continue reading NTSB to determine probable cause of fatal Uber self-driving crash

Volvo is paying plug-in hybrid drivers for all the electricity they use

As Volvo sees it, plug-in hybrids are the path toward achieving one of its high-aiming carbon-reduction goals—making fully electric cars half of its sales by 2025. To do so, the automaker plans to nudge its portion of PHEVs in the U.S. over the next 16 months, to 20 percent, up from about 4 percent today.

But it also knows that plug-in hybrids only serve their purpose (including as segue ways to all-electric) when drivers of PHEVs actually plug in. That’s the onus behind an unusual new program announced by Volvo Wednesday.

The gist of it: Volvo will cut owners a check at the end of one year based on how much they’ve been plugging in.

Using the vehicles’ On Call capabilities—no additional subscription required—Volvo will see how many kilowatt-hours of electricity the vehicle has used. The company will simply take that number and multiply it by the national-average price per kilowatt-hour, to arrive at the amount paid back to the owner.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8

Volvo is aware that buyers with cheap electricity are going to make money from the program, while those with particularly expensive residential electricity aren’t going to recoup all of their charging costs. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national-average price of residential electricity is 13.27 cents per kilowatt-hour. If 8.0 kwh is now usable (the usable capacity in Volvo’s latest XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid), and owners are able to plug in twice a day, that’s potentially about $773 for the year.

The company currently isn’t actually able yet to read cumulative vehicle power used via On Call, but it will be sometime next spring. Starting at that time, and including all the vehicles going back to October 1, new plug-in hybrid models will be included in the program on a rolling basis.

So far the figure Volvo does have is one based on drive time. It’s found that globally customers are using plug-in electricity 41.4 percent of the time.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8 R-Design with Polestar optimization

In studying some of the first buyers of Ford’s Energi plug-in hybrid products, in 2013, Ford found that drivers were covering more than 60 percent of their overall mileage on plug-in electricity. Those were early adopters and particularly eager to plug-in whenever possible, but other studies have suggested that buyers of luxury-brand PHEVs aren’t plugging in as often.

With Volvo incentivizing plugging in, instead of the vehicle itself, it might be able to boost the demand for the vehicles in a way that can help dealerships sell the idea, without going down a slippery slope with high incentives, bruised residuals, and an artificial market.

As Volvo looks toward electric—starting with the 2021 XC40 Recharge—it’s one way it can potentially sell drivers on it, too, and reward them for making a habit of plugging in.

Every angle of Volvo’s first electric vehicle, the XC40 Recharge

Volvo Cars introduced Wednesday the XC40 Recharge, an all-electric vehicle that CTO Henrik Green described as “a car of firsts and a car of the future.” The XC40 Recharge is hardly the first electric vehicle on the market. But for Volvo, the XC40 is a “car of firsts.” This is the company’s first all-electric vehicle.… Continue reading Every angle of Volvo’s first electric vehicle, the XC40 Recharge

Volvo to roll out a new electric vehicle every year through 2025

Volvo Cars used the unveiling of the XC40 Recharge, its first electric vehicle, to lay out an ambitious business strategy that includes introducing a new EV every year through 2025 and slashing by 40% the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of every car and SUV it builds. All of the changes are aimed at Volvo… Continue reading Volvo to roll out a new electric vehicle every year through 2025

Volvo unveils its first electric car, the XC40 Recharge

Volvo Cars introduced Wednesday the XC40 Recharge, its first electric car under a new EV-focused brand that kicks off a company-wide shift toward electrification. “It’s a car of firsts and it’s a car of the future,” CTO Henrik Green said. The Volvo XC40 Recharge is the first electric vehicle in the automaker’s portfolio. It’s also… Continue reading Volvo unveils its first electric car, the XC40 Recharge

Volvo aims to slash its CO2 output by 2025

Volvo is aiming to cut the lifecycle carbon footprint of every car it makes by 40 per cent within the next six years. The company claims it to be ‘one of the most ambitious plans in the automotive industry.’  The announcement follows Volvo’s commitment that by 2040 the firm will aim to become a climate-neutral… Continue reading Volvo aims to slash its CO2 output by 2025

Sturgess Motor Group sells Volvo Leicester dealership amid 2018 losses

Sturgess Motor Group has completed the sale of its Volvo Car UK franchise in Leicester to TMS Motor Group after revealing a pre-tax loss of £1.26 million in its 2018 annual financial results. Sturgess, which last year celebrated 120 years of trading and also represents Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Hyundai, Suzuki, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Abarth,… Continue reading Sturgess Motor Group sells Volvo Leicester dealership amid 2018 losses

Dyson EV’s demise, Mirai’s radical remake, Audi’s plug-in hybrids: The Week in Reverse

Which automaker partnered with Boeing for a personal luxury aircraft?

What brand priced its Tesla Model 3 rival for Europe?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending October 11, 2019.

One of the much-discussed pieces of news of the week came from the UK, and a well-funded long-shot project aiming to make an high-efficiency electric car. Dyson said that its electric-car program is done—although it will continue work on some of the ancillary tech, including solid-state batteries.

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

Several important pieces of news came from Toyota. It revealed that the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a sport sedan. Although the radical remake is officially called a concept car, the future is suddenly looking much better for that model, as well as the Prius. Toyota also confirmed that a 2021 RAV4 plug-in hybrid is on the way—although it will be some time before we get range and mpg. And its luxury brand, Lexus, teased the design of a production-bound electric city car, set to bow at the Tokyo show.

A new Honda Fit hybrid has been confirmed for a Tokyo show debut and is a critical model for Europe—although chances are slim that the model will arrive in the U.S.

Porsche Boeing premium urban air mobility vehicle

Porsche and Boeing are involved in a premium personal aircraft project—not a shared air taxi, but something aiming for private ownership.

Volkswagen is hoping its owners see the light—with a new light-based communications feature in its ID 3 urban electric car. We would presume it’s also headed to the other ID models that are U.S.-bound.

Volvo announced that it’s merging engine development into a new joint venture with parent Geely—so it can focus efforts on EV development. And as we eagerly await the introduction of the Volvo brand’s first fully electric model next week, pricing was detailed for the related Polestar 2—including its Performance Pack version—in several of its European launch markets.

Polestar 2

In the issues and policy department, U.S. commute times reached a new high in 2018, a cloud that hangs over us even as vehicles continue to get cleaner and more efficient. And Denmark and the UK were among the nations looking to tighten the timeline for phasing out internal combustion engines.

India is very much seen as an emerging (and important) market for EVs, with some challenges. Tata will be targeting its own domestic market with a vehicle called the Tata Nexon EV. This model could be seen as a serious rival to models coming from both European automakers, Japan, and China.

Volta free DC fast charging

The charging-network news keeps flowing, as infrastructure takes form in Europe and North America. Volta readied its ad-supported free DC fast charging network in the U.S. and announced its first station starting later this month. The energy company Repsol claimed the highest power passenger-vehicle DC fast-charging station in Europe. And Electrify Canada announced that it’s pushing ahead this year with more than 20 fast-charging stations—enabled for a future-leaning 350 kw—at Canadian Tire locations across the country.

We learned that Tesla has quietly acquired the Canadian battery maker Hibar. Could it mean the automaker is setting up to make its own proprietary cells?

At the start of the week we rounded up a list of the most important electric cars for 2020.

2020 Audi Q5 plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec) – first drive, October 2019

Back on Monday and Tuesday, we also brought you two sets of first drive impressions on Audi’s upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicles—in the Q5 crossover and the A8 flagship sedan—to see how they fit into a lineup that’s rapidly going electric.

And as you head out this weekend to go watch the game, you might remember some news we reported at the start of the week: that Anheuser-Busch and Frito-Lay are expanding plans—in California—to deliver their beer and snacks with electric trucks.

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