Not all electric conversions are small Geo Metros, Volkswagens or Porsches. For sale on the San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist, here, is an eVolvo. It's a converted 1995 Volvo 850 sedan. It's got new batteries and new low rolling resistance tires. The seller claims a range of about 40 miles with 15 kWh of lead acid batteries. Asking price is $14,000. Searching through the EVAlbum database, a useful resource with over 1,500 electric vehicles listed by their owners, one only finds three Volvo conversions in the U.S., including, I believe, this car listed by its previous owner in Seattle.
For Volvo fans awaiting the ReCharge plug-in hybrid, we've previously reported about, this could get you into an electron-driven Swede today.
Click on the image for high-res shots of Volvo's FlexiFuel police model
Last year, Volvo introduced a line of vehicles in Europe capable of running on E85 fuel which it refers to as the FlexiFuel range. Already available in the C30, S40, V50 and V70 and S80 models with engines ranging from 1.8 to 2.5 liters, Volvo has seen fit to add a new police-specific V70 to its range of flexible fuel vehicles. Perhaps this addition will allow for more than just 50-100 sales in the U.K. As with the current V70 and S80 FlexiFuel models, the new emergency vehicle will come equipped with the turbocharged 2.5 liter inline five cylinder engine offering 200 horsepower and a very reasonable 300Nm of torque at 1500-4500rpm. This output allows for a top speed of 130mph and a run from 0 to 60mph in 7.6 seconds -- not too shabby at all.
Volvo's V70 police car again raises the point that the U.K. police force often chooses very practical vehicles for law enforcement duties. While the estate body style makes perfect sense for police duties, we can't imagine the authorities in the U.S. rolling around with wagons any time soon (except for the Romulus MI police who have the speed traps set up in the vicinity of Detroit Metro Airport with their unmarked Dodge Magnums).
Since last year, Saab and Volvo have been working together to develop a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Volvo officially announced the project in March 2008, and showed us pictures of the ReCharge concept on the road. Those were nice to see. The Invest In Sweden Agency will be updating visitors to the Advanced Automotive Battery and Ultracapacitor Conference and Symposia in Tampa, Florida (which starts May 12) on the status of plug-in and electric vehicles in Sweden. The focus will be on Swedish hybrid technology projects, including what's happening with the Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Centre (SHC). This is where the Volvo-Saab - along with the Vattenfall energy company, ETC Battery, FuelCells Sweden and some parts of the Swedish government - project is taking place. The SHC will be funded with $40 million over five years. More details after the break.
Ever since news of the Volvo ReCharge plug-in series hybrid came out, we've been hankering for the Swedish EV to make its way into production. The all-wheel drive propulsion will be provided courtesy of wheel motors at all four corners with juice coming from a lithium polymer battery pack mounted in the trunk with sufficient capacity for 62 miles of electric driving. Once the battery state of charge dips to thirty percent, a 1.6L four cylinder flex-fuel engine bolted to a generator starts up to re-charge the battery. Volvo says that the ReCharge can do a 93 mile drive on 2.8L of gas, which comes out to 124mpg (U.S.). That sounds perfect, we'll take it.
While safety is likely the first thing that springs to mind when the automotive conversation turns to Volvo, the Swedish auto manufacturer would like the average person to know about its efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. To that end, Volvo has launched its 'Clean inside and out' program, which outlines everything that the automaker is trying to do in protection of the environment.
After the break, we've pasted Volvo's latest press release detailing some of its environmental policies, but one figure stands out in our minds: all new Volvo's are 85 percent recyclable and 95 percent recoverable and have been so since 2002. In an age where cars are often looked as necessary but disposable objects, we can respect the distances that Volvo is going to address their environmental impact.
Reducing the environmental impact of garbage is anything but a new idea, but what often seems overlooked are the actual vehicles doing the dirty-work of picking up our trash. Volvo's trying to do something about that with hybrid garbage trucks that are currently undergoing testing in Sweden. If testing goes well, Volvo plans to begin producing the hybrid trucks in 2009.
Volvo's hybrid technology consists of a 320 horsepower diesel engine which shuts down at rest combined with an electric motor that powers the truck at speeds up to 12 miles per hour. Regenerative braking is used as a means to recapture energy to recharge the lithium ion batteries. Besides being much quieter in early morning trash pickup duties, the total gas savings and C02 emissions are expected to drop 20-30 percent.
Also of note is Volvo's research into DME for fuel in an attempt to lower emissions and reduce diesel soot. DME is produced by creating a syngas which is converted to a liquid fuel. This type of fuel is already in use as a propellant gas in aerosol spray cans. See both press releases after the break.
No, Volvo hasn't created a diesel "range-extender" for their ReCharge concept nor have they divulged details of a love-child from its Saab liaison. What Volvo has done is prove the newly-coined adage, "not all hybrids are created equal.", with a monster that could crush the competition. Literally. Volvo has used the strengths of hybrid-electric technology to save fuel and increase the power of their earth moving behemoth, the L220F Hybrid wheel loader.
An Integrated Starter Generator [ISG] coupled with a state-of-the-art battery of undisclosed chemistry is at the heart of this hybrid. Not only can it immediately "spin up" the motor for start / stop capability but it also assists the diesel while it's at low RPM with an instant 700Nm boost. Fuel savings are said to be 10 percent.
If you happen to be in Las Vegas this weekend you can catch up with this Volvo live at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG exhibition. If not, hit the jump for all the exciting details from their press release.
The Volvo ReCharge concept is kind of the dark horse in the plug-in hybrid race among the major manufacturers. It's a good looking with nice specifications (60+ miles of EV range sure sound appealing), but Volvo isn't totally committed to bringing this vehicle to the street. This may change with today's official announcement that gives more details on the partnership we first heard about in December between Volvo, Saab, electricity provider Vattenfall, battery provider ETC, and the Swedish state. Volvo's investment in the project will be over 11 billion SEK ($1.8b US) for the next five years. You can read the announcement after the jump and check out pictures of the ReCharge in the gallery below.
One of the arguments frequently made during debates over raising fuel economy standards is that it will force people to drive smaller, less safe cars. The theory is that in a collision between a larger heavier vehicle and a smaller lighter one the heavy one will always come off better. Reality is, as usual, far removed from theory. All modern vehicles are built to withstand the same standard collisions and modern small cars protect their occupants as well as larger vehicles and generally much better than an older larger vehicle. The team from the UK car show Fifth Gear decided to conduct a crash test between an early '90s Volvo 940 Wagon and a three-year-old Renault Modus.
The Modus is B-Class car and was the first such car to get a 5-star rating in the EuroNCAP tests. Volvos, on the other hand, have a long standing and largely deserved reputation for safety. While modern small cars may indeed sustain a substantial amount of damage in a crash as they dissipate the energy, they tend to do a very good job of protecting occupants. One other thing to keep in mind in such mixed crashes is that while the larger vehicle may have more momentum, the lighter car can also be shoved out of the way to some degree, also dissipating energy. Fifth Gear did a 40mph frontal offset test with the Renault and Volvo (that's an 80mph closing speed) and you can check out the video after the jump. There's also a video of a Smart ForTwo doing a similar crash with a Mercedes E-Class, with similar results. Don't be afraid to think small, it probably won't kill you.
When an engine is manufactured, it's usually turned on and tested for 30 minutes to verify that everything is under control. Volvo thinks that 30 minutes is quite a lot of time and produces too much pollution, so the Swedish automaker has created a new testing system that reduces emissions by up to 85 percent while providing the same quality assurance.
Volvo developed this new testing method at its plant in Curitiba, Brazil. During 2008, the new technology will be introduced at the engine-production plants in Skövde, Sweden, and Hagerstown, Maryland, and by 2009 the equipment will be installed at all of the Volvo Group's engine plants worldwide. The implementation of this new testing system will also include upgrading and improving quality assurance of the engine production assembly process.
Volvo has announced its new crossover for the 2009 year: the XC60. The CUV fills a gap in what Volvo calls the "Small Premium Utility" segment where it will compete against the BMW X3. The XC60 will feature an impressive array of safety features and, a-ha, good news regarding fuel consumption. On the security side, the XC60 will include something City Safety, which is a system created to avoid small accidents when tailgating. If the car is about to impact the vehicle in front and the driver does not react, the car brakes itself.
The new XC60 will initially be available with the six-cylinder turbocharged T6 engine producing 285 horsepower and two five-cylinder turbodiesels: the D5 producing 185 and the 2.4D with 163 horsepower. All Wheel Drive (AWD) with Instant Traction is fitted as standard on all variants. But green-ish news is that during 2009, Volvo will offer a front-wheel drive 2.4-liter version powered by a Euro 5 diesel-compliant engine producing 163 horsepower and CO2 emissions of around 170 g/km. Full press release after the jump.
The autos section at business magazine Forbes has compiled a top ten list of most fuel efficient luxury cars. While some of the vehicles on the list seem obvious - the Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec diesel and the hybrid Lexus GS450h - there were some surprises. Giving Porsche's complaints about European Union plans to impose limits on carbon dioxide emissions, finding the Boxster sports car on the list might come as a shock. However, driven tamely, it can achieve pretty decent mileage. Of course like many sports cars, it thrives on being driven quickly and doing so can easily drive the mileage into the single digits. On the other end of the spectrum most might not consider the Volvo C30 a luxury car. The little hatchback is based on the same platform as the European Ford Focus and, although well appointed, calling this a luxury car might be a stretch. Also, the 19/27mpg rating for such a small car is hardly exceptional and barely matches the 19/28 of the Porsche.
At all Volvo facilities in Sweden and Belgium, Volvo Cars is using hydropower to generate every last bit of electric power needed to run its operations. The switch to greener power is part of Volvo Cars' "path to reach a climate-neutral production in Europe," as the company explains it.
This is one of those buying green energy deals, not some new Volvo hydroelectric plant. The two energy providers are Vattenfall (in Sweden) and Electrabel (in Belgium) and they provide 1000 GWh of electricity for Volvo's operations in these countries. It's just the latest of Volvo's green energy shifts, and the company's director of environmental protection, Mihkel Laks, said in a statement that, "We have made so much progress that today we are virtually independent of oil for our energy supply. At the moment we are working on replacing the natural gas with renewable biogas."
Recently, I wrote a post that talked about Volvo's statement that they were working exclusively with PML (a company that makes in-wheel electric motors). I found this concerning because I thought PML was working with Zap on the Zap-X, a Lotus-designed, affordable, normal-looking electric car. I contacted Zap Communication's Alex Campbell, who checked with Zap's CEO Steve Schneider about Volvo's statements. Zap says they are in a relationship with PML but only on three-wheeled vehicles. As for four-wheeled cars, Zap tried but it looks like PML went with Volvo. Zap has moved on to a Chinese company that they say is not only cheaper than PML but can provide in-wheel electric motors sooner. So there is no confusion, here is exactly what Zap says:
We signed an exclusive agreement with PML on 3-wheelers and at the time were negotiating with them on other vehicles. We have since partnered up with a company in China with rights to their wheel hub motors. The significance is that the wheel hub motor that we have acquired is currently working in application and we believe will be commercially available within a shorter period of time than PML's. It is my understanding that the PML motor has still yet to work in any automotive application. And they are expensive so it would need to be manufactured in China to stay competitive.
In an interview, Ichiro Sugioka, project leader of Volvo's Recharge electric car concept, says PML FlightLink is "currently working exclusively for us." If that was not clear enough, Ichiro adds "all their efforts is going into our projects." The interviewer presses for more information, even mentioning PML's relationship with Lotus, but Ichiro is very clear. You can see this exchange three minutes into the video below the fold.
Why is this notable? Green car fans will recall the PML's in-wheel motors were going to be a key part of the Zap-X. I guess we should have noticed the relationship was probably over because Zap said it had some exclusive rights with PML and then PML started to work with Volvo. Companies don't write press release saying relationships have fallen apart. So, what does this mean for the release date for the Zap-X, the Lotus-designed, affordable, electric car?
Zap never made an exact release date for the Zap-X public, so it's hard to say the date has slipped. I would assume the internal date must have slipped a little bit. While Zap makes great products, they are probably one of the more out-sourced electric vehicle companies. I always imagined Zap, Miles or Tesla would be bought out sooner or later by a large automaker trying to catch up.
This little soap opera makes me think the top automakers just might bypass the middle man and work with the smaller technology companies instead.
At all 
