This seems counter-intuitive...


Volvo Cars became the first mainstream automaker to sound the death knell of the internal combustion engine, saying on Wednesday that all the models it introduces from 2019 will be either hybrids or powered solely by batteries.

The decision is the boldest commitment by any major car company to technologies that currently represent a small share of the total vehicle market, but that are increasingly viewed as essential to combating climate change and urban pollution.

While most major automakers offer hybrids and battery-powered options, none of them have been willing to forsake cars powered solely by gasoline or diesel fuel. On the contrary, United States automakers have continued to churn out S.U.V.s and pickup trucks, whose sales have surged because of relatively low fuel prices.

Yet Volvo’s move may be the latest sign that the era of the gas guzzler is slowly coming to an end. Tesla, which makes only limited numbers of electric cars, this year surpassed Ford and General Motors in terms of stock market value, despite making significantly fewer cars than those automotive giants — a clear indication of where investors think the industry is headed.
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“Our customers are asking more and more about electric cars,” Hakan Samuelsson, the chief executive of Volvo, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. While Volvo’s strategy has risks, Mr. Samuelsson acknowledged, “a much bigger risk would be to stick with internal combustion engines.”

Though based in Sweden, Volvo is owned by Geely Automobile Holdings of China, which already produces battery-powered cars for the Chinese market. The decision by Volvo to focus on electric vehicles could ultimately give it and Geely a head start if, as many analysts expect, sales of battery powered cars begin to take off. China is already the largest market for electric vehicles.

Volvo’s battery-powered vehicles will be produced initially in China, but eventually also in Europe and a new factory the company is building near Charleston, S.C.

Hybrids, which combine battery power with gasoline or diesel engines, accounted for about 2 percent of passenger car sales in the United States last year, a number that has been declining because gasoline prices have fallen.

And cars that run solely on battery power are still rare in most countries because of high purchase prices, lengthy charging times and limited ranges.

Still, most carmakers expect the share of electric cars to grow quickly as the technology improves, prices fall and public charging stations become more commonplace. Rapid advances in self-driving cars will also encourage a shift to battery power: It is simpler to link self-driving software to an electric motor than to a conventional engine.

Although no other traditional carmakers have declared their intention to bury the internal combustion engine, virtually all of them are investing in hybrid and battery technology.

Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks, said on Wednesday that it would invest 5 billion renminbi, or $735 million, in a new battery factory it will build in Beijing with its Chinese partner, BAIC Motor.

The major American automakers are moving forward with their own electrification strategies, albeit on a much smaller scale than Tesla and now Volvo.

General Motors, for example, this year introduced the Chevrolet Bolt — a battery-powered model that sells for about $35,000 before government incentives are applied. The Bolt can travel 238 miles on a single charge and will be the basis for other electric models that G.M. expects to add to its lineup.

Ford has sold electric versions of a few mainstream models, but it has not yet developed an all-electric vehicle from the ground up. That is changing, however. The company has said it will introduce a battery-powered S.U.V. by 2020 and will add other electric models thereafter.

The third big domestic automaker, Fiat Chrysler, has lagged. It sells an electric version of its Fiat 500 subcompact car and a hybrid gas-electric variation of its Chrysler Pacifica minivan. But the company has yet to announce any plans to build a new vehicle that is available only as an electric model.

Even though consumer demand for electric cars is so far small, carmakers view it as a way for them to meet stricter fuel economy and pollution standards. The pressure is particularly acute in Europe, where an emissions cheating scandal at Volkswagen has set off a sharp decline in the sales of diesel cars, which account for about half the auto market in the region.
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Carmakers including Volvo have depended on diesel to provide better fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emissions. But the Volkswagen scandal has raised awareness of the health effects of diesel exhaust.

Diesel engines burn fuel more efficiently than gasoline motors, but they produce far more nitrogen oxides, which cause asthma and are considered a carcinogen. The cost of the equipment needed to neutralize diesel fumes is becoming prohibitive.

“The diesel engine is getting more expensive,” Mr. Samuelsson said during a news conference in Stockholm on Wednesday. “We would prefer to talk about the alternatives.”

The changing political landscape in the United States has somewhat muddied the outlook for electric cars on the other side of the Atlantic. The Obama administration was highly supportive of electrified vehicles, which could help companies meet tougher federal fuel-economy standards.

But, so far, President Trump has not pursued policies that encourage the development of electric vehicles.

Moreover, the persistence of low gasoline prices continues to push American buyers toward bigger vehicles — trucks and S.U.V.s — and has made the fuel economy of electric or hybrid vehicles less potent as a selling point.

Volvo’s transition will be gradual. It plans to still produce existing models with conventional engines after 2019, but it will no longer introduce new models with the older technology. Depending on demand, Volvo will completely phase out cars powered solely by gasoline or diesel by around 2024.

But by focusing on electrification, Volvo can concentrate its limited research and development resources on new technologies rather than continuing to invest in fuel-powered motors that may become obsolete. With sales of 534,000 cars last year, Volvo is dwarfed by companies like Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, each of which sold about 10 million vehicles in 2016.

Volvo will be able to draw on technology developed by its parent company, Geely. The companies can also save money by purchasing components such as batteries together.

Analysts said Volvo’s decision to pursue a lineup dedicated to electric and hybrid vehicles is motivated, in part, by the Chinese government’s efforts to reduce harmful emissions from internal combustion engines.

“Chinese ownership of Swedish-based Volvo likely played a role in the automaker’s announcement today,” said Michelle Krebs, an analyst with the auto-research site Autotrader.com. “China’s air pollution problems have prompted a more serious push toward cleaner automobiles.”

Volvo said on Wednesday that it would introduce five models from 2019 to 2021 that would run solely on electric power. That includes two models sold under Volvo’s Polestar brand, which the company is marketing as a maker of high-performance electrified cars.

Other models will include plug-in hybrids, which can be charged from power outlets and run for short distances solely on batteries, and so-called mild hybrids, which charge their batteries from the car’s conventional engine or by recovering energy from braking. Hybrids still require gasoline or diesel fuel, but they are typically more efficient because the batteries share the load.

Mr. Samuelsson said the company also wanted to encourage suppliers to invest in battery technology and charging stations.

“It’s important to make a clear statement,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...id-electric-car.html

Bold move in the face of sub $50/barrel (and falling) oil.

Buh-buh Volvo.

RMD

I'm glad it's not my money they are betting with!

Note to broker. Start divesting all holdings in Volvo.

Chinese-manufactured, battery-powered cars? What could possibly go wrong?

What an idiotic idea.

Volvo knows it's market, and it's customers are in that market or they wouldn't be moving that direction, most folks don't care where the power is coming from for transportation as long as it's cheap, readily available and simple...

Electrics still have a long way to go, and JMO looking at it from a "green" ego perspective most of these folks ignore the attached high environmental costs of electrics ie power generation fuels, disposal, production costs they don't care how it's done as long as they feel good about themselves. Musk has tapped into that mindset... Now Volvo.

Electrics can be used in conjuction with fuels to create better cars, F1 has Formula E, which is pretty neat to watch, there are supercars with electric propulsion combined with super fuel based engines.

There was a video about a volvo semi with electric power that "raced" to pull a lot of weight against a diesel, and spanked it.

Our trains are driven with electric engines to move the train, yes diesels generate the power but the motivation is electric. Buses are now electrics, have you noticed that city buses are quicker now than before, no more slow diesel lag.

It has it's place... and getting off oil would be great, more oil for other products, lower value for oil less cost for consumers...

Wonder if they will blow up and burn like the cheap hover boards the dumped here.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Chinese-manufactured, battery-powered cars? What could possibly go wrong?

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
It has it's place... and getting off oil would be great, more oil for other products, lower value for oil less cost for consumers...

I'm all for electric vehicles. As soon as they make a 4 door sedan with at least a 300 mile range that can be recharged on a regular 110 volt outlet in 10-15 minutes max I will be seriously interested. Until then I couldn't really use one - it would just be a novelty or a toy for me.

I know they are aiming for the urban, short commute crowd - I just think it's too early to make the move they are gambling on.

Volvo thinks Americans will grow to prefer coal driven vehicles? I don't think so.

Brilliant. How very freaking "green".

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
Buh-buh Volvo.

RMD

^^^This. Stupid on steroids once again.

Gas would have to drop to 1990s prices for it to be cheaper than charging my volt.

It costs us about $20 a month extra in electric and Christy averages about 850 electric miles a month.

A car getting 50mpg would cost $34 at today prices and would need to be 1.25 to equal the same.

We don't buy green cars for the environment, we do it to save cash.

quote:

We don't buy green cars for the environment, we do it to save cash.

^^^^This^^^

Electrics have a lot less things to break as well. Battery packs are the wildcard, as they get better (and they will) electrics will be the clear winner here. I don't own one yet, and just bought a 2016 F-150, so I'm not invested, just shooting my mouth off right now:-)

We'll see how Volvo does to make this transition so soon. I'm skeptical.

I'm thinking that a large, worldwide car and truck maker knows its market pretty well. Maybe even better than a bunch of posters on a gun board.

Maybe it will be a huge disaster, but I wouldn't be so sure that Volvo execs are all a bunch of morons.

Like Billnchristy, I'd consider an all-electric if they had better range. I might well buy a hybrid next time.

quote:

Volvo Cars became the first mainstream automaker to sound the death knell of the internal combustion engine, saying on Wednesday that all the models it introduces from 2019 will be either hybrids or powered solely by batteries.

First off, it's only their cars, unless I'm reading this article wrong.

Second, I think they are leaving themselves more transition time than it sounds like because they threw in the models it introduces part in there. So does that only include new models and then phase out the older current production models over time? It actually says they will be making gas powered cars until at least 2024, which is 6 or 7 years away... Added: I just found it odd that they put out target dates on a product that they have pretty little experience with.

Don't they make HD earth movin' rigs too?
That's going to take a really big ass battery.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Don't they make HD earth movin' rigs too?
That's going to take a really big ass battery.

As I noted above, they don't mention anything but cars in this article.

I hate to break it to these oh so "progressive" nimrods, but the future of the automobile is...

...the internal combustion engine.

I mean, we are talking about this century, right, and not some Jetsons fantasy bullshit?

Wake up. The internal combustion engine is not going away- not within the lifetime of any person alive on this planet today. You heard me. Read it again. I mean it.

Volvo, stop fucking around with your shareholder's investment in your company. Just cut the shit, huh?

All electric cars, everywhere? Sounds great, means nothing.

Look, why doesn't the chairman of Volvo announce that all board members voted to adhere to strict veganism? That way, they can all show how very "progressive" they are, but won't be permanently damage their company.

If you read the fine print, they aren't talking about all electric cars, but hybrids.
He says all their new car designs after 2019 will have an electric motor in them, which is true.
The MSM put their own spin on it, that wasn't exactly the truth (imagine that).

Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said in a statement that the move “marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car,” reiterating his target of selling one million electric cars and hybrids by 2025. “When we said it, we meant it. This is how we are going to do it.”