How Volvo Cars is going electric across the globe

The electric age is officially upon us and there are many forces nudging us towards early EV adoption. Regulatory changes, doomsday clocks, rising fuel costs – the only light at the end of the tunnel appears to be powered by a lithium-ion battery. As a brand, Volvo understands this particularly well and was an early entrant in the EV game. Back in 2018, Volvo Cars announced that every vehicle made after 2019, will have an electric motor. This meant that even if a car featured an ICE powertrain, it would be classified between a hybrid electric or a mild hybrid. While mild-hybrids have come to be fairly popular due to their fuel saving measures, the switch to full-electric powertrain hasn’t been an even and consistent one, in the automotive landscape.

In this regard, the Swedish legacy carmaker managed to step-up to the plate relatively early and announce that by 2030, its entire fleet will be electrified. But Volvo’s global electric floor plan is a complex assortment of hybrids, mild hybrids and pure EVs. Apart from having lofty targets, there is also a simultaneous effort to decarbonise the manufacturing process as much as possible. And yet, those targets were met. By 2020, Volvo had already announced that 20% of its sales were expected to come from its plug-in electric portfolio. By mid-2021, Volvo had already clocked a 43% year-on-year increase in sales thanks in no small measure to the plug-in electrics, which, combined with an increase in demand for EVs, accounted for 23% of sales. And the share, according to Volvo, is scheduled to increase to 50% by 2025, by which point the brand has committed to putting one million electrified cars on the road.

So how does Volvo Cars intend to meet that target? By introducing an all-new battery electric every year for the next five years. Headlining Volvo’s “Recharge” sub brand is the all-new Volvo XC40 Recharge. The brand’s maiden battery electric offering, it’s scheduled to make its Indian debut in early 2022. Based on the XC40 compact SUV, the car packs an ideal mix of performance, range and practicality, serving to perfectly exemplify what can be expected from future Volvo EVs.

With EVs marking a tectonic shift in technology, Volvo is partnering-up with several experts to address key ancillary requirements. On the battery front, there’s Sweden’s leading battery developer Northvolt which has partnered-up with Volvo and is working on a battery pack that will provide a game-changing 1000km range on a single charge. This could solve the inter-city travel issue without needing to depend on a heavy battery infrastructure. For a steady supply of lithium-ion, Volvo has also signed large supply deals with LG Chem and CATL – two of the world’s largest battery makers.

To ease customer transition to EVs and show their own dedication to the EV movement, Volvo presently has a petrol plug-in hybrid counterpart to every one of their cars on the road – the only brand in the world to do so. From the XC40 to the XC90 – every Volvo currently on-sale can be purchased with a petrol hybrid powertrain.  According to Volvo Cars President and CEO Håkan Samuelsson, “we are determined to be the first premium car maker to move our entire portfolio of vehicles into electrification.” The “Recharge” sub brand is only going to gain in prominence, making Volvo a byword for electric mobility and climate neutrality in the coming years.

Moneycontrol journalists are not involved in the creation of the article.