Volvo EVs parked

After becoming one of the first European car makers to offer a showroom-ready electric vehicle (EV), Volvo is shelving plans for more zero emission EVs.

The Scandinavian car maker revealed the C30 BEV, its first EV, in late 2010 at that year's Paris motor show, and there was even talk of it coming to Australia. But four years on and the company's vice president of product strategy, Lex Kerssemakers, has implied that EVs are not profitable.

The Volvo decision maker told Autocar.co.uk that "Once there is a more sustainable business case behind full EV we can do it – our platform is scalable and fully flexible."

"But we must see how the EV business evolves and what pressures there are from fuel efficiency requirements and cities closing borders [to CO2 emitting vehicles]."

The company will instead focus its significant research and development dollars on honing its plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Unlike a pure EV, which uses a large battery pack to power one or more electric motors, a plug-in hybrid retains its combustion engine to deliver a much greater driving range, but with the option of driving with zero emissions for shorter distances, usually around 30 to 50km.

Volvo has committed exclusively to four-cylinder engines now, with high-output units making use of twin charging (turbo and supercharger) and electric motors to boost performance, such as in the new XC90, which will be priced roughly between $90,000 and $123,000.

The Swedish company is planning a mad 336kW triple charged four-cylinder petrol engine for its next-generation fire-breathing Polestar model, a move which is being favoured by more and more car makers in their search for high-performance and low CO2 emissions.

Kerssemakers confirmed that the current plug-in hybrid strategy will ensure the company refines its plug-in hybrid technology, which can offer "the best of both worlds" in terms of efficiency and range.

The absence of love for EVs is no more evident than in Australia, where a lack of infrastructure and government incentives, combined with long travel distances, has conspired to virtually kill the segment.