Volvo plug-in hybrid three years away

Volvo has announced that its first production plug-in hybrid vehicle will commence production from 2012. The Ford-owned manufacturer has brokered an arrangement with Swedish energy supplier Vattenfall in order to bring the environmentally-friendly drivetrain to market.

"There is no doubt that the environmental issue is at the very top of Volvo Cars' product development agenda right now," says Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Cars.

"Carbon dioxide emissions from our cars will be drastically reduced by the plan we are now implementing and our aggressive electrification strategy will put us in a leading position when it comes to environmentally optimised passenger transport."

Volvo has allocated to Vattenfall the responsibility for developing the recharging system. The electricity supplier will also offer consumers the option of using renewable energy, rather than energy from coal-fired power stations.

On the automotive side, Volvo has revealed that the plug-in hybrid-drive system will rely on a diesel engine -- capable of running on synthetic fuel -- to play the part of range-extender. With the batteries recharged from AC/Mains power, the PiH Volvo will rarely need to fire up the diesel, except in the event of a long journey.

Volvo anticipates that AC/Mains power from renewable sources (solar/wind/hydro) will considerably reduce CO2 emissions on a 'well-to-wheel' basis. If the vehicle operator only drives the car short distances between recharges, the vehicle will effectively produce zero emissions. In Europe, such a car would qualify for a substantial incentive in the form of a tax credit for vehicles that produce fewer than 50g/km of CO2.

The Plug-in Hybrid is currently the ultimate end of Volvo's green strategy. There are no plans in place for the car company to build battery-only vehicles or develop fuel-cell technology, but Volvo has a number of milestones along the path to Plug-in Hybrid product.

Vehicles incorporating 'DRIVe' technology are more aerodynamic and are powered by powerplants specifically tuned for optimum fuel efficiency. At the present, the C30, S40 and V50 models powered by the 1.6D DRIVe engine return a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure as low as 3.9L/100km and produce just 104g/km of CO2.

Volvo is also marketing E85-capable vehicles ('FlexiFuel' cars in Volvo parlance) in C30/S40/V50 guise, as well as V70 and S80 variants. The car manufacturer has a long history of dual-fuel technology and will offer a turbo V70 this year, able to run on either E85/petrol or three different gaseous fuels: CNG, 'biogas' and 'hytane'. This last fuel is a mix of methane and 10 per cent hydrogen.

Auto-stop/start is low-hanging fruit for a car company committed to reducing fuel use by the vehicles it sells. Volvo has developed this facility for DRIVe versions of C30/S40/V50 and will subsequently transfer this technology to other models in the range.

Finally, Volvo is working on its 'GTDi' petrol engine technology for a release date in 2011. According to the manufacturer, the new engines (which sound like they will operate on the same principles as Ford's EcoBoost powertrains) will reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by between 20 and 30 per cent with smaller displacement for the same output.

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