Volvo to go all electric in 2019

[Schroeder]

Pretty stupid move in my opinion. While electric mobility is on the rise there is still a severe lack of infrastructure to recharge vehicles away from home, making them rather useless for people who travel a lot like those businessmen that often drive Volvos....

[STEED]

Not the smartest move, sell my shares all of them.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

From OP's link:

"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion-engine-powered car," Volvo Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a conference call with reporters. "People increasingly demand electrified cars, and we want to respond to our customers' current and future needs."

...and

The Volvo news does not signal the end of the internal combustion engine. The company’s definition of electrified includes mild hybrid cars — vehicles with small electric motors that allow traditional gasoline and diesel engines to turn off at stop lights and get the vehicles moving again before the engines restart.

...which means hybrids and pure-electric cars for now. Volvo cars with internal combustion engines are not disappearing in 2019.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by kraznyi_oktjabr

From OP's link:
...and
...which means hybrids and pure-electric cars for now. Volvo cars with internal combustion engines are not disappearing in 2019.

That's what I thought at first too, but that doesn't match:

Volvo will begin producing electric motors on all its cars starting in 2019, becoming the first traditional automaker to forgo the combustion engine altogether.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

That's what I thought at first too, but that doesn't match:

Good point. Whatever the correct answer is, the reporter has screwed up in presentation of facts.

[Gargamel]

They are doing this ti get under the EU emissions limits that are looming in the not so distant future. As mentioned, and in the articles I've read, they will still be producing internal combustion engines, jsut that they will be matched up with a electric motor to make some hybrid cars, along with all electric ones.

I think this is a wonderful move. The conversion from gas to electric has been a chicken or egg scenario for too long. Manufacturers have been reluctant because the infrastructure is pretty weak to accommodate electric cars, and the "infrastructure industry" (???) has been reluctant to build the infrastructure because the demand isn't there yet.

If this is the first domino to fall in going towards the majority of vehicles being predominately renewable energy supplied, I'm all for it.

I'm just hoping (lol) that they will retrofit my 2004 s60.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

The Guardian says that pure internal combustion cars are going, hybrid range is expanding and new pure electric models come in 2019.

[Skybird]

Every six months, they say, a new battery generation gets iout of the bloick, that emans the most costly item aboard electric cars looses its value in record time. When people try to resellt heir old cars after 4, 5 years, they will curse.

This, and the still not really practical range these cars have under real world conditions , and in countries the almost non existinmg infrastructure for electric charging, imo make it a silly decision to buy such a car. Makes sense only, maybe for companies doing dsriving businesses withoin limited city perimeters.

In Germany, sales are hilariously low, although there is a state-support program of 4000 Euros per car. People just do not want these things so far. 4000 Euros cannot compensate for lackign range and lacking charging - and those there are, have a multitude of various standards. And there are four dozen card-payment models for them. that yiou have two or three such cards doe snot mean that oyu can use them for payment at the charging station you happened to have found...

Diesel seesm to be a past thing as well, so: if needing a car now, still go normal gas, I say. I would not buy an electric car now.

BTW, there are model calculations showing that electric cars in no way are so much more ecologic like is claimed, when you consider the ecologic costs of their production as well. Especially the Tesla cars, often claimed to be the spearhead of development, score especially bad amongst electric car brands when it comes to calculate not just running costs, but the ecologic fingerprint of production as well.

There is quite some surrogate religion in all this.

[mapuc]

Throughout the years I have learned that batteries is depending on how the weather is. If it's cold the battery perform bad and very good at temp 20-25.

From a friends friend on FB I have also learned that on a good day, you can drive about 70-80 km, before charging the battery-He has a Tesla.

I think they should work on creating better batteries before going all in on electric cars.

Some years ago I read something about NANO-based batteries and virus-based batteries(developed by MIT). Don't know if those batteries will be in our cars in the future.

Markus

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Pretty stupid move in my opinion. While electric mobility is on the rise there is still a severe lack of infrastructure to recharge vehicles away from home, making them rather useless for people who travel a lot like those businessmen that often drive Volvos....

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in Los Angeles, combination parking meter/electric car charging stations have been popping up all over the place. The units take up about the same amount of space as a conventional parking meter and provide the option of being able to charge your car while its parked. By providing the ability to travel and charge the car while idle without the need to be inconvenienced, the actual range of electric cars can be extended, making electric vehicles a more viable option...




<O>

[Mr Quatro]

Yes, your right kraznyi_oktjabr I didn't read the whole article. I sort of was shocked to hear that it was Volvo and that that was the direction they were headed to go all electric. Then I saw that Volvo was owned by China with the next thought being cheap batteries supplied by China all the way to Sweden.

These cars won't be cheap ... most of the hybrid cars now are in the $30,000 US dollars range now.

More and more EV charging stations are opening right now with downtown Portland, Oregon being free to shoppers.

http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com...richighway.htm

The “West Coast Electric Highway” is an extensive network of electric vehicle (EV) DC fast charging stations located every 25 to 50 miles along Interstate 5 and other major roadways in the Pacific Northwest. The Washington State Department of Transportation leads the charge on the Washington segment, the Oregon Department of Transportation heads up the Oregon segment, and the California segment is coordinated by a Governor’s Office interagency group.

The west coast has a robust EV charging network with thousands of Level 2 charging pedestals and dozens of DC fast chargers.

Easy and Convenient Charging Locations
Electric vehicle drivers can now grab a cup of coffee or shop while charge up their vehicles at shopping centers, fueling stations and restaurants within a half mile of highway interchanges. The fast charge technology allows drivers to re-charge mass-produced all-electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi “i MiEV” in 30 minutes or less. Each location also includes Level 2 equipment to re-charge most plug in electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

Yes, your right kraznyi_oktjabr I didn't read the whole article. I sort of was shocked to hear that it was Volvo and that that was the direction they were headed to go all electric. Then I saw that Volvo was owned by China with the next thought being cheap batteries supplied by China all the way to Sweden.

These cars won't be cheap ... most of the hybrid cars now are in the $30,000 US dollars range now.

More and more EV charging stations are opening right now with downtown Portland, Oregon being free to shoppers.

http://www.westcoastgreenhighway.com...richighway.htm

Thanks for the post, it fleshes out how the charging system works. ...

Most impressive is the availability of charging stations for free; this could be the harbinger of further variations such as public parking lots including charging as part of their parking fee or a business offering not only a parking validation, but a "free charge" as well as a patronage perq...




<O>

[em2nought]

I wonder about Volvo's plans for their trucking division?

[vienna]

May not be that big of an impact. Here in LA, there are a lot of big trucks that are either hybrid or full electric running around town; in fact, the local transit authority, which already has an all natural gas-powered fleet, is actively working with some Chinese firms on the implementation of all-electric buses on the service routes. Given that China, faced with serious air pollution problems, is rapidly moving in the direction of non-combustion engine vehicle development, they stand to profit from other countries' need to find non-petroleum alternatives. This is one of the reasons why the US oil industry and other related concerns are so in arms over the Paris Accord: now that demand for petroleum-based fuel products is sharply declining in the US and their market here shrinks, they had high hopes of expanding into other industrialized nations and other emergent economies, but, with the rise in ever more affordable alternate, renewable energy, the expansions are dimming...




<O>

[Catfish]

Energy is energy, and physical principles cannot be violated.
That said, the energy to charge electric objects of all kinds has to be produced first. By moving the source of energy to centralized plants instead of having them built into cars only looks like aclean solution; burning coal or using reactors still pollutes the environment. AND you have drastic losses transporting this energy to where it is needed, then add charging losses.

Apart from that being dependent on electric energy is not such an advantage to being dependent on fossil fuel.

A battery car may look clean and does not stink, but we just shifted the problem to where it cannot be seen so directly.