Volvo has been gradually unveiling details about its new electric XC40 ahead of the unveiling next week, and today, the automaker unveils its infotainment system, which is powered by Google’s Android.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo has confirmed the Polestar 2 price in Europe for their upcoming Tesla Model 3 competitor. The markets announced were Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK, Netherlands and Belgium.
Pricing in each market hovered around €59k Euro or equivalent. Norway gets a better deal with a price of 469k NOK, which converts to €46k, as does the UK, at £49.9k which converts to €56k.
Volvo is launching an all-electric version of the XC40 later this month, and it started teasing the vehicle last week, starting with safety. Now the automaker is showing some design images of the XC40 electric, and confirms some features like a frunk and more.
Expand
Expanding
Close
The Volvo XC40 SUV has become the Swedish automaker’s second best-selling vehicle and now they are bringing an all-electric version of the XC40 next month.
Volvo started teasing ahead of a launch next month.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo Group and Samsung SDI have entered a new strategic alliance that focuses on the development and supply of batteries for Volvo’s electric trucks.
Volvo, both through Polestar and its own brand, plans to bring several new all-electric vehicles to market and in order to do that, it needs significant battery supply.
The automaker now says that it has secured ‘multi-billion dollar battery supply deals’ with CATL and LG Chem.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Electric car maker Polestar will qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit, and the company says it will do so separately from parent company Volvo. This would ensure both Polestar and Volvo could both sell 200,000 EVs before the credit begins to phase out. Let’s see how this works…
Volvo’s all-electric XC40 compact SUV will debut later this year, and should be on the road by 2020, according to a new report.
The Volvo Group announced that it is investing in Momentum Dynamics, “a Philadelphia-based company developing and commercializing high power inductive charging for the automotive and transportation industries, especially suitable for commercial electric, autonomous and connected vehicles.”
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo is dipping its toes into electric vehicle infrastructure with an investment in FreeWire, a manufacturer of mobile rapid charging systems for electric vehicles. The investment comes as Volvo ramps up its electrification effort.
Expand
Expanding
Close
The Tesla Model 3 is having a major impact on the automotive market. Some established automakers are taking it very seriously and getting their hands on the vehicle for benchmarking and reverse-engineering.
Volvo is apparently adding itself to the list as it was spotted with a Model 3 in Sweden.
Expand
Expanding
Close
China’s protectionist laws are currently being relaxed when it comes to electric vehicles, but there are still some rigorous restrictions. For example, Chinese electric vehicles need to be powered by Chinese batteries.
A new report now shows that Geely found a workaround for Volvo’s electric vehicles by using Korean batteries made in China and the competition isn’t happy about it.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Last year, Volvo announced that it was going “all electric“ by 2019, but it was actually only adding electric motors to each model.
Now, the company is clarifying its electrification plans with an announcement that they aim for 50% of sales to be ‘fully electric’ by 2025.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo’s recently unveiled Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid just got one step closer to reality, as they started taking pre-orders today and posted an online configurator allowing interested customers to check out the various color and wheel options available on the car.
We don’t yet know much about the buying process, as Volvo recently said cars from the Polestar brand would primarily be available as a “subscription service” (similar to a lease). When pressed, Volvo stated that the Polestar 1 would target a price of “130-150,000 Euros” ($160k-$185k).
The deposit is $2,500/€2,500/20,000RMB and is fully refundable. Pre-orders are available in 18 countries: China, United States, Sweden, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada.
The first Volvo-made all-electric vehicle is apparently going to be the Polestar 2, but the Chinese-owned Swedish automaker now confirms that it will also launch an all-electric vehicle under its own brand soon.
Expand
Expanding
Close
This week, Volvo is adding itself to the list of many truck manufacturers working on electric trucks.
The Swedish group says that it will bring the electric trucks to the road as soon as this year and start selling them next year.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Polestar, Volvo’s performance brand recently relaunched as an all-electric brand, was off to a somewhat awkward but interesting start last year when it unveiled its first vehicle; the Polestar 1.
The car turned out to be a highly expensive plug-in hybrid, which the automaker quickly made sound outdated by announcing that they would bring an all-electric “Tesla Model 3 competitor” to production a year later.
In a new interview, the automaker’s CEO elaborates on those plans.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Last month, Volvo’s Polestar was revamped as a performance electric car brand and it had a big launch – unveiling its first vehicle and announcing several more electric vehicles to come.
Now they announced that they started construction at their new factory in China where they will produce those cars.
Expand
Expanding
Close
This morning Uber Technologies Inc. announced that they have agreed to purchase 24,000 Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrids from the Swedish company to for a fleet of driverless cars. Let that sink in for a moment, 24 thousand self-driving sports utility vehicles. That is 10,000 more than the number of yellow cabs in New York City.
In a strange move today, Polestar, Volvo’s newly rebranded performance electric car brand, unveiled its first vehicle, a plug-in hybrid 2+2 seat Grand Tourer Coupé (PHEV), and quickly made it somehow outdated by announcing that all future Polestar cars will be all-electric (BEV).
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo has yet to offer an all-electric vehicle or even to unveil one, but it announced today plans to only release electric vehicles starting in 2019.
But the news has some nuances and is being misreported, likely partly due to Volvo itself calling the announcement “Volvo Cars to go all electric“.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Volvo, a Swedish automaker owned by China’s Geely, announced a new aspect of its plans to transition the company in the new electric revolution.
The company is launching its Polestar brand as a separate entity to build and sell performance electric vehicles.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Today, Volvo Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson said that the current generation of diesel engines will be the automaker’s last and that they will instead focus on electric vehicles.
And he also gave credit to Tesla for launching demand for electric vehicles, which actually plays right into the automaker’s mission.
Expand
Expanding
Close
We were surprised when Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Car USA, said that the Swedish automaker is aggressively pushing for its first long-range electric car to start between $35,000 and $40,000.
We now get more insights into how they could achieve that from a report stating that they plan to build the car in China and export it globally.
Expand
Expanding
Close