Volvo News & Blogs

Volvo Will Show New C30 EV Concept

While details are still limited, Volvo has confirmed that it's developed a new plug-in electric show car based on its compact C30 model. Unlike the original C30-derived ReCharge pictured here, this latest EV exercise travels down a somewhat different design path. It dispenses with the ReCharge's individual wheel motors in favor of a more conventional single electric motor that drives the front wheels and draws power from an advanced Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) battery pack. One Volvo insider told us that the one-off C30 EV is expected to have range of roughly 130 miles on a single charge, although no word yet on how long it will take to replenish the battery. The first appearance for the C30 EV is likely to be at Volvo's Innovation for Life event that...
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California Mandates Cooler Cars to Fight Global Warming

It's not quite what you think. But the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has just passed the first legislation requiring solar-efficient glass to be used in all new cars sold in that state starting in 2012. Beyond literally keeping occupants cooler in the summer, the coincident reduction in the use of air conditioning will help improve average fuel economy and decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. This new regulation will be enacted using a two-stage roll. From 2012-2015, all vehicle glass must be capable of rejecting at least 45 percent of the sun's total heat-producing energy, except for the windshield which will have a 50 percent rejection requirement. Starting in 2016, the numbers will rise to 60 percent all around. CARB data...
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Volvo and Vattenfall Plan Plug-in Hybrid Diesel for 2012

Volvo Car Corporation and Swedish energy company Vattenfall have announced a joint venture partnership aimed at marketing a new plug-in hybrid in 2012 that will match electric power with a range-extender diesel engine. An extension of their 2007 joint venture to develop and test various plug-in technologies, the firms plan to build this as-yet-undisclosed line of vehicles in Sweden. As a first step in the run-up to formal series production, three Volvo V70 station wagons will be used for public demonstration/evaluation purposes starting this summer. While admitting customer cars will feature a slightly different hybrid package, Volvo says the information gathered from now will help it fine-tune the volume-build versions to specific buyer...
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Obama Plan Paves Way for Unified Mileage/Emissions Standards

President Obama today presented a landmark proposal aimed at moving the country ahead on the road to a clean energy economy. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden and flanked by members of his administration and key auto executives, Obama offered a comprehensive approach that will significantly boost fuel economy numbers and resolve the ongoing legal wrangling that has long set automakers and the state of California at odds over supplemental greenhouse gas emissions issues. The president, who characterized the existing rules governing fuel economy as "inadequate, uncertain and in flux," called for the adoption of a new single-standard formula that will accelerate the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirement to 35.5 mpg by 2016 -- four...
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No New CAFE Ruling Until Obama Administration Takes Over

Approving the new, more demanding and far more controversial fuel efficiency requirements covering 2011-2015 model year vehicles has now officially been passed on to the incoming Obama administration. In a tersely worded one-paragraph statement issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), finalizing the new standards -- which the Bush administration originally promised would be done by the end of last year -- has now officially been added to the already daunting Obama agenda. According to the DOT release: "The recent financial difficulties of the automobile industry will require the next administration to conduct a thorough review of matters affecting the industry, including how to effectively implement the Energy Independence and...
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