On Monday, Volvo announced that it has teamed up with Swedish energy giant Vattenfall to introduce plug-in hybrid models to the market in 2012. But before we see the final production cars arriving in showrooms, Volvo will present a trio of V70 diesel plug-in hybrid demonstrator cars this summer to test the new technology. Click through to watch the video that includes interviews with several Volvo officials as well as footage of the demo V70 plug-in hybrid in action.
Swedish automaker Volvo has revealed plans to have a production plug-in diesel-electric hybrid model on the market as early as 2012. To help achieve its goal, Volvo has formed a joint partnership with Swedish energy supplier Vattenfall. The two companies have been cooperating in the field of plug-in hybrid technology since early 2007. Volvo also announced that it has readied three prototype V70 Diesel-Electric plug-in hybrid models that will be used to gather information on the new technology, to determine driver habits and to establish how they want to charge their cars. On its behalf Vattenfall will, among other things, test various concepts for high-speed home charging and also for charging stations in public places, where owners pay to fuel with electricity instead of petrol or diesel.
The prototype V70 Plug-in Hybrids combine a front-mounted diesel engine that is designed to run on renewable synthetic fuels and will meet forthcoming extremely stringent exhaust regulations, with a rear-mounted electric motor powered by a 11.3 kWh Li-ion battery pack. The battery takes about five hours to charge from a standard wall socket, and the battery is also charged every time the car's brakes are applied.
Volvo said that the cars that are planned to go into series production in 2012 will feature somewhat different technology, but claimed that the launch of the prototype vehicles is a step towards series-producing plug-in hybrid cars specifically tailored to market needs.
The automaker claims that while the purchase price of the plug-in hybrids will be higher than that of conventional cars, its fuel costs will be cut to roughly one-third compared with diesel power.
"We are investing in an industrial joint venture to series-produce plug-in hybrid cars in Sweden in 2012, cars that can be powered by both electricity and diesel." says Stephen Odell, President and CEO of Volvo Cars. "This is an important business development for us and our partnership with Vattenfall allows us to take a giant step toward offering our customers cars with an even smaller environmental footprint."
In about a year's time, Swedish automaker Volvo will perform the market launch of the all new S60 premium sedan that will be heavily based on the stylish S60 Concept that made its global debut at the Detroit Show this past January. We've already seen static footage of the four-door coupe design study but now Sweden's Teknikens Varld magazine took the one-off concept car for a quick spin. Unfortunately, Google has yet to find a way to automatically translate audio from videos, so unless you happen to hook up with a bilingual Swedish gal, you're better off lowering the volume in order to enjoy to the ride.
Via: Teknikens
In the imaginary land of photoshop and its ilk, everything is possible - even a V8 powered, rear-wheel drive pickup truck version of Volvo's V70 estate in the likes of the Holden Commodore Ute / Pontiac G8 ST. These computer generated images (CGIs for short) were sent to Carscoop by an 'old' acquaintance of ours, Bo Zolland from Sweden who has created many CGIs in the past including the Corvette Stingray- and Audi R8-themed speed boats. Follow the jump to check out the rest of the gallery or click here to get a taste of a real-life Volvo XC70 pickup truck that was spotted right outside the Swedish-firm's museum in Gothenburg.Images Credit: Bo Zolland of VizualTech
