Volvo has announced a number of big changes to its car lineup, saying that it will start developing hybrid versions of each car model and even release a range of electric cars to compete with the Tesla Model S.
By Volvo's estimate, electric cars will soon account for 10 percent of Volvo's car sales by the end of the decade. The first electric car in Volvo's new lineup is the 2016 XC90, and will be followed by the S90 flagship sedan.
"We believe that the time has come for electrified cars to cease being a niche technology and enter the mainstream," said Volvo Cars president and CEO Håkan Samuelsson.
What this means is that, by 2019, every Volvo car model will also be available in an electric version, which is a pretty significant move by the company. This move is made possible by Volvo's "Scalable Product Architecture," which will be a part of most of Volvo's models going forward, and is the result of a massive $11 billion investment made by Geely, a Chinese company that bought Volvo back in 2010.
Plug-in hybrids will start to become increasingly common over the next few years as restrictions concerning carbon emissions in the U.S. and Europe become increasingly strict. Plug-in hybrids run on either gas or electricity at different times, and when a car runs out of electricity, it will run solely on gas. This ensures that customers don't have to deal with range anxiety.
According to Volvo, customers will be able to do as much as half of their driving using only electricity.
Volvo isn't the only company moving toward electric cars. Volkswagen also recently announced that it would be making hybrid and electric cars, however, it made this announcement under very different circumstances, after having been accused and found guilty of cheating on emissions tests.
Via: Wired
