Volvo’s future plug-in hybrid and electric model range explained

Volvo’s commitment towards making driving safer can be easily acknowledged by their ongoing efforts to eventually design cars that will not crash. Safety, however, isn’t the only priority for Volvo at the moment as the brand is also hard at work in making its future cars significantly kinder to the environment. This explains Volvo’s several new electrification strategies that will involve plug-in hybrid models being introduced across its entire range. 

If all goes as per their plans, Volvo will have an entirely new range of electrified smaller cars and a fully electric car on sale by 2019. As part of this new strategy, the Swedish brand is expecting electrified vehicles to account for up to 10 per cent of total car sales in the medium term. 

The first stage of this new electrification strategy will see Volvo introducing plug-in hybrid versions of its 90 series and 60 series larger cars, based on the brand’s new Scalable Product Architecture. The strategy, as we know, is already underway with the launch of the T8 plug-in hybrid version of the all-new XC90 luxury SUV. What’s more, Volvo will introduce similarly specced plug-in hybrid versions with its forthcoming S90 premium sedan and other future models including the XC60 and the S60. 

Besides large plug-in hybrids, Volvo is expected to widen its product portfolio with an entirely new range of smaller 40 series cars based on the brand’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA). Like the bigger SPA platform, the Compact Modular Architecture has been designed from the outset for electrification and as a result, we can expect next-gen models of the V40 and the V40 Cross Country with plug-in hybrid set ups.  

As for a fully electric car, Volvo has confirmed that it will have an all-electric vehicle in its range by 2019. While further details of this planned model will only be released at a later date, one can safely expect this new offering to make use of highly advanced battery management and plug in technologies previously unseen in EVs.