Volvo is hitting the brakes on petrol only vehicles from 2019. The Swedish vehicle manufacturers announced earlier this week that its cars will be electric or hybrid from 2019 which means that the company is effectively doing away with the conventional internal combustion engines.
Volvo global CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement that “People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs. You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish,” which means the decision is purely a customer demand one even though it looks like the hybrid brand itself is on the decline. This announcement will somehow send waves in that market as more manufacturers are now looking the electric power direction.
The announcement by the Chinese owned Volvo though doesn’t mean that you will stop seeing petrol fired Volvos after 2019, in fact it might be up to 2025 before you start seeing drastic changes in developed markets. As for emerging markets where electricity supply is still not sufficient for local consumption, this might not be a welcome development just yet. The reason you won’t start seeing big changes from Volvo even in developed nations is because of the number of petrol fired Volvo cars in circulation which then begin to phase out gradually for newer electric ones to take over. This phase out often means that the parts of the older ones are reused in newer models or are shipped to markets that aren’t ready just yet for hybrid or electric vehicles.
But not to lose out complete seeing as the market may not be fully ready for pure electric vehicles, the hybrid ones also use the pure electric technology (a battery and electric motor) which is that fuel economy is better as a result of a powerful battery that supports the engine as well.
This is a major announcement by Volvo and in fact this makes it the first major automaker to make such an announcement and this won’t be the first time Volvo would be making a move in this direction. Last year Uber announced that it was partnering with Volvo to bring fully autonomous vehicles to our roads by 2021.
Volvo aims to sell 1 million electric or hybrid vehicles by 2025 in a move that has been embraced by environmental activists.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
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