Volvo’s first hybrid vehicles will be sold on the streets, at least on the streets of Sweden, from 2012. This announcement by the CEO of the Volvo Car Corporation Mr Stephen Odell means Volvo will become the first Swedish automaker to use hybrid technology in its cars. Others like SAAB and Koenigsegg might follow later.
“We are investing in an industrial joint venture to series-produce plug-in hybrid cars in Sweden in 2012,” said Odell, “cars that can be powered by both electricity and diesel. 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.”
These plug-in Volvo hybrid cars will be driven by a powerful electric motor fuelled by a lithium-ion battery. The battery takes about 5 hours to charge from a normal wall socket, and the battery is also charged every time the car's brakes are applied. That system is called brake energy regeneration and is also used in Formula One where it’s called KERS.
