Automotive

Volvo aiming to sell one million electric vehicles by 2025

Volvo aiming to sell one million electric vehicles by 2025
Volvo's recently revealed S90, which is available with its T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain option
Volvo's recently revealed S90, which is available with its T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain option
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The XC90 SUV with plug-in hybrid powertrain
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The XC90 SUV with plug-in hybrid powertrain
Volvo's recently revealed S90, which is available with its T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain option
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Volvo's recently revealed S90, which is available with its T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain option

Volvo has doubled down on electrification. It previously stated intentions of offering plug-in hybrid variants of every model, and it's been following through with the likes of the new S90 sedan and V90 wagon. It only plans to get more aggressive with electrification in the coming years, announcing this week that it hopes to sell up to one million electrified vehicles (all-electric and plug-in hybrid models), in total, by 2025. It will work toward that goal by creating two plug-in variants of every model and introducing its first fully electric car in 2019.

Volvo has already laid the groundwork for an aggressive rollout of hybrids and electrics, developing the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), both of which can incorporate hybrid or all-electric powertrains. It plans to begin introducing at least one new chargeable vehicle each year, including an all-electric car in 2019.

To put this goal in perspective, total worldwide plug-in electric vehicle sales (battery powered electrics and plug-in hybrids) reached one million just last September, according to numbers tracked by HybridCars.com. The Nissan Leaf led the way with about 200,000 global sales and the Chevy Volt came in second with about half that number. Both vehicles launched in 2010.

The XC90 SUV with plug-in hybrid powertrain
The XC90 SUV with plug-in hybrid powertrain

The US accounted for the biggest chunk of those one million sales, but it's well behind its own "one million car" goal. President Barack Obama set that goal years earlier for 2015, but by the close of last year, the US hadn't even reached the halfway point, coming in around 400,000. In January of this year, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz responded by pushing that goal back a few years, as reported by Reuters.

Plug-in sales have been growing steadily in countries around the world. Total sales jumped from 500,000 to one million in just over a year, and regions like Europe and China have been catching up with and surpassing US sales numbers.

Still, one million cars by a single company in less than a decade seems a big hill to climb.

"It is a deliberately ambitious target," says Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo president and chief executive. "It is going to be a challenge, but Volvo wants to be at the forefront of this shift to electrification."

Volvo surpassed 500,000 total global sales for the first time last year. It said in January that it expects electrified vehicles to account for at least 10 percent of its sales in the coming years.

Source: Volvo

3 comments
3 comments
swaan
They have a long way to go - no dedicated platforms, no battery/cell manufacturing. I am wondering how much of this is pure marketing brand green-washing and how much is the realization that EVs are the future.
habakak
At least Volvo has the vision to see the coming electrification of the automobile. Even if they don't hit their target, they are moving towards a full electric line. Those who poo-poo current electric cars or battery technology will be caught holding the bag. 4 years ago the world did not have a long-distance electric car. Enter the Model S. In another 10 years ICE based cars will be the equivalent of a horse-carriage.
KeithAllen
2019...Yawn.