Electric illusions Volvo warns on green targets

ELECTRIC ILLUSIONS

Volvo Car Corporation has warned that EU targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions are being jeopardised by the absence of harmonised incentives to consumers.

Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation, says that jobs, investment and competitiveness in the European car industry could be threatened by the European Commission’s approach towards vehicle electrification.

“Volvo Car Corporation urges the EU to coordinate incentives whilst supporting research and development. The European automotive industry risks losing the present technological leadership if this doesn’t happen,” he said. “In the long-term, this jeopardises our industry’s competitiveness and European jobs.”

Volvo Car Corporation has also raised concerns about the viability of the European Commission’s White Paper on Transport, which states that greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector will have to be cut by at least 60 per cent by 2050 to achieve the EU’s climate change goals. The paper also calls for the use of conventionally fuelled cars in cities to be halved by 2030 and then completely phased out by 2050.

“European car manufacturers are facing a very difficult challenge when CO2 legislations requiring electrified cars are implemented without initiatives that make these cars affordable for a growing number of consumers,” said Stefan Jacoby.

In 2011 fewer than 50,000 battery electric vehicles were sold in the world, equivalent to a market share of about 0.1 per cent. The figure suggests that the car market will continue to be dominated by traditional combustionengine models for the foreseeable future.

“It is far too early to dismiss the conventional diesel and petrol power trains. We continuously improve their efficiency. In the last two years Volvo has brought CO2 emissions from our diesel and petrol model ranges down by 13 per cent,” said Jacoby.

Unrealistic predictions

Whilst there has been no official target set for the implementation of electrification within the EU, industry studies indicate that several member states are overestimating the speed at which electrified vehicles are being introduced.

The European Commission’s own study, ‘A European Strategy on Clean and Energy

Efficient Vehicles’, forecasts only 3-4 per cent market share for battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids by 2020, with a rise towards 30 per cent expected by 2030.

“Both predictions are unrealistic. Considering the lack of coordinated governmental incentives and the high battery system costs, the market share for electrified vehicles will struggle to pass the one per cent mark by 2020,” said Stefan Jacoby.

One main factor preventing a rapid increase of electric vehicles on the roads is that the cost for the electrification technology is not being reduced fast enough.

“The automotive industry’s cost reduction efforts can’t fully compensate for the additional battery system cost. Pan-European subsidies and incentives are needed to support a successful market introduction. Unfortunately such necessary initiatives are jeopardised by the current debt crisis,” said Stefan Jacoby.

Developing the technology

Nonetheless, Volvo Car Corporation is determined to be a leader in auto electrification. Deliveries of its C30 Electric car to customers in Europe have already begun.

With a range of up to 150km, the Volvo C30 Electric has a 24 kWh battery pack, of which 22.7 kWh is used to power the car. The batteries (2x140 kg) are fitted both where the fuel tank is normally located and centrally in the vehicle. This means that the luggage space remains intact.

A 111 hp electric motor offers 220 Nm of torque. In addition, the car has a 400 Volt highvoltage system. The lithium-ion batteries are recharged via a regular 230 Volts power socket.

The electric motor’s instant torque delivery gives the Volvo C30 Electric acceleration from 0 to 70 km/h of just 6.0 seconds. The car has a top speed of 130 km/h.

“150 km is a considerably longer distance than 90 per cent of all commuters in the world cover per day. The average figure is 45 km/day. This means that the C30 Electric could be used for daily commuting,” explains Lennart Stegland, director of Volvo Cars’ Special Vehicles division.

Now, 2012 has seen the technology taken another step forward with the launch of the new Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid.

The XC60 Concept is an electric car, a highly economical hybrid and a powerful high-performance car all rolled into one. At the touch of a button, the driver decides how the available power from the combination of the high-performance gasoline engine and the electric motor is to be utilised.

The front wheels of the XC60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept are powered by a fourcylinder turbocharged gasoline engine from the forthcoming VEA (Volvo Environmental Architecture) engine family. This engine produces 280 horsepower and maximum torque of 380 Nm (280 lb.-ft.). Power delivery to the wheels comes via a newly developed eightspeed automatic transmission.

The rear axle of the XC60 is driven by an electric motor producing 70 horsepower. It is supplied with power from a 12 kWh lithium-ion battery pack installed under the floor of the load compartment.

“The V60 Plug-in Hybrid is a great car and we have seen immense interest from the market,” says Stefan Jacoby. “However, while we have worked hard to bring the price tag below €50,000, incentives are needed to reach a broader customer base.”

Volvo is now taking the next step in its electrification strategy by producing cars with Range Extenders – electric cars that are fitted with a combustion engine to increase their range. A three-cylinder petrol engine under the rear load compartment floor is connected to a 40 kW generator that can drive the car’s electric motor when the battery is depleted. The generator can also charge the battery at the same time. The Range Extender increases the electric car’s range by up to 1000 km.

Falling behind

Volvo says that electric mobility must be achieved through cooperation between the vehicle industry, governments, infrastructure providers, electric energy providers and scientific institutions.

In China, for example, the government has earmarked 15 billion US Dollars to support its domestic vehicle industry’s research and development within electrification. This far exceeds the EU and the United States commitment to electrification. n

Mr Stefan Jacoby, Volvo Cars’ president and chief executive officer