Volvo’s electric dream hits the brakes as buyers stick with petrol
It was five years ago, in March 2021, when Volvo announced its plan to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles, including hybrids, and only sell all-electric cars by the end of the decade
Volvo’s press release stated:
Fully electric models are easily the fastest growing segment in the car industry. That’s not so strange, seeing as they’re a fairly recent phenomenon, but all arrows point in the same direction: fully electric cars are rapidly conquering markets around the globe. Regulations, incentives and customer preferences all do their bit to drive the development.
Back in 2017, we were the first established car maker to commit to all-out electrification. We said that customer demand would decide when exactly we would leave the internal combustion engine behind altogether. Now we see that demand for our electrified cars is increasing rapidly.
So we’re comfortable putting a year on that earlier commitment: we plan to become a fully electric premium car maker by 2030. By that date, we intend to be a leader in that market segment and aim to have phased out cars with an internal combustion engine from our line-up – including hybrids.
“So instead of investing in a shrinking business, we choose to invest in the future – electric and online”
Our transition towards becoming a fully electric car maker is a key part of our ambitious climate plan. We want to consistently reduce the life cycle carbon footprint per car through concrete actions. In the long term, we want to be a climate neutral company by 2040.
Our plan also builds on our conviction that fewer and fewer people want traditionally powered cars. We expect to see legislation to boost electric cars, while we also expect accessible high-quality charging infrastructure will be more common. That should accelerate demand for fully electric cars.
“To remain successful, we need profitable growth,” says Håkan Samuelsson, our chief executive. “So instead of investing in a shrinking business, we choose to invest in the future – electric and online. We’re fully focused on becoming a leader in the fast-growing premium electric segment.”
We’re moving fast towards full electrification with an increased focus on online sales and a more complete, attractive and transparent consumer offer. All fully electric models will be available online only.
In coming years we’ll roll out several additional electric models, with more to follow. Already by 2025, we aim for 50 per cent of our global sales to be fully electric cars, before we reach the all-in point by 2030.
“There is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine,” says Henrik Green, our chief technology officer. “We’re firmly committed to becoming an electric-only car maker and the transition should happen by 2030. It’ll allow us to meet the expectations of our customers and be a part of the solution when it comes to fighting climate change.”
Source: volvocars.com
It was to be a brave, new world! Some of us thought they were committing commercial suicide though.
Fast forward to today, and it is apparent that Volvo have quietly dropped their strategy, faced with the realities of the marketplace – that hardly anybody wants to buy electric cars.
Last year fully electric cars only made up 21 percent of total global sales, far short of their 50 percent target.
Source: best-selling-cars.com
Worse still for Volvo’s credibility, full internal combustion engine cars accounted for more than half total sales. I can’t find any detailed breakdown for the UK, but in Europe it is a similar picture with ICE sales still outnumbering electric.
Volvo lump together “mild hybrids” and ICE cars. But these mild hybrids are not hybrid at all, in the accepted sense.
Volvo describe them as follows:
The Volvo XC60 is a hybrid SUV because it combines a petrol engine with a 48V mild hybrid system. This system assists the engine during acceleration and cruising to help save fuel and reduce emissions. It also captures energy during braking to recharge the battery, making your drive smoother and more efficient.
The hybrid system may help to boost engine power and utilise braking energy. But it is the petrol engine that propels the car. Needless to say, mild hybrids such as this do not meet UK Government definitions of what can be classed as a hybrid, where the ZEV Mandate is concerned.
Many cars nowadays seem to have this sort of hybrid arrangement – when I tried to book a windscreen replacement for my last car online, the computer kept describing it as a “hybrid”, when I knew it was not! (Then I realised that BMW called it an MHEV and my log book also listed it as that!)
Whatever Volvo call these cars, they certainly don’t have fuel efficiency normally associated with hybrids – the XC60, for instance, has fuel consumption of a distinctly unimpressive 37.7 mpg.
Nor, of course, do mild hybrids use electricity from the grid. All of the power, ultimately, comes from petrol. The SMMT, by the way, also classify mild hybrids in petrol/diesel totals. SMMT use these definitions:
Following their catastrophic miscalculation in 2021, Volvo have now backtracked and have instead targeted 90 to 100 percent electrified sales (BEVs + PHEVs), with a limited role for mild hybrids.
Even this is wishful thinking.
Taking the XC60 model, the mid-range SUV, a new mild hybrid costs £42,860. PHEVs and EVs cost £56,765 and £56,860 respectively.
Who is going to pay an extra £14k for exactly the same car with an electric engine?
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