Volvo wants to be certain that the Volvo and Polestar manufacturers are major players in the electric vehicle space and took some major steps today to be certain that plan never runs out of juice.
The Swedish manufacturer owned by Chinese firm Geely announced it has signed agreements with two leading battery manufacturers: CATL of China and LG Chem of South Korea. Unlike Tesla which makes its own batteries in the Gigafactory, Volvo has cemented a steady supply for the next decade as the automotive world races toward electrification.
Volvo has ambitious plans. It raised eyebrows when it announced in 2017 that all new Volvo models launched from 2019 on would have some degree of electrification, mostly hybrids initially. Leadership upped the ante as it announced the objective of fully cars making half of its earnings up by 2025. Polestar was created as an brand. It began with a hybrid but all versions will be electric only.
2021 Polestar two
“The future of Volvo Cars is electric and we are firmly committed to moving beyond the internal combustion engine,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. “Today’s arrangements with CATL and LG Chem demonstrate how we will reach our ambitious electrification targets. ”
All Volvos ride on one of two platforms: the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) for the smaller 40 series and the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) for everything else. The battery deal will cover the current CMA platform such as the first electric Volvo, the XC40, which now has a plug-in hybrid option. The electric XC40 will be built in Ghent, Belgium, where Volvo is building its first battery assembly line. Construction will be carried out by the end of the year. Also on CMA is the electric Polestar 2 and some models sold by Lynk & Co, also owned by Geely, all of which will be built in a plant in Luqiao, China.
The next generation SPA2 will utilize the battery supply. That means next-gen 90 and 60 Series vehicles. First up are the next XC90. Volvo will include XC90 production to its new plant near Charleston, South Carolina, in 2021. The plant makes the S60, such as plug-in hybrids, and a pure EV is expected in the future from Volvo’s North American plant.
Volvo XC90 Twin Engine powertrain
Presently, the U.S. only receives the T8 plug-in hybrid, but in the future we will also obtain the T6 Twin Engine that is offered in different markets as part of a mandate to supply a plug-in on every model Volvo produces.
The post How Volvo Plans to Fight Tesla from the EV Game appeared first on Motortrend.
Buy Tickets for every event – Sports, Concerts, Festivals and more buy tickets
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.