Volvo will produce its EV

Volvo confirmed that it had built at least one battery electric version of the C30 coupe, but said a decision on putting the car into series production won’t be made until the fall or winter.

Last week was reported that Volvo was considering an all-electric C30. On Monday, it was reported that Volvo will show a plug-in C30 coupe, with at least a visual resemblance to the ReCharge plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, at its Innovation for Life event held shortly after the Frankfurt auto show in mid-September.

ReCharge was unveiled in Frankfurt two years ago, with wheel motors at all four corners and 62 miles (100 km) of electric range. Versions were shown with both flex-fuel and diesel engines. Volvo has said it will produce a production plug-in hybrid by 2012, and a company spokesman, Daniel Johnston, said it would be introduced first in Europe “and then later in the U.S.” The wheel motors did not make it into the electric C30, Mr. Johnston said, and they may not be part of the production plug-in hybrid, either. “There are technical issues,” he said. “It may be too early to put them into production. They’re not happy with the performance.”

Mr. Johnston said the battery C30 will have about 130 miles (210 km) of range (more than the newly unveiled Nissan Leaf, a potential competitor) and could be part of a 100-vehicle test fleet if plans were approved.

Source : The New York Times, by Jim Motavalli, August 11th, 2009