Later this month Volvo will begin road testing the V60 Plug-in Hybrid, with the first test drive planned at 11th Michelin Challenge Bibendum in Berlin.
The V60 hybrid can be a game-changer when it finally arrives in 2012, if it manage to produce the same economy figures Volvo has claimed. Just check it out: a combined power output 215 + 70 horsepower and maximum torque of 440 + 200 Nm, diesel fuel consumption of 150 mpg (total range is up to 746 miles), CO2 (NEDC) emissions 49 g/km!
The car is effectively an all-wheel-drive car with the front wheels driven by a five-cylinder 2.4-litre turbodiesel producing 215 hp/440 Nm and the rear wheels by a 70 hp electric motor, which receives power from a 12 kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
Volvo is going to kick the development of green cars into high gear, as they will be testing three cars in Berlin including Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid, the Volvo C30 Electric and the Volvo V50 DRIVe.
More details on the other two:
Volvo C30 Electric – 101 miles with almost zero emissions
The Volvo C30 Electric is as well-equipped, comfortable, sporty and safe as the standard C30 – while at the same time offering the driver a range of up to 93 miles per charge with almost zero carbon dioxide emissions.
The car has a 111 hp electric motor delivering 220 Nm of torque. The 24 kWh lithium-ion battery pack is recharged via a regular 230 volt power socket. A full 10-ampere charge takes approximately 10 hours. This time drops to less than seven hours with 16A.
The certified range according to the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) is 101 miles. However, Volvo Cars specifies up to 93 kilometres as the car’s practical range. The energy produced during engine braking is used to regenerate the battery.
The C30 Electric accelerates from 0 to 43.5mph in just 6.5 seconds. The car has a top speed of 80.7 mph.
Volvo V50 DRIVe
The Volvo V50 DRIVe is equipped with a 1.6-litre common rail turbo diesel featuring start/stop and several other refinements that bring CO2 emissions down to 99 g/km. The engine produces 115 hp/270 Nm and fuel consumption (EU Combined) is 74.3 mpg.
Volvo’s DRIVe badge sits on the models that offer the best environmental performance in their segments. “We have moved ahead very quickly since we launched our first three 119 gram models in Paris in the autumn of 2008. The fact that we now have seven models below 120 g/km, three of them below 100 grams, emphasises that few of our competitors can match us in the drive for increasingly eco-efficient cars,” says Peter Mertens. He concludes:
“The V60 Plug-in Hybrid and the C30 represents our ambition bring electric power into the Volvo showrooms as soon as possible. The cars shown at Michelin Challenge Bibendum are part of test fleets that are very close to production quality.”
