A few years ago, car manufacturers announced that electric cars are the future, and they took big steps towards the electrification of their cars, some even completely removing cars with internal combustion engines from their offer. However, production problems and a drop in demand for EVs showed that everything was too fast. This has prompted some manufacturers to abandon their plans, such as Volvo, which has a new plan. They hope that by the end of the decade, 90 percent of all sales will be electric and hybrid PHEVs.
There are three main reasons for changing the decision and facing reality. First, the Swedish automaker believes that the rate of development of infrastructure for electric cars is slower than expected. The second reason is the abolition or reduction of subsidies for these cars by several countries, and the third reason is attributed to the introduction of very high tariffs for certain markets.
Volvo has announced that it will continue to produce cars with internal combustion engines after 2030, but they will have mild hybrid systems and will be produced in limited series. Also, the plan is for PHEVs and electric cars to account for between 50 and 60 percent of total sales by the end of this year. This target is too ambitious if we consider the sales of the last few months when fully electric cars accounted for only 26 percent of the total sales.
It should be noted that Volvo’s long-term plan is to become completely carbon neutral by 2040.
Source: Volvo
