Volvo’s next-gen hyrbids will be American-made EREVs

Volvo plans to physique a caller extended-range EV astatine its mill successful South Carolina. | Image: Getty Images

As it struggles with declining income and an uncertain regulatory environment, Volvo is hoping to realign its fortunes by overhauling its electrical conveyance plans. And a large portion of that is simply a stake connected hybrid exertion — oregon much specifically, extended-range electrical vehicles (EREV).

At a mill circuit successful Ridgeville, South Carolina, Volvo made a bid of announcements, including an updated EX90 SUV with an Nvidia-supplied machine and the commencement of accumulation connected the gas-powered XC60. But main among them was the quality that the automaker would statesman accumulation of an unnamed EREV, developed specifically for the US market.

In a roundtable with reporters, Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson described it arsenic the automaker’s “second-generation hybrid,” with each the acceleration and driving agility of a regular battery-electric vehicle, but with improved scope acknowledgment to a tiny state engine.

“The exertion needs to beryllium decided,” Samuelsson said, “but it’s much an electrical car with a backup motor than the first-generation [hybrid], which is simply a combustion car with immoderate batteries.”

EREVs are fundamentally plug-in hybrids with a tiny interior combustion motor to recharge the EV artillery for much range. They relation arsenic EVs, with the electrical motors driving the wheels, and batteries that tin beryllium plugged into EV chargers. The state generator is intended to relieve immoderate scope anxiousness that immoderate customers whitethorn person astir buying a afloat EV.

Many automakers are turning to EREVs, arsenic the imminent expiration of the national EV taxation recognition is expected to effect successful a driblet successful EV sales. Ford, Ram, Hyundai, Nissan, and Scout Motors are conscionable immoderate of the companies that person said they mean to merchandise EREVs successful the adjacent future.

Volvo is owned by Geely, a monolithic Chinese automaker that besides produces a batch of hybrids, truthful the institution hopes to utilize immoderate of that interior cognition successful processing this caller conveyance program.

“We’re reasonably global,” Samuelsson said. “I person engineers successful beauteous overmuch each continents … the bulk of which are successful Sweden. So that’s ever going to beryllium the halfway of gravity.”

But the conveyance volition beryllium built successful the US, arsenic Volvo — arsenic with galore automakers close present — looks for ways to minimize the interaction that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having connected its bottommost line. The institution has had a unsmooth summer, with income dropping each period acknowledgment to rising prices and declining EV demand. It adjacent had to halt selling immoderate of its models successful the US, arsenic tariffs were making it excessively expensive.

As such, Volvo is tailoring its caller hybrid for the American market, focusing connected a “bigger car” specifically for families, Samuelsson said. That would look to constituent to an SUV with 3 rows, overmuch similar the XC90 oregon EX90. That said, Volvo’s plan squad inactive hasn’t decided what benignant of car it volition be.

But erstwhile that determination is made and the EREV goes into production, past Volvo’s South Carolina origin volition beryllium astatine capacity. Volvo is staking its aboriginal connected a 50 percent measurement summation implicit the adjacent 5 years, anchored by a $1.3 cardinal concern successful its mill successful Charleston, South Carolina. The automaker had planned to go an EV-only institution by 2030, but had to propulsion that backmost a decennary to 2040 arsenic a effect of weaker request and slower sales.

“It volition instrumentality longer clip than we thought 5 years ago,” Samuelsson said, “and that’s wherefore we request to beryllium pragmatic and person this benignant of plug-in oregon span solutions.”

With further reporting by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy.