Volvo
Volvo Turns to Blockchain for Conflict Free EVs
“Cars are driven by people,” reads Volvo’s corporate mission statement. “The guiding principle behind everything we make at Volvo, therefore, is and must remain: safety.” That means the safety of Volvo’s passengers, the safety of the cyclists and animals that they share the road with, an– increasingly— the safety of the people who manufacture Volvo Cars. That’s why Volvo is turning to blockchain technologies in order to ensure that its hybrids and EVs do not rely on conflict minerals or child labor. In an emailed statement sent Friday, Volvo Cars explained that it had completed its first trial of blockchain tracking using recycled cobalt in China. “It tracked cobalt from a Chinese recycling plant to Volvo Cars Zhejiang over a two-...
Autonomous Cars, Level 0 to 5 Explained
Self-driving, autonomous cars occupy a weird space in the modern, American psyche. To some, they’re part of a futuristic, Utopian vision of safer, cleaner vehicles that could fundamentally change the nature of transportation ownership for the better. To others, they represent a bleak and soulless tomorrow that will see entire industries gutted, leaving millions unemployed. To others still, it seems like they’ve already been around a while, in some form or another, and nobody really seems to care– and that’s where things tend to get tricky and people start asking questions. As such, we’ve decided to answer a few of the most common questions that have come up about self-driving cars in our first “Enrg.io Explainer”. Enjoy! Level 0 | Zero Autom...
Infographic Charts the Rise of AI at Volvo CE
In case the launch of the flagship Polestar sub-brand and the acquisition and subsequent electrification of the storied Lotus Cars brand didn’t clue you in, Volvo is dead serious about being a major player in the electric future. If you’re a car nerd, like me, you’d be forgiven for thinking of Volvo as a sort of “underdog” in this fight, of course– but, then, you’d be forgetting about Volvo’s real empire: big-a** commercial trucks. It’s there, in the CE division, that you will find some of the most amazing innovations in the business. That weird bucket thing up there? That’s Volvo’s fully autonomous, battery-electric, driverless hauler, the HX1. The wheel-loader that’s, well, loading it up? It’s a diesel-electric...
5 Best Electrified Supercars You Can Buy in 2019
The future of transportation is definitely electric, but there are still a few gear heads who can’t (or won’t) wrap their brains around the idea that electrified cars can be just as fast as their gas-guzzling, big-cube, V8 counterparts. Or, in many cases, much, much faster– at least in a straight drag race, that is. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of five furiously fast electrified machines. So, sit back and enjoy the list. Feel free to like and share this collection of go-fast hybrids and EVs with the coal-rollers and petroleum pumpers in your life whenever you find it appropriate, and let us know if you think we missed any EVs and hybrids worth sharing. Enjoy! Volvo Polestar 1 | 591HP + 738TQ I’m seriously partial to Volvos, Saabs, and other...
Volvo Announces Production-ready Autonomous Uber
Ride-hailing firm Uber announced plans to buy more than 24,000 autonomous vehicles way back in 2017, but the cars themselves have been a long time coming. After a tragic setback and making significant strides in their hardware, however, Volvo is ready to start delivering specially-built XC90 base vehicles equipped with key safety features that will allow Uber to easily install its own self-driving software over Volvo’s own “Pilot Assist” technology. “By the middle of the next decade we expect one-third of all cars we sell to be fully autonomous,” says Volvo CEO, Håkan Samuelsson. “Our agreement with Uber underlines our ambition to be the supplier of choice to the world’s leading ride-hailing companies.” The move towards automating its services coul...
Skip the Super Bowl, Win a Volvo (Maybe)
Are you looking for an excuse to avoid the Super Bowl and– worse!– the people who “only watch it for the commercials”? Volvo has just the thing: a new app that lets you stare at the screen for a chance to win an all-new 2019 Volvo S60. The app is simple. You literally stare at the app, and it uses your phone or tablet’s camera to detect eye contact. If you break your concentration and look away, you lose. It’s basically a reverse chicken game, except the top three players win a new Volvo. Which, if you ask me, is both awesome and absolutely ridiculous– the best kind of marketing! You can check out the official press release, below, then let us know what you think of Volvo’s new staring contest in the comments section at the bottom of the page...
Volvo Polestar 2 Teased in Android App
Volvo’s hotly anticipated “mainstream” electric sedan hasn’t been officially revealed. Now that several aspects of its design have been leaked in an Android Auto app at CES, however, we have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to look like! Volvo | Native Android Auto App Here’s what we know: Volvo has plans to follow-up to their jaw-droppingly gorgeous and obscenely powerful Polestar 1 hybrid supercar with a smaller, more mainstream sedan called the Polestar 2. That car is expected to compete directly with the popular Tesla Model 3 and loaded variants of the new Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt in both price and range. What we didn’t know, really, was what the new Polestar 2 was going to look like. At least, we didn’t know until a few day...
New Report Says 97% of Auto Mechanics Can’t Work on Electric Cars
Recently published studies from the UK’s Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) revealed that as many as 97% of active auto mechanics aren’t qualified to work on electric cars. Worse, of that 3% that is qualified, the vast majority of them are employed at manufacturer’s dealerships, presenting prospective EV buyers with very limited service options. In addition to limiting the options for electric car buyers, the lack of qualified techs is also posing a problem for regulators. Simply put: if you don’t have anyone to work on EVs, how will you keep them running once they’re all that’s allowed? Sure, there’s a long time between now and the proposed 2040 ICE cutoff date– and plenty of time for techs to get ready. Even so, London’s bus fleet ...
LA 2018: Volvo Shows Off Autonomous Car Breakthrough
While I was busy scribbling away at our annual Best Fuel Efficient Motorcycles list, the 2018 LA Auto Show (going by the name, “Automobility 18”) got underway with announcements from several major brands. I’ll kick that coverage off, then, with one of my favorites: Volvo. Volvo did something pretty wild in LA, too. They didn’t show a single car. That’s right. No shiny, new S60 sedan. No tire-shredding Polestar hybrid supercar. Not even an electric version of the hot-selling XC40 crossover. No cars, then– just “an experience”. An experience, and some ground-breaking new lidar technology that will help make autonomous cars exponentially safer in complex, high traffic situations. New tech that makes future cars safer … gotta love that, rig...
Volvo’s Ghent Factory Gets a Solar Upgrade
Volvo has made a number of commitments to reducing improving the Earth. Sometimes that means donating profits to help clean up the ocean, while other times that means reducing its own carbon footprint. This story is one of those latter cases, as Volvo announces the installation of 15,000 solar panels at its SPA platform car factory in Ghent, Belgium. The Belgian factory also uses wind power to supply around 11% of its power consumption, and in 2016 the factory introduced a heating system that reduced carbon emissions by 40%, saving 15,000 tons of CO2 per year. Ghent follows the company’s Skövde engine plant in Sweden– which was the first climate-neutral facility in Volvo’s global manufacturing network. You can check out the original press release, below, then let us know ...
Volvo Reveals Autonomous Truck Concept
Despite some very public setbacks beyond its control, Volvo continues to push forward with both autonomous and electric truck concepts. The latest concept from the Swedish carmaker takes Tesla’s semi concept and goes one better, eliminating the drivers’ compartment– and, as a consequence, the driver– altogether. “The full potential of the transport industry is yet to be seen. Everything suggests that the global need for transportation will continue to significantly increase in the coming decade,” says Claes Nilsson, President Volvo Trucks. He sees this new concept as a response to a global increase in demand for shipping coupled with a shortage of new long-haul drivers entering the field. “If we are to meet this demand (for shipping services) in a sustai...
Autonomous Volvo 360c Revealed, Asks: Why Fly?
Maybe it’s just me, but if I’m staring down a 400 mile flight, I find myself thinking I’d rather just drive. Sure, that’s 5-6 hours out of my day. So, too, however, is the flight. Let’s say it’s a two hour flight. I need to get to the airport an hour before, at least. That’s three. Around an hour to get to the airport, park, and make my way in? Another hour, so I’m up to four. Once I land, I need to get my luggage and find a rental/shuttle/whatever, so I’m at five. At least. It looks like someone at Volvo has done a similar kind of math, because the company’s latest concept car, the Volvo 360c, is all about driving rather than flying. Built like a first-class airline pod, the new Volvo 360c coddles up to four passengers in relativ...