First Electric Volvo

[anotherv60]

Hi All,

here is a link to the launch event - it starts in 7 minutes...

https://live.volvocars.com/

[e123]

Underwhelmed by the expected range of 200 miles.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by e123

Underwhelmed by the expected range of 200 miles.

that's reasonable ,It could be 5 days back and forth to work ... it will get better , volvo have invested in a massive battery company ..

[e123]

I regularly travel from Yorkshire to Glasgow to Edinburgh and back to Yorkshire on a tank of petrol in my V40 taking 30 hours. I couldn't do that in this "Recharge XC40".

[Clan]

Originally Posted by e123

I regularly travel from Yorkshire to Glasgow to Edinburgh and back to Yorkshire on a tank of petrol in my V40 taking 30 hours. I couldn't do that in this "Recharge XC40".

An Electric car is not for you yet , although i doubt they will ever have the range of a liquid fuelled car ..
however if you live 20 miles from work like a great deal of the population they will be fine .

[DaveNP]

I regularly travel 10 miles to work and back 5 days a week, I could do that and still pop to see my family in London at the weekend in the 'Recharge XC40' and just charge it on my day off. Personally think there's a good argument for sorting out the railways and bringing back Motorail, - drive to the station and onto the train, let the train do the long distance quicker than you could drive it and recharge the car at the same time, get off the train and drive to final destination.
Other factors such as overall battery life and cost discouraged me from an electric car at this point in time but looking forward to what can be achieved in future.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

I regularly travel 10 miles to work and back 5 days a week, I could do that and still pop to see my family in London at the weekend in the 'Recharge XC40' and just charge it on my day off. Personally think there's a good argument for sorting out the railways and bringing back Motorail, - drive to the station and onto the train, let the train do the long distance quicker than you could drive it and recharge the car at the same time, get off the train and drive to final destination.
Other factors such as overall battery life and cost discouraged me from an electric car at this point in time but looking forward to what can be achieved in future.

Battery warranty is 8 years ... look back in history and see how the 20 year old Toyota Prius deals with batteries . When there are enough older electric cars around there will be specialist companies springing up to recondition the batteries at reasonable cost , They are probably around already . Volvo already have people certified to do it if needed .

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by Clan

Battery warranty is 8 years ... look back in history and see how the 20 year old Toyota Prius deals with batteries . When there are enough older electric cars around there will be specialist companies springing up to recondition the batteries at reasonable cost , They are probably around already . Volvo already have people certified to do it if needed .

Things do seem to be tipping past a point where I'd become a buyer, at the moment we have a 'new' car which has to be able to do the longer distances, but my older car doesn't need the range, when it (the V70) needs replacing I'm hoping there will be enough reliable secondhand electric cars and support services around to make it viable.

[T5R92011]

The United Kingdom is not equipt for electric cars....

Only those privilaged enough to have some kind of driveway will benefit from this and I don't believe the majority of car owners in this country have that privilege, and even if they do, how many households already have multiple cars per house? There's only so many chargers you can install...

If you live in a block of flats, where do you charge your car overnight?

What about if you live in one of the many horrendous new build estates where nobody has a front garden and the streets are littered with cars parked so close together that you can barely squeeze past in a regular sized hatchback...Are all these people in thse shared-ownership new build houses expected to somehow trapes electric cables across pathways to charge?

What if you live in a "coronation street" style row of terraced houses where you are lucky to park in the same spot every night? And if you do mange to find a retrofitted lamppost charging port, what happens when the local vandals come round and pull out your plug? because it WILL happen.

Electric cars just do not work for the majority in this country because we do not have the infrastructure and we are not building new houses with enough space to park cars, let alone charge them every night.

Volvo should be making Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as they have zero harmful tailpipe emissions (just water) and you simply fill up at a hydrogen station (though it does take a few minutes longer to fill up than petrol, but nowhere near as bad as charging with the average low power charger).

And yes there are some concerns about the safety of hydrogen fuel cell but who better to tackle those worries than the company famed for safety?

The other issue is battery degredation over time.... when us mere mortals can finally afford a 10 year old electric car, the battery will be shot and the range will be appauling, which is a huge downside when compared to a physical fuel tank, which never shrinks as a car gets older. Nobody goes out and buys a 10 year old smartphone and expects the battery to work well, but a 10 year old car is a perfectly reasonable buy for most people on low to average wage. Maybe in time the replacement of these batterys will dramatically come down in cost, but I still suspect many people will not want to pay up.

[GMcL]

Is there a link between Volvo and Polestar for electrification ?

I read a week or so back the Polestar 2 will start delivery in May next year in Europe and July/August time in the UK. Polestar are quoting a targeted range of 500kms EU figures roughly 300 miles, US figures are at 275miles. For a 400 horsepower car that's pretty impressive stuff, OK it's 58,000€, with a lower output car to follow at a more reasonable 39k mark.

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