Here, in the rear view Mirror, we tend to mostly write about avgasbilar from past times, but today it is a much more modern car:
A silevrfärgad the Volvo C30, which was converted to pure electric drive. The car will serve as a rolling test bed for Volvo’s forthcoming electrification.
the Project was started already in 2009. A year later, in the autumn of 2010, was then the product manager Annelie Gustavsson a clear mission:
to Fix the heating in the new C30 Electric! Proper heating – but that the range be affected!
only with the help of fans and heaters powered by electricity from the battery would not go. It would drastically shorten the range. The solution was to add a heater operated with ethanol fuel E85.
– It relieves the rest of the system when the temperature falls below zero. It is at such circumstances, you should plug it in, ” explains Annelie Gustavsson before the test run.
“The biggest challenge in the project has been klimatoptimering, to find the best trade-off between the climate and the mileage,” she says.
place behind the wheel, it feels that the car is properly cooled. The thermometer in the container, where the vehicle has been during the night, shows minus 25 degrees. The value is confirmed on the instrument when I start the car. There is also the range: ten miles with fulltankade batteries. It is calculated automatically based on the körmönstret during the last 30 kilometers.
According to the declaration, pass the car up to 16 km on a single charge. But it is run in the laboratory. The reality shows something else. Volvo’s own field test in regular traffic in a snowy and usually cold Gothenburg winter showed approximately 10 miles. Test in sunny Spain gave up 13 mil.
minutes start the heat spread. Five minutes later, kockan 08:38, screws I down the heat. The cabin feels warm and comfortable. And is there any difference from a regular C30 will be here faster warm. Who would have thought about an electric car?
Consumption is measured in kWh/mile. The first lap shows 2.33 in kWh/mile. The battery capacity is 24 kWh.
I put the speed to Jukkasjärvi and the ice hotel to take some pictures. The car does not sound when I slopes down towards the entrance. A woman at the spark passing through and looking fascinated. Another woman asks why you don’t hear it anything. It is an electric car, ” I say.
– Wow, how often do you need to buy new batteries?
do not Laugh! The industry is not only faced with the challenge to shift from combustion to electrification, it also has a pedagogical work in front of them, to explain to us consumers how the technology works. And even more important – that it works in all weather conditions!
the question is: when will it be mass production? When can a private customer to buy an electric-powered Volvo at a reasonable price?
” We have a clear strategy on electrification, but we have not decided on the large-scale production. Not yet. The technology needs to be developed. I believe in the right major leap for the better battery in a few years. And the costs have to be down, ” says Annelie Gustavsson.
Yes, as we described the project when, in march 2011 and in a follow-up article the following year. What then followed was that Volvo signed a cooperation agreement with the German Siemens for the supply of engines and electronics. Prior to this, the C30 electric from a Fire in Switzerland.
Initially, Volvo had planned to build the 1,000-C30 with readiness for even more if the market showed sufficient interest. But that was not the case. In total there were 252 C30
to purchase, only lease for 13.900 sek per month plus vat. Most rolled in the Swedish municipalities, county councils, utilities and the like. Some were exported to, among others, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
In the press material describes the electric drive as the future:
”Electricity is well suited as fuel for cars. The superior energy efficiency of an electric motor compared with a combustion engine suggests that electric cars will become increasingly common in the future as fuel prices are expected to increase and the demands of low CO2 emissions is getting tougher”.
What came out of the trials? Was it that you had in mind?
” We drew the important lessons of the C30 project, knowledge that we then brought forward the development of today’s plug-in hybrids and upcoming electric cars from Volvo and Polestar. We still use the Siemens electric motors in our plug-in hybrids. The batteries, however, comes from LG, says the spokesperson Sefan Elfström.
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