With a more aggressive nose and its fastback roof line, the slippery 4-door coupe would be a very welcome successor to the oh-so-bland S80. Something like the S90 could help Volvo reinvent itself as truly stylish, mid-range luxury in order to tackle the world.
With the new S60 sedan already poised to fight the 3-Series, a car providing CLS looks at an E-Class price is definitely going to be necessary for Volvo to keep its momentum going.
The idea behind the project is to create the ultimate C30 without being halted by specific race regulations. The concept includes a 400-horsepower engine, all-wheel-drive, and aerodynamics based on Polestar's race car data.
The Swedes first showed us an electric C30 prototype in September 2009. Aside from being based on the facelift C30, the Detroit Show model has been further refined and now features both a complete interior and full instrumentation, as well as enhanced battery packaging.
"The first prototype helped us identify the main technological challenges, such as battery packaging and safety issues." said Lennart Stegland, Director of Volvo Cars Special Vehicles.
"We have addressed these challenges without compromising the C30's cool and fun-to-drive personality. I am very happy with the result. The electric C30 in Detroit is a much more complete product," Stegland concluded.
The latest plug-in C30 uses an electric motor fitted under the bonnet while the Lithium-Ion batteries (24 kWh) are installed in the propshaft tunnel and in the space normally occupied by the fuel tank, outside the passenger compartment and away from the deformations zones for safety reasons.
The Lithium-Ion batteries that can be recharged via either a regular household power socket or special roadside charging stations. The Swedes said that a full recharge takes about eight hours
The three-door hatchback has a top speed of about 130 km/h or 81 mph, while Volvo said that it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (96km/h) in less than 11 seconds. The car's driving range is up to 150 km or 94 mile, which Volvo claims covers the daily transport needs of more than 90 percent of all motorists in Europe.
Aside from the special graphics, colors and wheels, the electric C30 looks no different on the outside than a regular C30 while inside, the most obvious changes concern the new trim, revised instrument panel and the new gear selector.
In addition to the market introduction of a diesel-electric plug-in hybrid in 2012 (details here), Volvo is also working on a pure electric model with the C30 BEV, which stands for 'Battery Electric Vehicle". The Swedish automaker has built a small number of prototype versions of the C30 BEV that will are to be tested internally by Volvo to evaluate the vehicle in real-life conditions with much of the focus being on the integration of the electric propulsion system with the rest of the car."The Volvo C30 is the first model we will try out with electric power. This car's excellent properties in city traffic and its relatively low weight make it particularly suitable, since electric cars are primarily expected to be used in and around cities and for daily commuting," says Lennart Stegland, Director of Volvo Cars Special Vehicles.
The C30 BEV is powered by an electric motor housed under the hood that drives the front wheel. Energy is provided by a 24kW Lithium-Ion battery that can be fully charged through a regular 230V household socket in about eight hours.
Volvo says that the all-electric C30 accelerates from 0 to 100km/h (62mph) in less than 11 seconds while the vehicle's top speed has been limited to around 130km/h (80mph). The car has a driving range of up to 150 kilometres or 93 miles, which Volvo claims is "longer and far better than the distance 90 percent of all Europe's motorists drive per day."
The Swedish automaker said that while the company's main focus over the next years will be plug-in hybrids, they will assess the viability of all-electric vehicles. According to the company, the are several factors that will determine the success or not of dedicated electric cars.
"The consumer must feel that this type of car is attractive both to drive and own," says Paul Gustavsson, Director of Electrification Strategy at Volvo Cars.
"In order to ensure this, we feel that electric cars will have to be as comfortable and safe and offer similar levels of performance as cars with other power sources. The learning from the C30 BEV project will help us to fulfill all these criteria and showcase Volvo's determination to drive developments in the field of electrification."
