Volvo goes electric, ditches cars powered solely by gas

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Emirates and Turkish Airways said on Wednesday they have also been exempted from a U.S. ban on laptops in airplane cabins, joining Etihad in satisfying American security concerns that had cut into the long-haul carriers’ business.

It remains unclear how the airlines addressed fears that the Islamic State or other militant groups might smuggle explosives in electronic devices. But in Turkey, authorities now use CT scanners to take cross-section images of passengers’ electronics just before they board airplanes heading to the U.S.

Both airlines alerted the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees airplane safety in the United States, that “they are ready to comply with the enhanced security measures,” said David Lapan, a Homeland Security spokesman in Washington. He declined to discuss specifics.

“Protecting the American people and raising the global baseline on aviation security remains the top priority,” Lapan said. “We will continue to closely observe operations in these airports to ensure these enhanced measures are implemented effectively and to the required levels.”

Emirates’ hub at Dubai International Airport has grown into the world’s busiest for international traffic, in large part thanks to Emirates’ expansion.

On Wednesday, Emirates said in a statement that it had worked to “implement heightened security measures and protocols” to satisfy American requirements. It did not elaborate, following a similar precedent set by Abu Dhabibased Etihad, which American officials cleared on Sunday.

“We would like to express our gratitude to the U.S. and local authorities for their support and thank our customers for their understanding and patience during the last few months when the ban was in place,” Emirates said.

In Istanbul, Turkish Airlines tweeted that passengers aboard its U.S.-bound flights should “fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your own electronic devices.” A statement from the airline said it had taken over 81,000 electronic devices away from passengers to store them in specially protected baggage during the 102 days the ban was in place.

The U.S. laptop ban, first announced in March as a security measure, now applies to nonstop U.S.-bound flights from seven international airports in Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Cairo; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; and Doha, Qatar.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump shared highly classified intelligence with senior Russian officials visiting the White House about the Islamic State group wanting to use laptops to target aircraft.

HELSINKI — Volvo plans to build only electric and hybrid vehicles starting in 2019, making it the first major automaker to abandon cars and SUVs powered solely by the internal combustion engine.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson said the move was dictated by customer demand. It means that in two years, all new Volvo vehicles will have some form of electric propulsion.

The rest of the auto industry is likely to make similar moves in a few years, said Sam Abuelsamid, senior analyst for Navigant Research, with luxury automakers leading the way.

“I think we’ll probably see most of the premium brands do the same thing in roughly the same time frame,” he said. “More high-volume mainstream brands will be a little slower.”

In order to meet government fuel economy requirements worldwide, automakers are developing more hybrid systems that use both gas engines and electric motors. Many are 48-volt “mild hybrids” that assist a gas engine to move a car to make it more efficient, improving gas mileage by 10 or 15 per cent, Abuelsamid said.

Such systems generate enough electricity to allow automakers to move functions such as air conditioners and water and oil pumps to electric power, getting rid of mechanical belts that are a drag on the engine. Those systems can run only when needed, and that can save another 2 or 3 per cent on fuel consumption — so a vehicle that gets 20 mpg could get about another four miles per gallon he said.

European luxury brands such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz already are rolling out mild hybrid systems on cars in Europe. Those systems likely will be coming to the U.S. because it’s expensive for the companies to build different cars for different markets, Abuelsamid said. General Motors and others already have such systems as options on some models in the U.S.

Cars with mild hybrid systems also can accelerate better because both electric and gas systems can be used at the same time when needed.

Fully electric and hybrid vehicle sales have risen a little since 2012 but still accounted for only 2.6 million, or about 3 per cent of worldwide new vehicle sales, last year. Navigant predicts that will increase to around 3.7 million in 2018 and to more than 9 million by 2025. That’s about 9 per cent of sales.

Volvo, which is based in Sweden but owned by Chinese firm Geely, will launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021. Three of them will be Volvo models and two will be electrified cars from Polestar, Volvo Cars’ performance car arm. It also plans to offer a range of hybrids as options on all models.

Volvo expects to reach its target of selling 1 million electrified cars by 2025, with a range of models, including fully electric vehicles and hybrid cars.

The company said its long range models could travel 500 kilometres on a single charge using current technology, but it is looking for suppliers for new and better batteries.

Samuelsson, who acknowledged that the company had been skeptical about electrification only two years ago, said circumstances have changed. “Things have moved faster; customer demand is increasing. This is an attractive car people want to have,” he said.