Volvo plans selling only electric cars by 2030

Volvo Cars one-upped larger rivals like General Motors Co. and added momentum to the movement toward electric vehicles Tuesday by saying it would convert its entire lineup to battery power by 2030.

The declaration by the Swedish carmaker is the latest attempt by a traditional carmaker to break with its fossil-fuels past. It is also one of the most ambitious proposals and ratchets up the pressure on others to follow suit.

The auto industry has been drifting toward electrification for years, but the shift has taken on new urgency in recent months. President Joe Biden’s election, along with his commitment to fight climate change, has raised expectations that the United States will offer the kind of incentives that helped make electric cars the fastest growing segment of the European market last year.

GM said in January that it would go all-electric by 2035. Ford said last month it would sell only battery-powered cars in Europe starting in 2030, and the maker of Jaguar luxury cars made a similar promise.

Gasoline- and diesel-powered cars still account for the vast majority of sales, but in Europe sales of cars powered solely by batteries more than doubled last year, to about 730,000 vehicles, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. Sales of conventional autos slumped.

“If you want to be in the game, you have to transform fast,” said Håkan Samuelsson, CEO of Volvo.

Volvo, owned by Geely Holding of China, has been ahead of larger rivals in converting to electric power. In 2019, all the models it sold were either hybrids or ran solely on batteries.

In another break from the practice of traditional carmakers, Volvo’s electric models will be sold exclusively online, bypassing dealers.