Volvo’s plug-in hybrid offers amazing mileage
5.8-litres 100km 4.2-litres 100km VOLVO has unveiled plans to launch a hybrid version of its S60 wagon in Australia. But unlike other hybrids already available here, this one’s a little different because it combines a diesel with an electric motor.
The result is a car that is capable of achieving the amazingly low fuel consumption figures of 1.9 litres/100km, yet still post a time of 6.2sec for the 0-100km/h dash.
It’s a plug-in hybrid, which means you can simply plug it into a wall socket if the battery is running low, an operation that takes as little as 3.5 hours for a full charge depending on the number of amps you feed it.
With a small 45-litre tank it can travel more than 1000km on a single tank of fuel.
SWEDEN
Speaking in Sweden this week, Volvo Cars Australia boss Matt Braid revealed the company hoped to have the car here and on sale before the end of next year. ‘‘It’s a demonstration of our technology and what we can offer, but the volumes obviously won’t be massive,’’ he said.
‘‘With Polestar at the other end of the market, we’ll have both ends covered.’’
Polestar is Volvo’s high-performance brand, of which we are sure to be seeing much more in the near future.
BACK TO THE HYBRID
The V60 D6 AWD wagon is equipped with a 158kW 2.4-litre turbo diesel engine that drives the front wheels and a 50kW electric motor that drives the rear wheels, either separately or together, making it rear-wheel-drive, front-wheel-drive or allwheel-drive at the push of a button. It is capable of operating in one of the drive modes.
In pure electric or ‘‘EV’’ mode it can travel for a distance of up to 50km, depending on how fast you’re travelling (the faster you go the quicker it chews through the charge in its lithium-ion batteries). Top speed in EV mode is 120km/h.
The wagon can also operate in full hybrid mode (the default mode), during which power is regenerated to recharge the batteries. And, in power mode, the diesel and electric motors team up to drive both sets of wheels, providing up to 208kW of power and 640Nm of torque in total.
THE DOWNSIDE?
The price, mainly. In Sweden the car retails for 560,000 krona, with the help of a tax break from the government. In Australian dollars that’s about $80,000 (or $12,000 more than the equivalent petrolpowered T6 AWD model). But remember, that’s with a tax break (the Australian Government hasn’t been exactly helpful in this 3.9-litres 100km 6-litres 100km department to date). Mr Braid said it was too early to start talking about prices for the car yet, but he hoped to offer it for less than $100,000. That’s probably a bit optimistic. We think $75,000 is closer to the mark – any more than this and buyers are likely to reject the hybrid as an option. ‘‘We hope to have it by 2013,’’ Braid said. ‘‘It’s now becoming quite a firm option. We showed the concept at the Melbourne 6.4-litres 100km motor show last year and the feedback we got was very positive.’’
TEST DRIVE
During a flying visit to Sweden this week we had a quick spin in a pre-production version of the hybrid at Volvo’s proving ground outside Gothenberg. Performance is strong, particularly in power mode, and the car is nicely balanced.