Volvo is making all of its cars electric from 2019

pulse

July 5, 2017 11:21 AM

It's a huge step forward in the development of green electric vehicles.

The Volvo D6 AWD Plug-in-Hybrid R-Design is seen at the 2014 AMI Auto Show on May 30, 2014 in Leipzig, Germany.

Volvo has announced that starting from 2019, all of its new cars will be fully electric or hybrid — a significant step in efforts to develop green options for vehicles and move beyond the internal combustion engine that has featured in automobiles for more than a century.

"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," said CEO Håkan Samuelsson in a statement.

"Volvo Cars has stated that it plans to have sold a total of 1m electrified cars by 2025. When we said it we meant it. This is how we are going to do it."

The Swedish carmaker's new vehicle range will be a mix: Some will be fully electric, while others will be hybrids. It plans to launch five electric cars between 2019 and 2021, "three of which will be Volvo models and two of which will be high performance electrified cars from Polestar, Volvo Cars’ performance car arm," it wrote in its announcement.

"This is about the customer," Samuelsson said. "People increasingly demand electrified cars and we want to respond to our customers’ current and future needs. You can now pick and choose whichever electrified Volvo you wish."

Car companies are increasingly waking up to the need to develop environmentally friendly options as humanity battles with climate change and its implications for society.

Electric car firm Tesla is now worth more than veteran auto company Ford — despite Ford selling an order of magnitude more vehicles. In 2016, Ford sold 6.7 million vehicles, while Tesla delivered 25,000 cars in the first quarter of 2017, according to the BBC.

However, there's still a long way to go: The Financial Times reports that overall, just 1% worldwide were electric cars in 2016.

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