| Saab And Volvo Hybrid Research | ||
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(Tue 18 Mar 08) Swedish manufacturers Saab and Volvo - along with electricity provider Vattenfall, battery company ETC and the Swedish state - are launching a joint venture to develop technology for plug-in hybrid cars.
There are of course several hybrids on the market already, but none of them are plug-ins. A normal hybrid captures energy which would normally be lost during braking and stores it in the battery for the electric motor. Plug-ins draw electricity from the mains, and while this might at first seem to be a backwards step it's claimed that CO2 emissions will be lower for a plug-in car than for a conventional hybrid - all the more so if the mains electricity comes from a hydro electric station or a wind farm. Volvo says it intends to introduce normal hybrid cars "in the medium term". Meanwhile, the joint venture consortium will start off with a fleet of ten plug-ins along the lines of the Volvo C30 ReCharge concept (pictured above) which made its first public appearance last autumn. |
