Frankfurt Auto Show: Volvo ReCharge Plug-In Hybrid Concept Car – Jalopnik — Why isn’t Ford doing this? They own Volvo after all.
Its called the ReCharge, a concept car from Volvo to be unveiled officially next week at the Frankfurt Auto Show, its a plug-in hybrid with a battery-only range of 100 km before you need to have the cars four-cylinder 1.6-liter Flexfuel engine kick in to power the car and recharge the battery. The ReCharge is built off a specially designed Volvo C30, meaning its got a platform that doesnt need to be built from scratch — boosting the possibility we could see it soon.
Good Cage Match discussion here
Why isn’t Ford doing this? They own Volvo after all.
because americans think burning gasoline is manly, and they’re afraid their friends will make fun of them
If FORD owns Volvo arn’t they actually ‘doing’ this?
I bet if it had a FORD badge on it, it wouldn’t be accepted by the ‘green skined yuppies’ as readily as a Volvo.
Smart on their part.
Why is this a concept? This should have been production years ago.
They ( not ford ) did already on the early 90, I cant remember who was the manufactor, but they ended up getting every single one of this recharcable cars back. I would buy a energy only car now if was available, I just cant belive that we are 100 year in the automotive industry and we cant make cars that go more than 30 miles a gallon? everything else from airplanes to spaceship always become more economic or smarter, but cars I dont get it…
we got hybrid but come on they are double the price.
#4 That was the GM EV1 but it was purely electric car. Available only by lease of 600 buck (Bumper-to-Bunper Maintence included) a month once the leases were done GM took all of them back did final inspection and shreaded them. Ford ran a similar concept although not nearly as styleish called the EcoStar based off the Escort EuroVan platform. Both cars had not-so-great range (80 Mi under normal driving, 50 under my driving) but damn they were quick.
This is a concept car? Are you kidding me? They should be rolling these things out. The Japanese car models are kicking Detroit’s ass and the best they can do is make bigger SUVs. Stupid.
Watch the free market shut down one of the big 3 over the next 5 years. Nothing short of a government bailout will save them.
Nice try, bill – for an amateur. But, if you accidentally wandered through any of the sites dealing with Green Cars and advanced vehicle design, you’d probably revert to looking up words longer than 2 syllables and eventually crawl back to whatever pub you infest – and return to an easier pursuit. Like, whining about time zones or furrin’ plumbers.
I have somewhat of a problem with electric cars. Let’s say there were a massive deployment of electric cars. Let’s further say that the public buys them in great numbers. Now, let’s add another heat wave that strikes the West coast. Isn’t there already talk about strain on the electric infrastructure?
So…what happens now when the load expands to include people plugging their electric cars into their garage outlets?
#6 EXACTLY
It’s just an excuse to get government grant money for R & D and Publicity, possibly to improve their stock.
Much like GM’s Volt – it will never be mass produced – unless the government foots the bill – because they can’t compete with Honda/Toyota.
I applaud Honda’s initiative to make a much cleaner Diesel engine.
After all Diesel requires less power to produce than regular gas, and has much more power by volume (more energy).
So less to transport, less often, to the distribution centers.
If Volvo is doing it Ford is doing it. What are they supposed to stick the badges of all of their divisions on every concept car they produce?
#9: Good point. Add to that the fact that burning coal (which is where the majority of US electricity comes from) and transmitting it to the consumer is less efficient and probably a net emissions increase over a hybrid car burning gasoline to produce the same amount of power and I don’t see how a plug-in hybrid is greener than a regular hybrid.
Economically, plug-ins make since. Electricity cost is probably lower per mile than gasoline at this point, though I’m just guessing.
#10: Diesel is an excellent answer and the US has missed the boat on that too. Diesel is more efficient on several levels and ultimately greener despite their “dirty” reputation.
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Cramped deathtraps.
You SUCKERS lets the Japs’ toy cars into our market, and, now, we’re all paying for it.
i think Ford believes that a environmental sane lifestyle is a European lifestyle,
and therefore chosen a European brand for their electric/hybrid car push.
There is a documentary on what happened to the GM ev-1 car called “Who killed the electric car”.
You can see a trailer on youtube here.
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Diesel Hybrid!
Yea, verily.
I’ve never figured out why they haven’t chosen the most efficient engine for hybrid duty. Diesels excel at mundane things like grinding away at a steady speed and making electricity.
#6 Precisely.
We may as well run our cars on coal, at least there won’t be any parasitic losses from the energy conversion.
Don’t laugh coal and wood gassification works just fine in fact the Nazi’s used it around the end of WWII when petrol was in short supply.
http://tinyurl.com/8p3br
Add to that the unnecessary complexity of redundant motors and drive-trains and I just don’t see the advantage.
Bio-diesel is the answer plain and simple.
#1 – grog – because americans think burning gasoline is manly, and they’re afraid their friends will make fun of them
*LOL*
#14 – THESE CLOWN CARS ARE A JOKE
No, you are. Thanks for trolling.
#13, Hop, the Flexfuel engine is about as efficient as a diesel. And the battery packs are an amazing breakthrough in technology. Did you visit the Cage Match link? Here’s a picture of the Volvo’s chassis — look how little space the battery pack uses:
http://tinyurl.com/ysmm5w
This car is really a fine piece of work. You don’t have to plug it in if you don’t want to, let the Flexfuel engine charge it up. Although I doubt that’s as efficient as just sticking the cord into
your neighbor’sa power outlet. 🙂Even with cleaner fuels and improvements in emissions controls, modern diesel engines still emit more smog-forming emissions than gasoline engines, particularly nitrous oxide. From puregreen cars:
http://puregreencars.com/index.php?news=528
#19 – BubbaRay – …that’s as efficient as just sticking the cord into your neighbor’s a power outlet.
You sound like a guy we used to have in this neighborhood… 😀
Volvo could go all the way and make it 100% battery powered. Today´s battery technology can provide over 300km per charge and can provide fast high voltage 10 minute recharge. So really it makes no sence to make those hybrids. We want fully battery powered cars don´t we?
Concept cars are the fruits of innovative imaginations. When you let your imaginations run wild, you can come up with outlandish results.
Concept Cars