Volvo Cars’ future is represented in the pure electric Concept Recharge, which the Chinese company claims does more than showcase the company’s future design language and product strategy. With the Concept Recharge, Volvo Cars is forecasting the steps it will take in all areas of pure electric car development to reduce its cars’ and its overall carbon footprint. The company plans to sell only fully electric cars by 2030 and aims to be a climate-neutral and circular business by 2040. (Volvo to Only Sell EVs Online as a Pure EV Company by 2030; A Decade of Chinese Ownership – Volvo Cars Posts Strongest Second-Half Sales in Its 93-Year History)
By using sustainable materials inside the car, equipping it with tires from recycled and renewable material, improving aerodynamics Volvo Cars can take steps to reduce its carbon impact through the car itself. Combining those with the use of clean energy throughout a de-carbonized supply chain, manufacturing process and use phase of the car, Volvo Cars believes it can reduce a car’s lifecycle CO2 impact by 80% versus a 2018 Volvo XC60, without losing the qualities that Volvo cars have become known for. This would mean that the Concept Recharge would have an overall lifecycle CO2 impact below 10 tons, when charged with 100% renewable energy – if, big if, Volvo is able to pull this off in a global economy that is self-destructing from the use of subsidized fossil fuels and little progress on addressing Global Warming.











Re-Run: Subaru of America Unveils 2023 Solterra EV
Note to design staff – EVs don’t need a grille or awkward old-style grille surrounds.
Subaru of America today revealed its first-ever all-electric SUV, the 2023 Subaru Solterra, at what remains of the Los Angeles Auto Show in the Surging Covid-plus-Flu era.The product reveal comes one week after the actual debut was down in Japan. (Toyota Subaru JV Spawns Global Debut of Solterra EV)
The “late to the EV party” Solterra has new electrification and in-vehicle technology. The Solterra name was created using (marketing babble alert> “the Latin words for ‘Sun and Earth’ to represent Subaru’s commitment to deliver traditional SUV capabilities in an environmentally responsible package.” Continue reading →