Confirmed: Next-gen Volvo XC60 to be a fully-electric model

KUALA LUMPUR: Volvo has already announced its plan to go full-electric by 2030, meaning that sooner or later all its core models will drop the conventional powertrain for electric ones. The first to participate in the automaker’s future plans was the XC40 Recharge that recently went fully-electric and following it is the XC60.

The news of the next-gen XC60 going full-electric was confirmed by the Swedish automaker itself via a press release. The event was held to announce a joint venture between Volvo and Northvolt, a Swedish battery company. Together the two will develop and manufacture ‘more sustainable batteries’ for the upcoming Volvo and Polestar vehicles. Furthermore, the partnership between the automaker and battery manufacturer will see the formation of an R&D centre in Sweden, with work commencing in 2022.

Volvo Cars CTO, Henrik Green said, “Developing the next generation of battery cell technology in-house, together with Northvolt, will allow us to design batteries specifically for Volvo and Polestar drivers. With cells developed in-house for our electric cars, we can focus on giving Volvo and Polestar customers what they want, such as range and short charging times.”

Furthermore, supporting Volvo’s all-electric plan is a new Europe-located Gigafactory with a potential capacity of up to 50 GWh per year. The plant will be powered by 100% clean energy and is said to create around 3000 jobs. The manufacturing process is scheduled to begin by 2026.

In order to further cut down on its carbon footprint, Volvo had made sure that the batteries are manufactured near its factories.

As for the next-gen Volvo XC60, the information on it is scarce with the only known fact being its pure electric nature. Also, it will be the first Volvo to feature battery cells developed under a joint venture. With the battery production to start in 2026, we expect the model to be announced during the same period, thus going perfectly with Volvo's ten-year model refresh cycle.

More details about the upcoming XC60 and Volvo’s future technology roadmap is expected to be revealed at the ‘Tech Moment’ event that is scheduled for 30th June, 2021.

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