Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson envisions the Swedish automaker changing into an electric-only model inside the subsequent 10 years.
“I’d be shocked if we would not ship solely electrical vehicles from 2030,” Samuelsson advised the Monetary Instances Way forward for the Automobile Summit on Wednesday.
Volvo has beforehand acknowledged that it needs half of its world gross sales to be full-electric fashions by 2025, but it surely had not set a deadline for when it will cease making automobiles with combustion engines.
This yr Volvo need 20 % of its world gross sales are electrified fashions, however the majority of them might be gentle hybrids and plug-in hybrids as it’s nonetheless finishing the launch its first full-electric automobile, XC40 Recharge P8.
Bentley has also said will probably be electrical solely by 2030.
Samuelsson additionally advised the summit that agency deadlines for the top of combustion engine gross sales will do extra to get individuals to change to full-electric powertrains than providing money incentives.
“The best way ahead could be to have clear guidelines on when we have to exit the combustion engine,” Samuelsson mentioned. “Upon getting realized that the petrol and diesel engine are actually not a part of the long run, it’s slightly straightforward to see it’s important to transfer quick into the brand new world.”
He mentioned Volvo has already come to this realization, subsequently he’s extra comfy when countries such as the UK, set an finish date for the sale of vehicles with fuel-burning engines.
“Volvo might be very cautious and ship solely electrical engines earlier than anyone has authorized necessities for this,” the CEO mentioned.
He added that having “quaint clear guidelines” is why at present’s automobiles are outfitted with seat belts, airbags and antilock brakes. “That was applied slightly quick,” he mentioned “and that was not finished with any sort of incentives or credit score factors.”