Volvo wants EVs to account for half of its sales by 2025
If you're wondering where most of these sales will come from, the answer is probably China.
Volvo has already promised that every new vehicle released starting in 2019 will have some sort of electrified variant, but the automaker already has high hopes for how that'll pan out.
Volvo announced this week that it aims to have 50 percent of its sales come from battery-electric vehicles by 2025. With China leading the pun-not-intended charge on electric vehicle sales, odds are that's where a large chunk of its early EV sales will originate.
Right now, Volvo doesn't actually have a battery-electric vehicle in its lineup. That's due to change soon, though, as reports state that Volvo's first EV will take a bow in 2019. Rumors claim it'll be based on the 40.2 hatchback concept that was unveiled in 2016. Given that the 40.1 concept looks a whole lot like the XC40 currently on sale, that first EV could well be a battery-electric version of a forthcoming V40 model.
While Volvo doesn't have any EVs at the moment, it's got plenty of plug-in hybrids . Its T8 Twin Engine PHEV powertrain has made its way into the XC90, V90, XC60 and V60. At the Beijing Auto Show this week, Volvo also unveiled a T5 PHEV variant of its compact XC40 SUV.
There's also Polestar to consider. Volvo's spun-off performance brand will sell a PHEV of its own, the Polestar 1, which will cost $155,000 and is estimated at a whopping 93 miles of electric range, besting some older EVs. This will be Polestar's only PHEV -- every vehicle it makes after the 1 will be battery-electric. It's unclear whether Volvo will count Polestar's vehicles in its 2025 sales estimate.