In partnership with Midroc and OCAS, the Swedish Energy Agency and the Volvo Group are investing SEK200 million (Rs 123 crore) in Volvo’s development of fuel cells. To accelerate the introduction of fuel cells into the market, the Volvo Group, through its company Volvo Technology Transfer, will receive investment from the companies Midroc New Technology and OCAS, as well as from the Swedish Energy Agency.
The above corporations will together make an investment of SEK200 million in Powercell Sweden AB, which is owned by Volvo Technology Transfer. Following the investment, however, Volvo will be a minority owner in the company.
A fuel cell resembles a small battery. It is charged with hydrogen gas and converts this into electricity, water and carbon dioxide through a chemical reaction. The areas of use include power supply units for cars and trucks. Compared with normal diesel or petrol engines, fuel cells produce significantly less carbon dioxide and no emissions at all of particulates and nitrogen oxides. In addition, they are more efficient, smaller and lighter.
‘I am proud that we are building this company on a technology that has been developed by Volvo for 15 years,’ says Per Ekdunge, CEO of Powercell Sweden. The company Powercell Sweden AB is based on two patented components: a fuel converter (reformer) and a PEM fuel cell - the type of fuel cell most often used in transport applications. The fuel converter produces hydrogen gas from bio fuels such as ethanol, DME (Dimethyl ether), biogas, methanol and biodiesel, but also from regular diesel or gasoline. The PEM fuel cell then converts the hydrogen gas into electricity.
‘Thanks to our reformer technology we are now ready to start our production without having to wait for an infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen gas. This is truly a major step in the development of fuel cells,’ says Ekdunge.
The Volvo XC60 will be launched in India by September. The Volvo XC60 is the younger sibling of the already selling Volvo XC90.
The XC60 will be available with same inline five-pot diesel and straight 6-cylinder petrol engines which power the XC90 and S80. The XC60 will power the front wheels and will compete with the BMW X3 and Audi Q5.
A group of six engineers have been named the winners of Volvo’s 2009 Technology Award, for their development of the world’s first commercially viable hybrid solution for heavy vehicles. The award was presented by Leif Johansson, President and CEO of Volvo, at the Annual General Meeting of AB Volvo on the 1st of April.
Volvo’s Technology Award this year recognizes the work to develop the Integrated Starter Alternator Motor (I-SAM), a combined starter, generator and drive motor in a parallel hybrid that, in addition to an electric motor, also has a small compact diesel engine.
The combination can reduce fuel consumption for buses by up to 30%, for trucks by 20% and, in a best case scenario, as much as 50% for wheel loaders. This reduces fuel costs and provides significant environmental benefits through lower emissions of carbon dioxide. The quiet and emission-free electric drive also improves environment conditions in the vehicle’s immediate surroundings.
I-SAM was first presented back in March 2006, as the market’s first parallel hybrid concept for buses and heavy trucks. The solution can be used in virtually all Volvo Group business areas, since it is based on a common platform with a high percentage of standard components, which also facilitates volume production.
‘In the future, the parallel hybrid will not be considered a special solution, and the technology will be included in almost all new city buses and delivery trucks. We see good potential to develop the hybrid technology for all segments of the heavy trucks sector,’ says Johansson.
The parallel hybrid concept is an excellent feature for city buses, refuse trucks and delivery trucks that drive at different speeds and start and stop frequently. When a hybrid bus drives away from a bus stop, the electric motor is used first, a quiet-running unit with no emissions, and the diesel engine starts up when the bus reaches a certain speed.
When the bus brakes to stop at the next stop, the braking energy is absorbed by the electric motor and stored in the batteries - to be used later during the next acceleration. Everything is controlled by a sophisticated control unit, which was also developed by Volvo Group engineers.
Engineers from many parts of the Volvo Group have taken part in the development of I-SAM. Six of these engineers were represented at the prize ceremony. Volvo Powertrain was represented by Anders Kroon, Volvo Technology by Jerker Lennevi, Joakim Lindström and Lars Carlhammar, Volvo Buses was represented by Peter Jönsson and Volvo 3P was represented by Christer Ehn.
The Volvo Technology Award was established in 1988 and was awarded this year for the 22nd time. The award is an expression of appreciation for particularly prominent technical achievements within the Volvo Group.
Volvo is not worried if its owner Ford sells the brand due to the ongoing global crisis. The company intends to go ahead with its expansion plans in India and strengthen its market position. “Ford might (eventually) sell off Volvo, but by when and to whom, I do not know… But there will be no change in our India plan,” Volvo Car India Managing Director Paul de Voijs said.
He also added that the company will continue to expand its dealership network in the country. “Currently we have four dealers in the country, which will be increased to 12 by the end of 2009,” Mr. Voijs said. It also plans to launch new models to expand its product portfolio in India. Voijs was also quite bullish on the Indian luxury car market segment. “Luxury segment is not facing much of a slowdown here and it will perform better than the general car market. We are potentially looking at bringing in the sports utility vehicle - XC60 to India.”
Volvo made a late entry in the Indian auto market in September 2007. It currently sells its two models - sedan S80 and SUV XS90 in India. The cars are imported as completely built units in India. These models have witnessed rise in their prices due to Rupee depreciation against the dollar.
Volvo India has received order for 260 buses in India. Among these the city of Bangalore purchased an additional 140 Volvo 8400 city buses.
The customer in Bangalore, BMTC, already operates more than 300 Volvo buses in Bangalore and these buses have radically changed the view of what it is like to travel with city buses in India. For example, the buses are air-conditioned and feature low floors for fast and easy boarding and exiting.
Surveys show that 60% of the passengers in these buses previously traveled in their own car or by motorcycle. For many Indian cities, the goal is to have more people use mass transit and, consequently, this requires new, modern buses.
Volvo buses are also used in Bangalore for transportation to and from the airport. Each new Volvo bus placed in traffic increases the exposure of buses. As a result, increasingly more of the population views buses as a better alternative than traveling in their own vehicle.
Volvo Buses has also received orders for 120 Volvo 9400 inter-city coaches to the State of Karnataka, in which Bangalore in the capital and to the State of Maharashtra, in which Mumbai is the capital. The orders are from customers already operating Volvo coaches and who have favorable experiences of them.
Volvo’s customers have seen that passengers prefer these coaches, are prepared to pay extra to travel in them and that, as a result, the coaches generate highly favorable productivity, says Akash Passey. The buses will be assembled at Volvo Buses’ plant in India and deliveries will be made in 2009.
Volvo fell short of its sales target in 2008 as it managed to sell only 100 cars in the last calendar year. The company attributes the reason to its poor distribution network. “We did not open as many dealerships as we had expected, owing to the exposure to the slowdown in the third quarter. Most of the plans moved to 2009,” said Paul de Voijs, Managing Director of Volvo India. “Moreover, we are relatively new in India and it takes time to understand how the market functions,” Voijs added.
According to the industry experts, Volvo did not fare well in the Indian market due to its high price cars that are branded more towards safety rather than luxury. The cars are extremely highly priced even for the premium segment. Volvo sells S80 and XC90 in India that are priced around Rs. 40-50 lakh. Volvos S80 is priced at Rs. 38 lakh in Mumbai (ex-showroom) .
Volvo has launched all nee XC90 D5 diesel in Malaysia. Under the hood of the new diesel facelifted XC90 is an inline-5 2.4 liter turbodiesel engine producing 185 horsepower at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque between 2,000 to 2,750rpm, which should be adequate for moving the 7-seater around through the Geartronic transmission’s 6-speeds and all-wheel drive.
Naturally being a Volvo, there are adequate safety equipment.Three-point inertia-reel seatbelts with belt pre-tensioners and head restraints are available on all 7 seats. A feature called Roll Stability Control activates if the car risks rolling over. RSC reduces engine power, increases anti-roll bar stiffness, and automatically applies the brakesto help stablize the car. The all-wheel drive system is supplemented with Dynamic Stability and Traction Control. There are plenty of airbags all-around, with an Inflatable Curtain airbag on both sides of the car that inflates all the way from the front row until the third row.
The XC90 D5’s selling price is exactly the same as the 2.5T petrol version - RM 355,000 OTR without insurance. The vehicle’s road tax is actually cheaper than the petrol version at RM760 a year compared to the 2.5T’s RM873.60. The petrol version makes more power at 210hp, but less torque at only 320Nm. Its slower to accelerate though, taking 11.5 seconds to get to 100km/h compared to the 2.5T’s 9.9 seconds. However it makes up for that in fuel economy, rated to consume only 8.5 liters per 100km on the comnbined cycle compared to the petrol version’s 11.8 liters per 100km.
Volvo is now focusing more on dealership infrastructure in the country than establishing an assembly unit. The chief management said that presently they are observing the growth space in a luxury space in the country.
Mr. Paul de Voijs (MD, Volvo Car India) said that it was very early for the company to speak in terms of the assembly facility in India. The company requires to have an idea about the volume. With less than 1 year experience in India, the company feels it difficult to make estimation on its assembly unit, he added.
The luxury car sales is set at around 8000 units in 2008, compared to the sales of passenger cars of 1.4 million units. He said that this is a smaller part when compared to the other nations. The company would be seriously observing the growth of volume in this space. Moreover, the company would be devoted to identify where the import duty started.
In regardence with the Volvo Ocean Race, the Volvo Car India has announced it plans to sell 25 special edition SUV’s - XC90 ocean race edition. Volvo will be selling 25 limited editions XC90 ocean race edition to India.From January to December 2008, Volvo has sold around 100 cars in India. A total of 10,000 special edition (XC90 ocean race edition) cars are expected to be sold worldwide as part of the nine-month long Volvo Ocean Race.
At different stopovers, the limited editions would be launched. Volvo is marketing their products through four dealerships which are located at Delhi, Mumbai,Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Volvo plans to have another six more dealerships across the country in 2009 which includes Kochi. There new Volvo XC90 Ocean Race Edition has been launched in two colors, Blue Pearl and Electric Silver metallic color.
