Volvo Cars, Semcon, ETC, Vattenfall, and the Swedish Energimyndigheten has been sharing expertise and technology to produce hybrid plug-in concept vehicles in the Volvo concept facility.
Completion of three concept vehicles is expected this fall. These prototypes will be used by the companies to gain more knowledge of how consumers will need 
plug-in units in the future. They will look into how people want their cars to feel in terms of performance and functionality. Another important item to address is how people want to charge their rides.
The tie-up formed a six-man team which converted a standard combustion engine vehicle into a hybrid plug-in. The team installed an electric motor and batteries, and tweaked on the car’s configuration to make everything work together.
The collaboration proved to be very cost effective since there are experts from all the fields needed to come up with a viable concept car. The members of the team contributed their own inputs for project management, electronics, engineering, and powertrain.
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Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, in line with its DRIVe Towards Zero campaign will be launching a hybrid vehicle by 2012. The announcement also puts spotlight to the partnership formed between Volvo and energy firm Vattenfall.
Vattenfall will be helping Volvo in the production of their first plug in vehicle and their line of electric vehicles in the future.
The agreement between the two companies to develop the needed technology have been forged since 2007.
Saab has also joined forces with Volvo and Vattenfall to help in the endeavor. Saab has developed a concept 9-X BioHybrid.
Volvo has on the drawing boards the concept car based on the hatchback C30 for their plug-in hybrid car technology. By mid-2009. Volvo will run a test of their V70 plug in cars cruising on the roads of Europe.
The demo vehicles is aimed at giving Volvo and its partners the feedback that they need from the first hand experience of the people behind the wheels. They want to hear about the comments of consumers with regard to the new car technology so they can adapt to possible driving habits and apply the necessary innovations.
Vattenfall will explore the different means of charging the vehicle at home or through network of public charging stations.
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Volvo has always been known for being on the front lines of innovation, and their bus department (or is it the alternative fuels department?) has proven once again that they’re top notch when they launched the Volvo 7700 bus earlier this week…
The 7700 will apparently consume about 30% less fuel than a standard street bus which could have a huge impact on any city should they decide to use this system. Microdust and other particles emissions will also be reduced by about 50%.
That’s one green bus — and that’s what Volvo must have thought painting it Brittish Racing Green. Hybrid cars can have a huge impact, but think about what all the green buses could do!
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plug-in units in the future. They will look into how people want their cars to feel in terms of performance and functionality. Another important item to address is how people want to charge their rides.