The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries.
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Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60’s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90.
That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.
The complications – and extra parts – explain why the V60 plug-in costs £50k, but despite that Volvo has already sold the 1,000 cars being built and the order book for the 2014 model year cars is growing strongly. And if you’re going to go the hybrid route – and aren’t bothered it makes no long-term financial sense – the V60 plug-in diesel looks a good route.
With 4WD thanks to Volvo’s ERAD (Electric Rear Axle Drive), a 2.4 litre diesel engine and an electric motor with 70bhp, the V60 plug-in promises decent economy and performance (and will get a Volvo D6 badge – the first D6 badged car from Volvo) with 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds, official figures of around 49g/km and a range of 621 miles.
We look forward to playing with the Volvo V60 plug-in. It looks interesting.
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