Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine grabs ‘Free’ electric charge from other cars (+video)

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Volvo demonstrates how an XC90 T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid can harvest free electricity from other road users using water power.

The Volvo XC90 is, in many ways, Volvo’s most impressive car to date, and with a choice of D5 diesel, T6 petrol and T8 plug-in hybrid options, there’s a drivetrain to suit all drivers.

But perhaps the most impressive – although inevitably the most expensive – is the XC90 T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid, delivering 400bhp thanks to a combination of a 2.0 litre petrol engine that’s both supercharged and turbocharged as well as a chunky electric motor at the back for an extra dose of power and torque.

But to get the most out of the T8, you do need to take the time to plug it in to the mains to charge the batteries. Or do you?

Volvo has delivered this, slightly tongue in cheek, video demonstrating how the T8 can get free electricity from other road users courtesy of an ingenious – if rather Heath Robinson – system of water pipes under the road surface.

To demonstrate, Volvo fitted a matting full of water pipes on a road in California, with the momentum and pressure of the traffic passing over creating a wave motion, pumping the water through the pipes and creating a mini hydro-electric plant.

That was enough to charge the T8, with every passing car creating more electricity without any penalty to the drivers of the cars (apart from slowing down to traverse the matting).

We can’t really see every road in every country being dug up to fit pipes under the surface, but it’s a fun way to promote the T8’s plug-in capabilities.

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