Volvo Follows Tesla’s Lead on EVs by Building Its Own Batteries

#News(General) [ via IoTGroup ]

Volvo is building its own battery packs; the aim is to make them safer by having them integrate better into their vehicles.
The automaker’s first EV, the XC40 Recharge, will be the first vehicle with a pack built by Volvo.
In addition to creating the hardware, Volvo will work on the software algorithms for the battery system and push over-the-air updates that will potentially extend the range.
Volvo is going electric.
Volvo going electric isn’t surprising or novel, but as a relatively small player in the automotive world, it’s interesting to see Volvo following the lead of the biggest EV makers on the planet.
Currently, the battery packs in Volvo’s hybrids are custom-built by LG Chem.
But beginning with the company’s first EV, the XC40 Recharge, it’s taking control of the hardware and software that’ll power its small electric SUV.
“Starting with [battery-electric vehicles], it’s a whole different ball game.
The pack becomes part of the vehicle structure,” said Ulrik Persson, Volvo’s battery product manager.
The battery pack is the most expensive component of an EV.
The XC40 started as a gas-powered vehicle, and the company had to make major changes to make it as safe as a Volvo should be.
Going forward, electrification will become a larger part of the company’s offerings, with a goal to make 50 percent of its global sales be battery-electric vehicles by 2025.
Like Tesla, it’ll use data shared by customers driving their cars; based on that, the automaker will tweak its software to make its vehicles more efficient and then send that updated software out to electrified Volvos.
Tesla changed what people expect from their vehicles, and to compete with them in the electric world, automakers like Volvo need to adapt.
The automaker invested $60 million on battery lab at its Gothenburg, Sweden, headquarters.
In the lab, Volvo engineers are putting types of batteries through the paces.
It sources two different battery types for its vehicles.

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