for the road ahead
by Niklas Gustavsson
Hello there and good afternoon, I am Niklas Gustavsson and I work with Environment affairs at Volvo Cars in Sweden.
I’ll warm you up with a simple question. How many of you drives a Volvo? One arm up, please...and be honest, not polite...
Okay...not many...shame on you...let us try something else.
How many wear a three-point safety belt in your car every day?
That’s better....then you are Volvo people after all.
Because although far from all of you sit in a Volvo every day...it is a little bit of Volvo that makes sure that whatever you drive you drive it safely, no matter what brand it is.
It takes a bit of explanation. The story goes like this.
In 1959, the Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin...invented the three-point-safety belt.
We immediately made it a standard feature in our own cars...and later we also shared it with the world...and today the three-point belt is a standard feature in all cars.
And during the minute or so, I have been speaking to you, somewhere in the world; the safety belt has saved another life...
The same goes for the electronically controlled catalytic converter.
It was invented by Volvo Cars in 1976...immediately introduced...and today it is the base for cleaning exhausts in all modern cars...in nowadays cutting dangerous emissions with more than 95 percent. This proves that Volvo’s environmental awareness came early…because we stated frankly already in the early seventies:
“Our products cause noise, pollution and waste.”
This was more than thirty years ago…at the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm…and then we also added:
“Volvo alone can’t solve the environmental problems associated with motor vehicles. The community carries the main responsibility for developing our transport systems. But Volvo is determined to make active contributions with solutions.”
We have always believed that these solutions must be based on a holistic perspective…
Not one issue…but everything we can improve from a global and local perspective…both inside and outside our cars.
I’ll give you acouple of quick..local…examples:
• We lead the field in reducing the use of solvents…the Torslanda plant in Sweden is still the cleanest production plant in the world.
• We try to make the cars Clean Inside and out...meaning that focusing on emissions is far from enough.
• A Clean Compartment…as we call it…is a highly important issue these days…you should be able to choose a Volvo even if you have an asthma or allergy problem.
But, my friends…
…when it comes to the global environment…it is all about the climate change.
There is no doubt that the climate issues are among the major challenges of our times.
It will take a huge, co-ordinated effort to tackle it...and the challenge spans both across national boundaries and between industries.
At Volvo Cars, we feel ready to be a major player in the quest for lower CO2 emissions.
As you heard before, we do not hesitate to admit that we are part of the problem.
We know that the transport sector is responsible for a significant proportion of the emissions that contribute to the climate change.
But…we are also determined to be part of the solution.
To step by step leave the dependency of fossil fuels behind us is a difficult task...but big challenges have the ability to bring out the very best in skilled scientists and engineers.
History holds several examples of how problems that once seemed impossible to solve were replaced by innovations that took us over and far beyond the obstacles...thanks to the determination and knowledge of skilled people.
At the moment, that kind of innovation power is high in demand.
With no single energy alternative to replace the use of petrol and diesel as fuels in our cars, the automotive industry is facing a complex scenario.
We are heading for a multi-energy society...where several energy-efficient solutions will interact to deal with the complex climate issues.
Different regions and countries in the world will make different choices...depending on the availability of energy resources.
It is, for instance, logical that China would use the country’s rich resources of natural gas to cover the growing need of energy.
While Brazil on the other side of the globe will most likely expand the use of bioethanol produced from their sugar cane...
The multi-energy society of tomorrow will include vehicles running on ethanol, biogas, biodiesel, electricity, and maybe even hydrogen and fuel cells...or on smart combinations of these energy sources.
To a car manufacturer, this presents a new and complex challenge.
To remain competitive in a global perspective, we must be able to develop and commercialize a number of solutions over the coming years...including cars for different biofuels as well as hybrids.
In the mid-term perspective, focus will be on hybrid cars... where the electricity is used to support the traditional combustion engine...
But in the long perspective, we think that it will be the other way around.
In other words...the engine will be used as a back up in a battery electric car...which can be charged via a standard electrical socket.
Electricity is about three times more energy-efficient than several other possible alternative fuels.
Another advantage is of course that the electricity for cars can come from other clean sources...hydro power, wind power, and ultimately solar power.
Solar energy is an almost unlimited energy source.
The challenge is just to capture enough of it...and this picture describes what is needed.
If we could cover a desert the size of Sweden…450,000 square kilometres…with solar panels, they would provide all the energy our global community needs.
On the way to that ultimate solar solution we have to find other energy-efficient solutions.
Like this car…
The Volvo Recharge Concept is a plug-in hybrid...with a battery pack that can be charged every day…or night…just plug it into a regular socket at home.
In short, we are talking about an electric car with four individual wheel motors...and a Bioethanol Flexifuel engine, or a biodiesel, as backup when needed.
A full recharge gives the driver a range of about 100 kilometres on battery power alone before the engine is needed to power the car and recharge the battery.
This is a groundbreaking innovation for sustainable transportation.
A person driving less than 100 kilometres a day will rarely need to visit a fuelling station. In Europe, this may apply to over 90 percent of all vehicle use in one single day. But even drivers covering more than the battery-only range will benefit from the Recharge Concept. For a 150 km drive starting with a full charge, the car needs less than 3.3 litres of fuel...giving the car a fuel economy of 2.2 litres per 100 km. The car would have about 66 percent lower CO2 emissions compared with the best hybrid cars on the market today…and there is of course zero CO2 if the car can be charged with renewable electricity.
So…let us take this future energy solution…and add a little of Volvo’s future safety technology as well.
In this eternal Volvo speciality we are aiming for cars that can communicate with other vehicles and road users…as well as the whole traffic environment.
By doing this, the car can avoid collisions as well as accidents involving other road users.
And then…if the car can’t crash….it can loose all the weight that is added by today’s crash safety systems.
This in turn results in a dramatic cut when it comes to the energy needed to power the car.
So... in the long run, the quest for improved car safety is a quest for a better environment as well.
All this give me the opportunity to give my designer fiends here a little assignment. Guys, I want you to feel free to design the car of your dreams…without being tided up by crash safety systems…and with a plug-in hybrid to power it. Start sketching…and don’t be shy…show us what you are doing…