From next year every new Volvo model launched will have an electric motor – marking the end of decades of reliance solely on the internal combustion engine as a means of power.

Volvo’s Hybrid range

Volvo’s plug-in hybrid vehicles are branded Twin Engine – because they have two power sources, combining an efficient internal combustion engine and an electric motor.

The electric motor drives the rear wheels via a high voltage battery mounted in the transmission tunnel to offer optimised weight distribution for better ride and handling characteristics.

This motor then operates in three modes:

• Pure – the vehicle runs solely on electric power, with a range of up to 27 miles in the XC90 T8 Twin Engine.
• Hybrid ­­– the car decides on the best combination of petrol and electric power to deliver the most economical performance (134.5mpg and 49g/km).
• Power – both power units deliver their maximum power for the fastest acceleration (a combined 407bhp in the XC90 T8).

Plug-in hybrids offer companies and their drivers the best of both worlds with the ability to operate in zero-exhaust emission mode in towns and cities, yet also operate as a regular petrol or diesel-engined vehicle on longer business journeys.

This gives plug-ins a distinct advantage among business drivers who need the ability to have a vehicle with a healthy range.

Plug-ins will help avoid one of the current key barriers to adoption of pure electric vehicles – range anxiety (otherwise known as the fear of running out of power in the middle of a journey).

Data from the Commission for Integrated Transport in its ‘Medium-length Trip Patterns’ report found that 42% of car mileage was driven on medium-length trips (defined as between five and 25 miles), enabling Twin Engine drivers to travel four in every 10 trips in Pure mode.

Another one of the main attractions of plug-in hybrids to company car drivers is the money to be saved on taxation.

Thanks to their ultra-low emissions, plug-ins qualify for lower benefit-in-kind tax brackets, spelling financial savings for switched on customers. And these savings are not confined to just one year – their low emission performance guarantees some of the lowest Benefit in Kind (BiK) tax bands for several years to come, giving added peace of mind to drivers and their wallets.

To find out more about our plug-in hybrid range, call the Volvo Car Business Centre on 0345 600 4027 or visit www.volvocars.co.uk/hybridforbusiness