The Volvo V90 wagon plug-in hybrid — a new sibling to the S90 sedan and the XC90 SUV — was recently unveiled in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
The reason that the 3 vehicles mentioned above are “siblings” (as the “90 Series”) is that they are all based on the “company’s specially-designed and fully modular Scalable Product Architecture (SPA).” All 3 models are offered as variants featuring the T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain.
The Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Cars, Dr Peter Mertens, commented: “We have a very strong offer in the V90. Our PowerPulse technology is designed to deliver a distinct performance boost to our diesel engine, while the T8 Twin Engine petrol plug-in hybrid will deliver around 410 hp (horsepower) and a pure electric range of around 50 kilometers.”
Green Car Congress provides more info:
The 34 kW, 150 N·m water-cooled Crank-Integrated Starter Generator (C-ISG) starts the engine, charges the battery and can also support the combustion engine with electric boost power. The electric rear axle drive propels the vehicle in electric mode and provides electric boost torque and power during acceleration, as well as performing brake energy recuperation. The rear drive utilizes a 65 kW peak, 240 N·m peak electric machine with a water-cooled stator.
The 96-cell, 9.2 kWh (nominal) battery pack is built with Lithium Manganese Oxide – Nickel Manganese Cobalt/Graphite Li-ion cells.
In the T8 Twin Engine variant, paddles shifters enable downshifting. This variant has a unique engine-braking mode. The maximum torque level is also increased to enable better use of the C-ISG for performance boosting purposes.
The new model also possesses some new semi-autonomous drive options — featuring, amongst other things, large-animal detection and “run-off road mitigation.”
An interesting note to make here, Volvo sales have been rising in recent years — with the company passing the 500,000 mark for the first time in 2015. 2016 is expected to be a record year for the company as well, going by comments made recently by the company’s CEO, Håkan Samuelsson.