Three items about the auto industry and PHEVs:

* Ford-owned Volvo and GM-owned Saab join with
the Swedish government, Vatenfall, and ETC AB to develop PHEVs.

* We correct a misleading European media report
about the Toyota iQ, scheduled for mass
production in 2009: in fact it's not a PHEV.
Toyota's evident intention to mass-produce PHEVs
sometime around 2010 stands. (We've updated the
information at our popular page, How Carmakers
are Responding to the Plug-In Hybrid
Opportunity http://www.calcars.org/carmakers.html .)

* GM's invitation to users to give their views on
data-collection and display for the GM Volt gets
an avalanche of user opinions overnight.


1. PHEVS IN SWEDEN
Many people, including our Icelandic colleagues
working to develop the second annual conference
"Driving Sustainability: Fueling the Future of
Transport," were very interested in the new
developments in Sweden (which participated
heavily in last September's conference). They
note that Vattenfall (Swedish word for water-fall
referring to hydropower) is the biggest energy
generator in Sweden. ETC AB is a battery and fuel
cell company in Sweden. Following are press
releases from Volvo and Vattenfall plus a report from CNET.

VOLVO PRESS RELEASE
Volvo Car Corporation launches unique cooperation
for the development of plug-in hybrid cars in Sweden
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/03/14/080949.html

GÖTEBORG, SWEDEN - Together with electricity
provider Vattenfall, Saab Automobile, ETC and the
Swedish state, Volvo Car Corporation is launching
a joint broad-based research venture to develop
spearhead technology in the area of plug-in
hybrid cars. Sweden will be the arena for the field tests.

"I see this project as a positive further
development of sustainable personal transport. We
have a unique opportunity to take the lead when
it comes to innovations for advanced green-car
technology", says Fredrik Arp, President and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation.

The aim of the project, which is being carried
out jointly by Volvo Car Corporation, Saab
Automobile, Vattenfall and ETC, is to develop and
demonstrate the next-generation hybrid cars. A
fleet of 10 plug-in hybrids will be produced that
can be recharged directly from the mains wall socket.

Volvo has long experience of cooperation with a
variety of society's actors and with this project
the company aims to participate in and shape
decisions and initiatives that are taken both
within and outside the car industry.

"We want to be involved in setting up the rules
for the future and to help build up broad-based
competence in Sweden in this vital area," says Fredrik Arp.

Over a five-year period, Volvo Cars will invest
just over 11 billion SEK in development aimed at
reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Volvo
already offers its customers one of the
industry's widest ranges of Flexifuel engines. In
parallel the company is continuing to enhance the
efficiency of its petrol- and diesel-powered
cars. 2008 will see the launch of car models that
release less than 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre.

Volvo Cars is also focusing intensively on hybrid
technology. In the medium term the company will
introduce hybrid variants where an electric motor
supports the combustion engine. In the longer
term, plug-in hybrids will be introduced. One
example of this was presented in autumn 2007 with
the Volvo C30 ReCharge Concept. Used in the most
effective way, this concept car cuts emissions of
carbon dioxide by about 65 percent compared with
the hybrid cars available on the market today.
And if the electricity comes from CO2-sustainable
sources such as hydropower and windpower, this figure improves still further.

"Within the next decade, we will see more
electric vehicles on our roads," says Fredrik Arp.

VATTENFALL PRESS RELEASE
Vattenfall to develop technology for climate smart vehicles
http://www.vattenfall.com/www/vf_com/vf_com/370103press/558539press/index.jsp?pm\
id=90268

Plug-In hybrids can reduce the transport sector’s
dependence upon fossil fuels and its negative
effect on the climate. Vattenfall is part of a
Swedish industrial initiative to speed up the
development of next generation’s hybrid vehicles,
which may be charged with electricity directly
from the socket and driven longer distances on electricity.

"Running more vehicles on electricity is one way
of reducing transport sector emissions of the
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Vattenfall is
investing a billion Swedish Kronor in renewable
electricity production and implementing a wide
ranging of different measures to reduce climate
changing emissions. As such we see it as a
natural step to work with Volvo Cars and Saab
Automobile to lay the foundations for a combined
Swedish industry investment in Plug-In hybrids,”
says Lars G Josefsson, Group CEO Vattenfall.

The car industry and energy sector are both
convinced that Plug-In hybrid cars can be an
effective means of reducing the carbon footprint
of road traffic. Swedish electricity production
has low carbon dioxide emissions and electricity is a powerful propellant.

Electric vehicles will not require any extensive
infrastructure development, as Sweden’s power
grid has sufficient capacity and an ordinary
power point can be used to charge a
Plug-In-hybrid. Sweden also has enough production
capacity to meet the increased demand for
electricity that would arise, in both the short
and the long-term. For instance, Vattenfall’s
Lillgrund wind farm with 48 wind turbines could
supply enough electricity to power 147,000
vehicles that drive 15,000 kilometres a year
using electricity 75 percent of the time.

“Using electricity to power personal transport
vehicles is a very good example of how energy
resources can be used in an effective way. At the
same time, improving energy efficiency where
fossil fuels are also replaced by carbon dioxide
free power, is a major climate change
initiative,” says Lars G Josefsson. One initial
step in this investment in Plug-In hybrids is a
project to build, demonstrate and evaluate
vehicles and various charging alternatives, in
order to determine their potential for reducing
emissions and what the costs would be etc.

For Vattenfall, this project entails the
development and testing of electricity
infrastructure and various charging alternatives.
Solutions should be user friendly and flexible
enough to ensure charging a Plug-In hybrid is
easier than filling your car at a petrol station
today. The project partners are Vattenfall, Saab
Automobile, Volvo Cars and ETC AB. Funding is
also being provided by the Swedish Energy Agency.


CNET March 14, 2008
Volvo road tests ReCharge plug-in hybrid concept
Posted by Wayne Cunningham
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9894305-54.html

Volvo showed off its ReCharge plug-in hybrid
concept, based on the Volvo C30 model, at last
year's Frankfurt auto show. We were skeptical
when we saw it because even though it looked
cool, Volvo only had a cutaway demonstration
model to show off, and the company has no current
hybrid cars among its model lineup. But Volvo
reports today that it has a working concept on
the road as part of a larger program to develop
next generation powertrains. Volvo, in a
consortium with Saab, the Swedish government, and
energy company Vattenfall, announced a five-year
plan to develop plug-in hybrids. The consortium's
goal is to produce a fleet of 10 plug-in hybrid
cars, using Sweden as a testing field. We are a
little underwhelmed by this level of ambition, as
there are already companies in the U.S. offering
plug-in conversions of existing hybrids. As part
of this plan, Volvo announced it will offer a
hybrid variant of one or more existing models
within five years. At this time, Volvo isn't
saying what type of hybrid technology it will
use, but owner Ford already offers a hybrid
system similar to Toyota's on its Ford Escape and
Mercury Mariner. When the ReCharge concept was
introduced, Volvo specified lithium-polymer
batteries and in-wheel electric motors, with a
small flex-fuel generator onboard as a range extender.



2. CORRECTION ABOUT TOYOTA'S IQ; 2010 PHEV TARGET REMAINS

On March 8, we enthusiastically posted to
CalCars-News, "Toyota's Back in Race To Be First
Major Company on PHEVs" based on reports that
Toyota's 99 gram/kilometer ultra-lightweight IQ
car, to be mass-produced in 2009 in Europe, was a
plug-in hybrid. Something didn't sound right
about this, so we checked with Toyota's Group VP
for Corporate Communications, Irv Miller, who
confirmed that the iQ is super lightweight,
aerodynamic, low C02 emissions -- not a hybrid,
but has a gas or diesel option.

At the same time, we have not heard any
contradictions from the Wall Street Journal story
we linked to in that same posting at
http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/924.html
where Toyota's President Katsuaki Watanab says
the company will sell a plug-in hybrid with a
lithium-ion battery by 2010 at the latest --
which means they could still get there before GM's Saturn Vue or Volt.


3. MORE SUGGESTIONS ABOUT GM VOLT
Finally, GM-Volt.com is a website focusing
exclusively on the Volt, with frequent news
reports and broad discussions. Dr. Lyle Dennis,
its volunteer physician editor/publisher, has
collected over 14,000 "pre-orders" for the Volt.
After an indirect invitation from a GM engineer
to give opinions about what kind of data the car
should make available to drivers, 300 people gave
their views in less than a day:
“Give Your Direct Input to GM’s Volt Engineering Team on Vehicle Data Options!”
<http://www.gm-volt.com/2008/03/16/give-your-direct-input-to-gms-volt-engineerin\
g-team-on-vehicle-data-options/>http://www.gm-volt.com/2008/03/16/give-your-dire\
ct-input-to-gms-volt-engineering-team-on-vehicle-data-options


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Felix Kramer fkramer@...
Founder California Cars Initiative
http://www.calcars.org
http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html
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