Volvo's parent company Geely is no stranger to electric vehicles. The Chinese automaker has been selling EVs under its own brand for years, and it even has a sub-brand devoted to them, called Lynk & Co. Now, it looks like Geely may be ready to incorporate its EV technology into Volvo's lineup. In an interview with Reuters, Geely's chief technology officer said that the Emgrand EV may foreshadow future Volvo models.
The Emgrand EV is a compact sedan that's based on the Volvo S40. It has a range of about 186 miles and a price tag of around $30,000. It's been on sale in China since 2016, and it's also been sold in Europe under the name Geely Emgrand 7.
Now, it looks like the Emgrand EV may be the first of many electric Volvos. Geely's CTO, Christian Dahlqvist, told Reuters that the company is working on "a Volvo version of the Emgrand EV." He didn't give any specifics, but he said that the car will be "very important" for Volvo.
Dahlqvist also said that Geely is working on a new battery technology that will enable electric cars to have a range of "over 500 km." He didn't say when this technology will be ready, but it's likely that we'll see it in future Volvo EVs.
Volvo has been hinting at its electric plans for years. In 2016, the company announced that it would produce a "fully electric car" by 2019. In 2017, it said that all of its new cars would be available with some form of electrification by 2020. And last year, Volvo announced that it would build a new electric car factory in Chengdu, China.
So far, Volvo has only released one fully electric car, the XC40 EV. But it sounds like we can expect to see more from Volvo in the near future.