Volvo is serious about bringing to market the ReCharge plug-in hybrid vehicle. They announced today a partnership with Saab, electricity provider Vattenfall, battery provider ETC, and the Swedish state to invest $1.8 billion for the development of plug-in hybrids; the money will be invested over a period of 5 years and at first 10 cars will be built for testing in Sweden. A plug-in hybrid has both a combustion and electric engine just like hybrid vehicles today but the batteries can be charged at home by plugging-in the car and drawing energy from the main power grid; in the latter case, energy can come from sustainable sources such as wind and solar reducing emissions and environmental impact. Electric vehicles are the future whether big oil companies like it or not. Volvo expects that the first model of their plug-in hybrid will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by about 65 percent compared with the hybrid cars available on the market today. Come on already, I want to drive one of these!

[via autobloggreen]

Tags: Hubrid cars, Volvo ReCharge