Say What? I Can Lease the Volvo C30 EV for $2100 a Month?

Volvo C30 Electric – Click above for high-res image gallery

A trial fleet of around 400 Volvo C30 Electrics is coming, and anyone who wants one had better have an awful big piggy bank. Speaking at a media launch near Indianapolis, IN today, the president of Volvo Car Special Vehicles, Lennart Stegland, said that, while the final price for the car hasn't been set, Volvo will not sell the EV, but instead offer the car through a three-year lease for around 1,500 Euros. Per month.

1,500 Euros comes out to about $2,129.85 at today's exchange rates, so if you stick it out for the full 36 months, you get to spend $76,674 to not buy a car. Even worse, Stegland said that Volvo will lose money on the deal. Ouch. Developing electric vehicles for mass production (which, on Volvo's schedule, will happen sometime around 2013 or so) is more than mildly expensive.

Sure, for the three years you drive the C30 Electric, you'll probably be quite happy with the car. We certainly were when we drove it last fall and fell for it again in Indiana today (our full write up is coming soon). To convince EV skeptics, Volvo is pushing its traditional safety message pretty hard with the C30 Electric, and we're sure the car is as safe as can be. We'll see how powerful this argument is when a hundred C30 Electrics come to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2012. An official lease price hasn't been set but, as much as we like it, it'll be hard to justify two-large a month for four-seat hatch.




Source: Autoblog Green

Introducing the All-Electric Volvo C30

Everyone is jumping in the EV water these days. Here is Volvo announcing their upcoming offering. The more the merrier!

From Autocar:

Volvo has confirmed it is working an all-electric C30, although it currently has no plans to put it into production.

The Swedish firm will show a fully operational version of the all-electric C30 as part of its Innovation for Life event, which will be held shortly after the Frankfurt Auto Show.

When contacted by Autocar, a Volvo source said: “The all-electric C30 is a car we have talked about previously and formed the basis of the Recharge concept shown a few years ago.

“One of the cars that will be shown at the Innovation for Life event will be an all-electric C30 and that car will be driven.”

At the moment, the all-electric C30 is just a concept and Volvo has no current plans to put it into production.

“It is an evaluation concept,” said the source. “It’s being worked on and is part of an ongoing evaluation and we will make a decision in the future.

“At the moment, we are not considering putting it into production.”

Volvo has pledged to bring a diesel plug-in electric hybrid V70 to market by 2012, and an all-electric C30 is seen as an extension of this project.