Volvo has developed an electric car that can be charged in one and a half hours.
A full charge for most electric passenger cars takes around eight to 10 hours, but the Swedish firm’s C30 Electric development car uses a new 22kW fast charging unit that can still be powered through a conventional plug socket, but cuts the charge time down to a fraction of the usual length.
Lennart Stegland, vice president for electric propulsion systems at Volvo, said: “Adding the innovative fast charging solution will radically improve the time and mileage for the daily usage of the car.
“This will drastically improve the cost of ownership. Even a quick 10-minute plug-in adds power for another 20 kilometres of driving.”
Volvo will begin a trial of 100 C30 Electric models in Europe this summer but the model is not destined for the UK. The technology may appear on UK cars in future, though.
