Volvo Launches Battery Assembly Line

Volvo inaugurates a battery assembly line in Belgium in preparation for production of its first all-electric car, the XC40 Recharge P8, later this year.

The assembly line is at the manufacturing plant in Ghent, one of Volvo’s two car-production facilities in Europe. The plant has operated since 1965 and employs 6,500 people.

The XC40 Recharge P8 not only is Volvo’s first fully electric car but also is the first Volvo with an infotainment system fully powered by Google’s Android operating system. The new EV is based on the CMA platform, a modular vehicle architecture codeveloped within Volvo parent Geely Group.

Volvo’s expansion of EV production capability is part of its aim to reduce its lifecycle carbon footprint by 40% per car between 2018 and 2025 as a first step toward its goal of becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040.

The automaker pledges it will launch a fully electric car every year over the next five years as it seeks to make EVs 50% of global sales by 2025, with the rest as hybrid powertrains. Recharge will be the overarching name for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain.