A Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid car was suspected to have exploded while charging in an underground garage in Nanjing in the early hours of November 30.
Volvo responded through its official Weibo on the afternoon of November 30 that there were no casualties, Volvo was cooperating with the local fire department to investigate the cause of the accident, the follow-up will be announced in time to investigate the progress.
Volvo hybrid car suspected of catching fire and exploding while charging
The Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid is suspected to have exploded while charging in an underground parking lot in Nanjing, according to a report on November 30.
From the pictures of the scene, a black Volvo’s four doors, hood, roof and tailgate were damaged to varying degrees, and the water pipe above the vehicle was also cracked, with water flowing at the scene.
The explosion also affected vehicles parked around. The pictures on the scene showed that the door of a black commercial car next to the car was deformed, the glass of the car broke to the ground, and the glass of a red Porsche car was also shattered.
After the news broke out, netizens have said it was terrible and hope to find out the cause.
Official information shows that the suspected explosion of the Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid model is a medium-large luxury SUV, using 2.0L dual-charged engine and electric motor constitutes a plug-in hybrid system, the power cell using lithium electronic batteries, capacity 11.6kWh, the highest electric range of 50km, the current price of about 894,900.
Volvo official response: is cooperating with the fire department to investigate the cause
According to Nanjing Fire Weibo, at 5:39 today, Nanjing Fire 119 received an alarm about a new energy car fire in the underground garage of Renheng Jiangwan City District, No. 198 Leshan Road, Jianye District. The fire command center in Nanjing immediately mobilized the fire stations in the area to the scene to deal with. At 5:54, the open flame at the scene was extinguished without casualties. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
On the afternoon of November 30, Volvo’s official response said, 2021 November 30 early morning, Nanjing, a community underground garage a vehicle burning accident, Volvo technical staff first rushed to the scene, the current scene has been processed, no casualties. Volvo is cooperating with the local fire department to investigate the cause of the accident, the follow-up will promptly announce the progress of the investigation.
According to information from the car circle Penguin cited by brokerage China, a user in the WeChat group said that according to all the circumstances known so far, the owner installed a gas stove for camping in the trunk and forgot to turn off the gas cylinder switch (only the knob was turned off), causing the gas concentration in the car to reach the critical point of explosion. Just when the vehicle was charging, the vehicle’s environmentally friendly automatic ventilation system was activated to generate electric sparks, and the air inlet of the air conditioner remained open. Therefore, after the detonation, the rear door, the exterior panel of the C-pillar pressure relief port, and the hood were greatly damaged.
However, the official conclusion is currently unclear and is still under investigation.
Volvo’s comprehensive electrification strategy
Since this year, the new energy vehicle market continues to be hot.
According to the statistical analysis of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in October 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the city continued to increase month-on-month and year-on-year, and production and sales reached a record high.
Among them, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 397,000 and 383,000 units respectively in October, up 12.5% and 7.2% YoY, and both up 1.3 times YoY.
From January to October this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 2,566,000 and 2,542,000 respectively, with year-on-year growth of 1.8 times.
And as the world’s first luxury car company to announce a comprehensive electrification strategy, as early as 2017, Volvo promised that since 2019, all newly launched Volvo models will be equipped with electric motors, and soon after announced that it plans to achieve full electrification in 2025, when the proportion of sales of pure electric models will reach 50% and the rest will be hybrid models; By 2030, it will be a 100% electric luxury car company, and by 2040, it will aim to become a zero-load climate benchmark company.
Volvo Car Group President and CEO Hanken Samuelson has also said, “Electric vehicles are the future direction of Volvo Cars, and ending the single pure internal combustion engine is our goal.”
It has also been publicly reported that in May 2019, Volvo Car Group signed long-term agreements with battery manufacturers CATL (Ningde Times) and LG Chem (LG Chem) to secure a multi-billion dollar supply of lithium-ion batteries for the next generation of Volvo cars and Polaris (Polestar) models over the next decade. The agreement covers the global supply of battery modules for all models on Volvo’s upcoming next-generation Scalable Modular Architecture (SPA2) and the existing Basic Modular Architecture (CMA).
In response, Martina Buchhauser, senior vice president of global procurement at Volvo Car Group, said, “Volvo Cars has signed agreements with Ningde Times and LG Chem that will guarantee battery supply for the next ten years, and we are ensuring future supply chain flexibility by having two suppliers in each region.”
Volvo’s overall sales have maintained their upward trend, driven by a comprehensive electrification strategy. According to the latest figures released by Volvo, cumulative global sales from January to October were 581,464 units, up 12.6 percent year-on-year, with electrified models accounting for 25.5 percent of the total; cumulative sales in China were 143,616 units, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, with sales of the RECHARGE series up 100.4 percent year-on-year from January to October. Source