Volvo says that all diesel-powered cars will be removed by the beginning of 2024. Volvo said last year that it would stop funding research and development for gas engines. Volvo has promised to sell only electric cars by 2030, and by 2040, the company wants to be carbon neutral. Volvo said on Tuesday that it will stop making all gas cars by the beginning of next year. Other automakers make small, significant line changes to make them more electric. Volvo sped up its move to electric cars, and at the same time, it stopped making gas cars. Volvo decided last year to stop making new internal combustion engines so it no longer spends money on research and development. In November last year, the company sold its share of Aurobay, a joint venture that held the automaker’s leftover combustion-engine assets. This news does not come as a surprise, even globally, since Volvo’s market share for diesel-powered cars has been decreasing. Even though Volvo has not offered a diesel car in the US for many years, Reuters says that most Volvo cars sold in Europe in 2019 were diesel-powered, but in 2022, diesel-powered vehicles will only make up 8.9% of the company’s sales. Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo Cars, says that electric powertrains are the future and are better than combustion engines. Our only goal is to make a wide range of high-end, fully electric cars that live up to all of our customers’ standards of a Volvo and are a vital part of our plan to fight climate change. The move is a step toward Volvo’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2040 and selling only electric cars by 2030. In 2019, the company started putting electric motors in all its new models, such as the EX30 and EX90 SUVs, which will be battery-electric, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid.
