Electric Weeks

INSANE IN THE BRAIN

I felt it was very long since I quoted a piece of pop history AND we have launched insanely many things the last two weeks. True electric car subscription is LIVE in Sweden. Our new Volvocars.com is big in Japan. New car configurator is hygge in Denmark. Netherlands is on too. AND. We launched a new car, the exquisitely beautiful car for car designers – and some other people too – the C40 Recharge pure electric. Electric only. We also launched the message that the end of the combustion era has a global date at Volvo. 2030 we will build and sell only pure electric vehicles. AND. We rolled out a total software upgrade over-the-air to the first real XC40 Recharge users. 

LOCO EN EL COCO

It is very interesting to now and then get the perspective of others upon one’s mission. Speaking to journalists for a day, listening to their questions, the angle they are coming from usually tells a story that bring just that perspective to technicolor. A non-neglectable sized group, usually from the same countries really look at you with a level of skepticism, not that I would be crazy, but still, what I guess to be a mixture of woe and awe – How do you dare to be this clear? Why would you abandon what you still sell so much of? Because there is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine.

N.E.R.D

A bigger group has really nerded in on electric vehicles. Somewhat similar mix – the woe and awe – but this time all comparing us to Tesla. How fast can the C40 really charge in 5 degrees C? You know the Tesla does it in…. I think this group really got what is going on. The race to meet the exponentially accelerating needs of the electric car consumer is on. Nothing matters like speed. Car industry used to be about scale. Not scale of users, scale of how many identical pieces of steel you can yield on the same capital investment. Forget making a platform, tool it up in seven countries, make a plan of 28+ cars to come in the next ten years. That is gone. Today it is about speed. How fast can you really charge your car? But most importantly - how much faster does it charge tomorrow?

NO DIGGITY 

The last group is even beyond the second. They get the clarity. They know the race is on. They know who we chase. They know we never copy. They know we want to do it our way. The safe, sustainable and personal way. The sometimes slightly odd, being neither German nor American or Japanese, way. They have found a unique clever angle that no one else thought of and they dig. And dig. And dig. What do I do? I smile and tell the truth and this time; I am the one with a hint of awe and a taste of zest. Impressed!

Take care!!

// Henrik