By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Volvo is not known for its speed but rather for its safety standards and driving comfort, especially the luxurious XC90 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), a favourite for school runs.
The new XC90 range changes all that, and more, particularly the XC90 T8 Hybrid. It is a car packed with 400 horses under the bonnet, which is a power output of 290kW and 640Nm torque, a combination that would have the XC90 T8 dashing past many sport sedans on the road.
In fact, Volvo claims that the new vehicle can sprint from a stand still to reach 100 km/h in 5,9 seconds, a sprint not many sport sedans can achieve below 6 seconds. Despite such acceleration the new XC90 T8 is dubbed as the cleanest SUV, because of both its engines, electric or the normal combustion one.
But important things first, the Volvo XC90 will be priced from N$800,000 for the entry-level model expected to arrive in the Namibian markets around August 2015.
Those environmentally inclined can also buy the twin-engine T8 Hybrid, as it will be available then. The T8 Hybrid will give the driver an option to drive the car in hybrid, electric, power, all wheel drive, and save modes.
The hybrid is the default mode, suitable for everyday use, in which the vehicle automatically alternates between drawing power from the 2-litre, 4-cylinder Drive-E engine and the electric motor to deliver the best overall fuel consumption.
In pure electric mode, the car is powered through electric motor over the rear axle by a high-voltage battery. In this mode the car can drive for more than 40km using just electricity. Thanks to the regenerative braking system, this mode is super-efficient in the stop-and-go traffic of city environments. If more power is needed, the Drive-E combustion engine starts up automatically.
In power mode the driver gets advantage of the electric motor’s superior response and instant torque curve, while the combustion engine gets up to speed. This combination offers better torque at lower revs, equivalent to that of a large displacement engine like the V8.
The all wheel drive mode offers constant all-wheel drive on demand, while in save mode it allows the driver to “freeze” the battery level and save it for later use with pure electric drive. If the battery is low, the driver can use the combustion engine to charge the battery to a certain level for later use with pure electric drive.
The power in the Volvo is shifted through an 8-speed automatic gearbox, which has also been specially adapted for the hybrid while the shift-by-wire technology allows drivers to control the transmission electrically.
A luxurious touch is the handmade Swedish crystal gear-lever. A larger oil pump provides the necessary lubrication during electric drive and enables quicker pressure build-up when seamlessly going from electric to combustion drive.