2009
On June 1, 2009, Volvo announced the launching of series production diesel-electric plug-in hybrids by 2012. The company plans to sell a series hybrid with the goal of achieving emissions of less than 50 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Two Volvo V70 demonstrators were converted to PHEVs and are undergoing a test trial in real world conditions since December 2009. This demonstration project is a joint venture with Vattenfall, a Swedish energy company. As reported by the test drivers, the V70 Plug-in Hybrid demonstrators have an all-electric range between 20 kilometres (12 mi) to 30 kilometres (19 mi) . The test plug-in hybrids were built with a button to allow test drivers to manually choose between electricity or diesel engine power at any time.
The first pre-production test car based on the final Chevrolet Volt design was built in June 2009, in Warren, Michigan, and by October 2009, 80 Volts had been built and were tested under various conditions.
During its first eight months in the Chinese market, the BYD F3DM PHEV-60 only sold less than 100 vehicles. Sales of the F3DM began in Hong Kong in June 2009.
Read more about this topic: History Of Plug-in Hybrids