Volvo C30 Electric crash example at Detroit show

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By Brett Davis | January 10th, 2011

Volvo will present a crashed Volvo C30 Electric at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week. The company wants to demonstrate that electric cars can be made safe even when there is extensive use of high voltage batteries and cables within the car.

Volvo will use the car to demonstrate how keeping the cables and batteries intact after a crash is critical to the safety of the occupants and attending emergency crew, even in circumstances that match a 64km/h frontal impact crash test. Volvo says all of the car’s main electrical components are undamaged by the test – which will be visible at the exhibition.

Stefan Jacoby, CEO and president of Volvo Cars, recently said about the exhibit,

“We are the first car maker in the world to show what a truly safe electric car looks like after a crash. This is of utmost importance not only to the people riding in an electric car, but also to for example first responders.”

Volvo also says the electric and hybrid car market is taking off, and Volvo is making sure safety remains as top priority even in the development of fuel efficient technologies. Jacoby added,

“Not everyone that now launches or is in the process of launching electric cars are approaching the safety challenges as we are. But Volvo will never compromise on our stringent safety demands.”

Volvo is looking forward to being the first ever manufacturer to exhibit a crash-tested electric vehicle at an international show.

Vins

I won’t question about Volvo’s safety. They have imporved the look. If they could improve their driving dynamic, it would be good.

Devil’s Advocate

The C30, S40, V50 and C70 convertible all use the Ford C1 platform that is also used by the Mazda3 and the 2005 Ford Focus which are both renowned as having some of the best driving dynamics in their class. Unless Volvo did something drastic to the chassis, you would expect those models to at least display dynamics in the top half of their class and would be more than suitable for their target market. I am sure their dynamic safety would be just as secure as their passive safety…

Peter

Agreed. The turbo models with dts/dtc (whatever) are great drives (I havent driven the current c70) though I found the c30 felt a little front heavy and preferred the s40. The XC60 in the T6 is brilliant, surprisingly good, and the XC70 feels great as a cruiser. The s80 V8 isnt like driving a performance car, but it is quick off the mark and very nice to drive. And the s40T5 is just a brilliant drive, quick, sits flat as a tack, handles and stops well, parks well, and that’s been around coming on 6 years. I havent tried the new s60 (the old one was a bit meh except in R format), but it is meant to be a ripper to drive.