XC60 Wins "SheKnows 2012 Parenting Award"

For those of you who don't follow blogs, SheKnows is the web's largest site for women. They recently announced the winners of the 2012 SheKnows Parenting Awards. Companies and Readers nominated favorite products and services in 75 categories based on functionality, quality, safety and convenience.  On Nov. 5, 2012, winners were announced, and SheKnows readers awarded the Volvo XC60 the prestigious Editors' Choice Award in the Mom Cars Category. Second and Third place in the same category went to the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna respectively. Click on the link below for more details:

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/awards/parenting-awards-2012/category/just-for-mom

This doesn't surprise me in the least. The Volvo XC60 has all the amenities a busy mom could ask for and so much more! Congratulations Volvo for once again leading the way for safety, innovation and afforable quality.

Are You Following the Volvo Ocean Race?

Not many people make the connection between Volvo and 100 year old ocean racing, but we just chalk this up to yet another little known fact about this great car company.

It all started with two sailors and their solo voyages around the world: British adventurer Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world between June 14,1968 and April 22,1969.In 1973 the Whitbread round the World Race contest was held using fully crewed yachts. Dangerous and perilous doesn’t begin to describe the situation. In fact, three sailors were lost after being thrown overboard during storms. From that point on, they ran a similar contest every four years.

In 2001-2002, Volvo claimed the race as the first Volvo Ocean Race, which some refer to as the “Everest of Sailing.” The race lasts nine months, and this year we began in October 2011 in Alicante, Spain and will end in early July 2012 in Galway, Ireland. According to a Volvo press release, “teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient.”

Each sailing team includes 11 professional crew members, and, depending on the leg of the journey, a team member could race day and night for 20 days straight with only freeze-dried rations for sustenance. This is a major mental and physical challenge for sailors who will endure sleep deprivation and hunger while providing off-the-charts strength and tenacity in temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius. Crew members are allowed to bring only one change of clothes, and each takes on a different job while onboard the yacht. Among the 11 crew members, at least two sailors will have had medical training, one sailmaker, an engineer and one dedicated media crew member.

The boats are 70 feet long mono-haul designs recognized as the fastest sailing vessels of their kind and reaching speeds in excess of 25 knots. In fact, the 24 h our sailing record of 592 nautical miles is held by a Volvo Ocean Race 70!


This race is not for the weak of heart or mind and includes extreme conditions, real-life drama and a true test of one’s ability to work as a team coupled with incredible endurance.
You can log onto this website and follow the race live:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html


You can sign up to watch live streaming video here:
http://new.livestream.com/volvooceanrace

Some Things Are Just Worth Waiting For

According to lead Volvo engineer Ichiro Sugioka, the Volvo Plug-in Hybrid is worth the wait. Volvo recently released its first production Plug-in Hybrid, the V60, for the European market, but it was many years in the making. “I work at the Volvo Concept and Design Center in Camarillo, where we have been working toward this car since 1990. We have been experimenting with the necessary technologies as they became available, and it’s only recently that we found technology good enough to make a practical car,” said Sugioka.

While the lithium ion battery is a key element; Sugioka believes the electric motors also can be improved quite a bit. “It’s not just about, ‘does it function?' It is also about, 'How much does it cost? How long does it last?’ That’s why it takes so long. We are not going to put a product out on the road that is a science experiment,” he added. When you work for a world class company like Volvo and are designing a vehicle to be road-worthy, it is quite different from a typical university project. “There’s a big difference in what we do and what they do. For a college student, if it breaks, they learn something. If one of our cars breaks, that is not a good thing. Our cars must be safer and more affordable; and that is what my job is right now.”

Sugioka was born in Japan, and when he was seven years old his father was transferred to New York City. After he graduated high school, he attended Caltech Pasadena for his undergraduate degree and received a master’s degree from MIT. “I went back to Caltech for my PhD, and I’ve been here ever since,” he said. When you ask him how he got into designing cars, he chuckles and says, “I’m really a rocket scientist! My thesis is applicable to rocket engines.” After the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed, there were very few jobs for people who design missiles. Sugioka ran wind tunnel testing at Caltech for many clients, which included several car companies in an effort to help make cars more efficient. Volvo was among many car manufacturers he worked with back in 1989, and in 1994 Volvo hired him to work at its Monitoring and Concept Center. “I can’t believe I’ve been here 17 years!” he said.

Sugioka worked on the first S80 that was ultimately produced in 1999. This took five years. “It takes that long to get a car on the road,” said Sugioka. After that, he worked on the first S60 and the first XC90 and finally began working on electric cars. “I was the project leader for the 3CC, 2004 electric car, and it was a vey significant step for us. It was one of the first cars with lithium ion batteries on the road. This experience eventually led to the pure-electric C30 battery electric car that is now available in Europe. It’s a luxury electric car, so it’s pricey. It’s not for the mass market. It’s for people who ‘just have to have one.’ We put emphasis on making it safe and working in subfreezing weather, which is not something other electric cars can claim to do,” said Sugioka. “The lithium ion battery is really a new technology; it didn’t exist when I joined the company. We don’t want to rush into anything too fast and get our customers into trouble,” he added.. As always, Volvo focuses on the safety of the driver and designs its cars to perform during the worst possible situations. With electric cars, special care has been taken to encapsulate the battery in such a way that protects it and the driver in the event of an accident. The “three-cars-in-one” Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid is the kind of car that Volvo will ultimately produce for sale in the United States. The “Pure,” “Hybrid” and “Power” buttons on the center console allow the driver to choose an electric car, a hybrid or a higher horsepower “fun to drive” mode.

“The one that we are producing right now is made for the European market with a diesel car so we can learn as much as we can about the first product and see how the car is used in normal driving situations. A diesel car does not meet California emissions standards, but we have a really heavy mandate by Europe to produce this car. If you travel to Europe we recommend you take a test drive in one and experience the ‘three-cars-in-one’ experience.” You can’t really compare the Volvo Plug-in Hybrid with any of the hybrids sold here in the United States, because it is a completely different car. European drivers are much different than American drivers. Europeans accelerate harder on the freeways, and in Germany there is no speed limit, so you don’t get the same fuel economy as you would get here in the United States. “Because people in Europe drive so fast, you need a different kind of car, a different kind of engine; and the Prius is not it. Most people don’t realize that a hybrid runs on its engine power once you are in highway speed; then it’s not running on the electric power anymore,” said Sugioka.

Volvo is also looking at a wheel motors technology. Similar to the seatbelt technology that Volvo developed but deliberately didn’t claim exclusivity for so that other car companies would use it, Volvo developed wheel motors technology and made it available for other car companies. “We aren’t making it exclusive to Volvo, because this is something that can help others make cars run more efficiently,” said Sugioka. With the wheel motors technology, the experimental C30 plug-in hybrid has 400 horsepower total with each wheel producing 100 horsepower. It is currently undergoing testing in the UK, and, according to Sugioka, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve durability and cost. “We are doing a lot of durability testing. After a few thousand miles, they fix it and make it last longer. On the plus side, this technology allows software to make the car do almost anything,” he added.

Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volvo Cars, summed up the theory behind the Volvo second generation hybrid when he said, “In order to get true car enthusiasts to think green, you have to offer them the opportunity to drive with low carbon dioxide emissions. That should not, however, take away the adrenaline rush that promotes genuine driving pleasure.”