Confirmed: the all-electric Volvo will arrive in 2019

This week, Aston Martin’s boss spoke of a 1,000bhp all-electric supercar to join the range in the next few years. Now it’s Volvo’s turn.

Today, the company confirmed that it is working on a fully electric production car to hit the market in 2019.

Yep, a proper, all-electric Volvo. “We believe the time has come for electrified cars to cease being a niche technology and enter the mainstream,” Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said. “We are confident that by 2020, 10 per cent of Volvo’s global sales will be electrified cars.”

In the short term, we’ll get plug-in hybrid versions of the 60 and 90 series cars. Further down the line, a front-drive 'Twin Engine' (for which read 'hybrid') Volvo will arrive, followed by a completely new 40 series, based on the firm's newly announced ‘Compact Modular Architecture’, which has been built to support electrification from the start. Cars using this base will arrive in 2017.

“We have learned a lot about how people use cars with electrification thanks to our current product offer,” explains Dr Peter Mertens, Volvo’s senior VP for R&D. That learning includes Volvo’s new Twin Engine XC90, which utilises a 2.0-litre petrol engine and electric motor to produce a heady 400bhp.

“We have come to a point where the cost versus benefit calculation for electrification is now almost positive,” Mertens added. “Battery tech has improved, costs are going down, and acceptance of electrification is no longer a question.”

EVs aren't a new phenomena by any stretch, but with more manufacturers throwing their hats into the ring, is this the beginning of the end for the good old combustion engine? And is that a future you want to see?

Let us know below.