Latest news with #EVS38
Forbes
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
How Sweden Plans To Lead The Revolution In Electric Boats
The electrification of personal vehicles is in full swing, and even trucks are starting on the EV journey. But boats and shipping are a different matter. Sweden, with its extensive coastline and maritime tradition, is hoping to change that, leading the way towards electric boats and more sustainable coastline marinas. I talked to Peter Berg, Project Leader of Innovatum AB in Trollhättan about the companies and innovation spearheading the transformation. Enjoy The Silence Of Electric Boats Gothenburg showcased its top electric boat companies and technology at Enjoy The Silence, part of EVS 38, an electric vehicle symposium in Gothenburg. Alongside a selection of electric vessels, this event at a marina in the Swedish city also demonstrated boat charging. Sweden is second only to Norway in EV penetration (58% versus 92%), so it's a fitting place for extending that transition from land to water. 'We have several missions with this project,' says Berg. 'One is to show the charging infrastructure, and the other is to show the products. If there are no boats, no one would invest in the chargers and vice versa. We thought this was a good opportunity to show them together. It's difficult to have both shown in small marinas. Gothenburg is a brilliant place for this, particularly alongside the EVS Conference.' 'The first thing we were trying to demonstrate was that it is possible to travel with an electric boat,' says Berg. 'Another of the big opportunities with an electric boat is that it is silent.' Hence the Enjoy the Silence title. 'This also comes without any pollution to the water or emissions. People are a bit skeptical about electric boats because they've never seen one. We haven't had so many different boats at one location in Sweden before. We also wanted to demonstrate that you don't need superchargers for all the boats. They can be charged overnight, and some have quite a long range.' Central to Enjoy the Silence was the range of electric boats on show, many of which were available for test rides. 'We have a lot of traditions within boating in Sweden,' says Berg. 'So there are lots of Swedish boat brands, several of them electric. There are also a lot of opportunities for charging operators or equipment suppliers.' X Shore: High Performance Electric Boats One of the earliest electric boat companies to gain media attention is X Shore. Its boats are relatively conventional other than being electrified, offering ranges up to 100 nautical miles and a 30-knot max speed. Even at full pelt, this is a quiet boat and with the weight of its batteries very stable. 'It's for people who want speed,' says Berg. 'If you go waterskiing, you need that kind of boat. It's almost all carbon fiber, so while the batteries are heavy, the hull is very light.' Candela: Hydrofoil Electric Boats Efficiency Candela takes a more high-tech approach by being a hydrofoil alongside its electrification, like New Zealand's Vessev. 'You need to reduce the drag from water,' says Berg. 'Candela mainly focuses on the P-12 ferry right now.' However, the boat on show in Gothenburg was the C-8 leisure craft, which is powered by a motor from Polestar. 'It's difficult to get a big consumer market with the C-8, but they have learned a lot on that boat and it's top of the line for people with enough money. However, the P-12 is already operating in Stockholm, reducing energy consumption by 80 or 90%. The main challenge for an electric boat is to reduce the drag through the water.' Once on its hydrofoil, a Candela boat can go much further on the same battery capacity as a conventional vessel without this technology. Pol: Potentially Infinite Electric Boats Range However, the Pol boat on show in Gothenburg shows an even more exciting potential possibility for an electric boar – limitless range. This is not a fast craft, with an 11-knot top speed, and it has a range of 60 nautical miles when cruising at 7 knots. However, Pol has also installed a canopy incorporating solar panels. On a sunny enough day, the Pol boat can transport up to 13 people for as long as there is sufficient light at a speed of 4 knots. 'It's very energy efficient,' says Berg. 'It's made of carbon fiber, so it's very light and has very low drag. There are other boats that have this concept with a big solar roof. There is a Spanish brand, there's Pol, and in Finland, Elvene. They have gone 200 nautical miles without external charging. You can go boating without any environmental impact.' Volvo Penta: Electric Boats To Grid Power Potential The boat on show from Volvo Penta wasn't fully electric, but a hybrid between diesel and electric. It was much larger and being used to illustrate another potential of battery-powered vessels – as grid energy storage. 'It has a battery around 80kWh,' says Berg. 'They can go at lower speeds on electricity in sensitive areas but could also use the battery as a resource. Many manufacturers see the potential in 'boat to grid' winter storage. For the winter season, if you have ten boats this size, then you have a one-megawatt battery for frequency balancing or energy trading.' This was what Volvo Penta was demonstrating in Gothenburg, together with a local energy company. 'You could make revenue from the boat when it's not used,' says Berg. 'In a marina, the boats are seldom used, so they can charge at low power or using solar panels, collecting energy before the weekend, and then they can be used to provide local energy. There will be periods when the peak is too high for the grid and then the battery can be a good resource to absorb that energy and to use it at a later stage.' Electrifying Sweden's Coast Berg is also looking at how to build the charging infrastructure around marinas. This isn't just about power connectivity, however. 'We must work on the business model,' he says. 'We need to start building charging opportunities along the coast so that you can travel up and down with an electric boat.' This is a project called go:LEIF. 'You can already travel in a X Shore vessel from Gothenburg up to Fjallbacka or down to Humburgsund along the Swedish West Coast. With an X Shore, you can travel at a higher speed after charging in Gothenburg. You can go to a small island called Burica where they put up a supercharger, or Marstrand.' However, most people won't consider an electric boat without a berth where they can charge their boat, in a similar way to how home charging remains the primary enabler for EV car ownership. 'You can go two hours to some location, maybe 10 or 15 nautical miles, fill up the battery and then go back. That is the use case that we need to have, and then we need quite decent power in those chargers.' However, sailing ships with an electric outboard motor already make considerable sense, because they don't need a lot of range on battery power. "You're only talking about a few nautical miles to get out of the harbor.' Nevertheless, convincing the seafaring community to choose electric boats faces even greater challenges than personal road transport. 'The green transition has rough seas right now,' concludes Berg. 'But I'm quite positive. Five or six knots would be perfect. For a boat that lives for 40 years, you can retrofit with an electric drive. It is not that much more expensive than a new diesel engine. But we need to think differently. We need to value that it's silent. We need to value that we don't put pollution into the sea. Two-stroke outboard motors can be terrible. We need to have some incentives and regulations put in place to help, because otherwise it will be quite tough.'
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Volvo Cars CEO: dual tech for China and the West is new trade reality
Volvo Cars will develop different technologies for products offered to Chinese and Western customers as trade becomes more fragmented, said CEO Håkan Samuelsson on Monday. 'It's our target now to have two versions of software and silicon components, the computer in the car,' he told Euronews at the EVS38 symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden. 'We need to have a Western version and a Chinese version. That's something we just need to live with and adapt to.' Volvo Cars has been headquartered in Gothenburg since its creation in 1927, although the firm has been majority owned by China's Geely Holding Group since 2010. If efforts weren't made to tailor products to different markets, the firm's Chinese R&D could complicate exports to the US, especially as Washington seeks to distance itself from Chinese tech. In January, the Biden administration finalised a rule banning smart cars from China and Russia over concerns linked to potential US data leaks. Some feared that these cars could also be used by foreign states to interfere with the US electric grid or other critical infrastructure. 'We don't see any risk … that we will be using Chinese technology in the US. That will not happen,' said Samuelsson. Related European shares show slight rise despite Iran-Israel crisis, while oil stays high A focus on China and the US In this year's first quarter earnings report, Volvo Cars reported a drop in profits, which it partly blamed on the 'current turbulence in the broader world economy'. New US tariffs of 25% on foreign cars and car parts are notably causing a headache for the firm, dampening consumer appetite as well as raising import costs. In the report, Volvo Cars announced an action plan to improve profitability, 'focusing on the US and China markets, as priorities'. Samuelsson told Euronews on Monday that he wanted to change the firm's approach to the Chinese market, tailoring it to local demands. 'We need to listen more to the local people in the region and adapt to local habits and tastes — and perhaps also have some special cars for the Chinese market,' he said. Related How is the European auto industry responding to Trump's tariffs? Volvo Cars announces that it will be slashing 3,000 jobs to cut costs Samuelsson pointed to the new XC70, an extended-range plug-in hybrid recently announced for Chinese customers, aimed at pulling market share away from competitors like BYD. Volvo Cars' retail sales decreased by 12% year-on-year in China in the first quarter, with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids accounting for 10% of this total. In the US, Volvo Cars' sales jumped by 8% — potentially linked to tariff frontloading — with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids making up 28% of that total. Tech restrictions in Europe Although the firm has signalled a desire to focus more on US and Chinese customers, Volvo Cars still relies heavily on the European market. The region represented nearly half of its total sales for 2024, as well as the same proportion of sales in Q1 2025. When it comes to manufacturing these vehicles, some are made on Belgian and Swedish sites, while others are made in China and shipped to Europe. This means that — on certain vehicles — Volvo is exposed to EU duties, introduced last year in response to alleged unfair subsidies from Beijing. 'Tariffs are not going to help the European industry to be more competitive long-term,' said Samuelsson. 'We should have an attitude of free trade and free competition…but realistically that will not happen. I think we're going into a more regional world.' Related Airbus pledges higher dividends as it confirms financial guidance A recent action plan published by the European Commission suggested that Chinese carmakers operating in the EU may be obliged to enter joint ventures with European companies or license parts of their technology. Asked how Volvo Cars would be affected given its ties with Geely, Samuelsson suggested the firm would be untouched, underlining that a significant amount of development is still happening in Europe. 'I don't see any problems with the Chinese technology in our cars in this respect…the software products in the car are to a large extent adapted and developed by Volvo,' he said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Euronews
17-06-2025
- Automotive
- Euronews
Volvo Cars CEO: dual tech for China and the West is new trade reality
Volvo Cars will develop different technologies for products offered to Chinese and Western customers as trade becomes more fragmented, said CEO Håkan Samuelsson on Monday. 'It's our target now to have two versions of software and silicon components, the computer in the car,' he told Euronews at the EVS38 symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden. 'We need to have a Western version and a Chinese version. That's something we just need to live with and adapt to.' Volvo Cars has been headquartered in Gothenburg since its creation in 1927, although the firm has been majority owned by China's Geely Holding Group since 2010. If efforts weren't made to tailor products to different markets, the firm's Chinese R&D could complicate exports to the US, especially as Washington seeks to distance itself from Chinese tech. In January, the Biden administration finalised a rule banning smart cars from China and Russia over concerns linked to potential US data leaks. Some feared that these cars could also be used by foreign states to interfere with the US electric grid or other critical infrastructure. 'We don't see any risk … that we will be using Chinese technology in the US. That will not happen,' said Samuelsson. In this year's first quarter earnings report, Volvo Cars reported a drop in profits, which it partly blamed on the 'current turbulence in the broader world economy'. New US tariffs of 25% on foreign cars and car parts are notably causing a headache for the firm, dampening consumer appetite as well as raising import costs. In the report, Volvo Cars announced an action plan to improve profitability, 'focusing on the US and China markets, as priorities'. Samuelsson told Euronews on Monday that he wanted to change the firm's approach to the Chinese market, tailoring it to local demands. 'We need to listen more to the local people in the region and adapt to local habits and tastes — and perhaps also have some special cars for the Chinese market,' he said. Samuelsson pointed to the new XC70, an extended-range plug-in hybrid recently launched in China, aimed at pulling market share away from competitors like BYD. Volvo Cars' retail sales decreased by 12% year-on-year in China in the first quarter, with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids accounting for 10% of this total. In the US, Volvo Cars' sales jumped by 8% — potentially linked to tariff frontloading — with electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids making up 28% of that total. Although the firm has signalled a desire to focus more on US and Chinese customers, Volvo Cars still relies heavily on the European market. The region represented nearly half of its total sales for 2024, as well as the same proportion of sales in Q1 2025. When it comes to manufacturing these vehicles, some are made on Belgian and Swedish sites, while others are made in China and shipped to Europe. This means that — on certain vehicles — Volvo is exposed to EU duties, introduced last year in response to alleged unfair subsidies from Beijing. 'Tariffs are not going to help the European industry to be more competitive long-term,' said Samuelsson. 'We should have an attitude of free trade and free competition…but realistically that will not happen. I think we're going into a more regional world.' A recent action plan published by the European Commission suggested that Chinese carmakers operating in the EU may be obliged to enter joint ventures with European companies or license parts of their technology. Asked how Volvo Cars would be affected given its ties with Geely, Samuelsson suggested the firm would be untouched, underlining that a significant amount of development is still happening in Europe. 'I don't see any problems with the Chinese technology in our cars in this respect…the software products in the car are to a large extent adapted and developed by Volvo,' he said. Baku Energy Week, a key event in the global energy calendar, attracts over 2,000 delegates and 240 companies annually. Now in its 30th year, it highlights Azerbaijan's commitment to installing 6.5 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, representing over 35% of its energy grid. The event also underscores Azerbaijan's strategic role in energy diplomacy, with pipelines linking the Caspian Sea to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor. Discussions focus on balancing energy security, green transition, and geopolitical cooperation, reflecting Azerbaijan's evolving energy ambitions and partnerships with global players like Germany and Masdar.
