22,7 kilometres. That's the average distance the Dutch travel between their work and home.
It's also less than half of the electric range of this new Volvo V60 T8 Twin Engine. A plug-in hybrid.
A car which made a grand entrance because of our fiscal climate, just to make a grand departure again.
But what if you don't care about the fiscal factor, what if you actually care about the environment. Is a plug-in hybrid a proper...
interim solution between a normal combustion car and a fully electric vehicle?
Theoretically speaking, it is. If you're within that average commuting range, you should be able to go to work and back again fully electrical.
Even when you're a little further away, so that you can only go to work, it's still easier to find a 230V-socket instead of a three-phase loading dock.
And that's the advantage of having a hybrid. Even if there's no electricity present, it still works.
Let's imagine that you want to drive as much electric kilometres as possible. You're able to fully charge the car in 8 hours when you're...
charging it from a 230V-socket. That's one working day. If you do that, will you be able to do the indicated 50 km?
No, you won't. You'll be able to do between 40 and 45 km's though. If you fully charge it and put it in Pure-mode, that is.
However, you do have to do some concessions. First of all, in Pure-mode it only produces 87 horsepower.
That's not a lot for a car which weighs around two tonnes. Second, you can only go 100 km/h, otherwise your range gets a beating.
Anyway, you're able to do a lot of your daily miles electrically. If you a little further than that, you'll be continuing your way as a hybrid.
That has pro's and cons. The cons are that the fuel consumption goes up, because it weighs 2.000 kg.
You'll be doing around 12 km per litre if you go easy, but that's about it.
The pro, on the other hand, is that it's a lot quicker. Next to the 87 horsepower electric motor,
you get a turbocharged 2.0-litre combustion engine with a mechanical compressor, producing 303 horsepower.
So theoretically speaking, you've got a system power output of 390 horsepower. So from a standstill, this is crazily quick.
It does 0-100 km/h in 4,9 seconds. And I've measured it. We got very close: five seconds flat. It's properly quick this.
The relative impact of the electric motor decreases as the speed gets higher, but it remains a car which accelerates very easily.
If you keep it in hybrid, it does everything it's able to do on the electric motor, on that electric motor.
If the combustion engine needs to jump in... That could be more refined. If you put it in Power-mode however, you always...
have the combustion engine at your disposal. On the other hand, you won't reach your fuel consumption targets.
It's a car which always needs to compromise. It's one or two, but it's able to do both at the same time.
That makes it, if it suits your lifestyle, a car which can mean a lot to you when it comes to electric miles, whilst having the performance...
of a premium car. At the same time, it's a heavy car. So when it comes to handling, you can feel the mass. The braking feels a little artificial.
It's just not a sports car, but it's very adequate. Comfortable as well. As an R-Design, you get a lowered sports chassis which makes it...
a tad sturdier. I don't know if I'd choose that chassis. Again, 2.000 kg just doesn't corner very spectacularly.
That's not a bad thing, but you could also choose a less sporty trim level with smaller wheels and with the focus on comfort.
That saves you money at the same time, because it's expensive. This fully equipped version with the accessoire-pack,
so the bumpers and fake exhausts, will set you back almost €80.000. But that doesn't harm the fact that a plug-in hybrid...
as a interim solution between the combustion engine and a fully electric car, isn't a bad idea at all.
Sure, you're doing a concession, but that's the case with every form of green mobility.
But the concessions you do in here, except for the price, are very small. Because it's still a very nice Volvo.
It's spacious, quiet, the seats are good, the multimedia system is nice, it's a very good total package.
Also, if you don't want to spend this kind of money, you can also get this as a T6 Twin Engine.
That's the same recipe, only without the mechanical compressor, so you've got less power to play with.
If you dare to look further, there are even cheaper alternatives like the Prius Plug-In or the Hyundai Ioniq Plug-In.
So it's a little bit with every other car in existence, isn't it? If you can afford it, your car can be more luxurious.