For 50 years, we’ve been dreaming electric

This is where dream started – tinged in tangerine. With a name that literally means electric car, Volvo Elbil first saw the light of day in Gothenburg in November 1976. Only two units were built: a safety orange four‑seater for commuting, and a butter yellow two‑seat delivery car It was ultracompact in size, but grand in vision.

The Elbil 1976 prototype was created to demonstrate the new possibilities of electric technology. Despite its boxy shape and tiny wheels, it could reach a top speed of 70 km/h, and in true Volvo fashion, every seat was fitted with a three‑point safety belt. Its range was modest, though: a ten‑hour charge delivered around 50 kilometres of range, translating to roughly two hours of driving.

That small prototype marked the beginning of something much bigger. Today, 50 years later, the electric dream lives on in our new all-electric EX60 SUV, offering our longest range to date and coffee stop-quick charging.

A car of its time

Our first electric car project emerged in the wake of the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, where Volvo Cars CEO at the time, Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, stated that his company was “(...) part of the problem, and therefore we must be part of the solution.” We began experimenting with small, electric city cars, but public interest was limited. Many were skeptical of electric cars, seeing them as slow, heavy and difficult to charge.

A tiny telecom sidekick

Our first electric car project was partly funded by the Swedish state. The idea was for employees of Televerket – Sweden’s former, state‑owned telecommunications authority – to use the two‑seat version as an internal delivery car. With Elbil, they could cover short distances around Gothenburg without generating any emissions.

Push and go

True to its toy-car aesthetic, the Elbil was remarkably easy to drive. A single button on the dashboard let the driver choose between forward and reverse. But there was nothing toy-like about its heft: weighing in at around 1,200 kilos, roughly a third of that mass came from the battery pack.

We don’t make them like we used to (for good reason)

Today, the Volvo EX60 is powered by advanced lithium-ion battery packs, ready to drive far and charge quickly. In contrast, the Elbil was powered golf cart-style: twelve six‑volt lead‑acid batteries. A full charge took ten hours, translating to 50 kilometres of range on a perfect day. In one aspect, the Elbil was ahead of today’s fast-charging cars: it could also simply be recharged by swapping the battery pack.

Every gram mattered

To compensate for the heavy battery pack and keep overall weight to an absolute minimum, every last detail had to be carefully designed. Precious grams were saved by using glass‑fibre‑reinforced plastic for the bonnet and tailgate, while the doors and roof were constructed in aluminium. The interior was kept sparse and functional.

Compact comfort

Elbil was a mere 268 centimetres long, but relatively spacious, all things considered. Every seat was fitted with a three-point safety belt (could it truly be a Volvo without it?) and the front seats sported padded headrests. The four-seater’s back row was collapsible while the delivery variant had a sliding door on the driver’s side.

Scooter-class speeds

The electric drive motor was integrated with the rear axle, delivering an output of 9.5 kW and a top speed of 70 km/h – although the recommended cruising speed was 50 km/h to make the most out of every drop of battery juice. At the time, electric cars weren’t known for their docility, but rather for jouncing starts and erratic acceleration. Thanks to two newly developed in-house step-less transmissions, Elbil offered a smooth ride at all speeds.

A true pioneer

Elbil was ahead of its time, and, although developed as close to a real car as possible, was mainly used for real‑world testing. But we kept at it. In the 1990s, we introduced the HEV98 hybrid prototype based on the popular 850, combining a chargeable electric motor with a combustion engine. In 2011, we launched a small series of the fully electric Volvo C30, charged via a wall socket with a range of about 150 kilometres. Its popularity was instant, and even today, C30s are a familiar sight in staff parking lots at our Torslanda headquarters.

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