A new video has been released by Volvo, which cleverly showcases the Volvo XC90 T8 “stealing” power from other vehicles. The stunt, called “Highway Robbery,” was done with the help of ad agency, Grey New York.
While the XC90 plug-in hybrid may be the main star here, it’s actually the particular way it charges up that the ad focuses on. Utilising a custom peristaltic pump and a mat laid out across the road, each time a car drives over it, electricity is generated to the charging station, which in turn, charges the XC90 connected to it.
“The tubes are full of water, and when the car drives over the top of the mat, it compresses the tubes and the forward moment of the car drives the water through the tubes into our roadside system that takes hydraulic power and turns that energy into electrical energy,” explained innovation architect Bob Partington, who invented the system.
That’s not all. A digital signboard was set up next to the roadway, during the stunt. Upon passing, the signboard cheekily thanks each car (addressing them by brand) for providing power.
“’Highway Robbery’ is yet another way we are able to showcase our thinking not just about our cars, but how they can affect the world around them,” said director of marketing at Volvo Car USA John Militello. “We’re posing big questions as we seek out new, fresh ways about how and where we can enable the future of driving,” he stated.
This, it seems, also elaborates (in some ways) Volvo’s goal of having a standardised charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EV). “We see that a shift towards fully electric cars is already underway, as battery technology improves, costs fall and charging infrastructure is put in place,” Volvo senior VP of research and development Dr Peter Mertens said previously.
“But while we are ready from a tech perspective, the charging infrastructure is not quite there yet,” Mertens added. With that, the Swedish automaker has recently announced its support for the Charging Interface Initiative, that was founded to establish a Combined Charging System (CCS) as the primary standard for charging EVs, globally.
GALLERY: Volvo XC90 in Malaysia
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Why do I not see any of these on the road???!!! Like seriously Malaysians just care abt Merc and BMW and not their safety??
yes Malaysians are like that… what are gonna do about it. name the countries like malaysia where mere and bmw outsell volvo and i’ll name you the countries that ‘don’t care about their safety’. what a git!
Bmw models scores 5 star ncap too. How is that dont care about safety. Lainla beli camry
Only 60 CBU units enter Malaysia.
1 year plus waiting period till the CKD starts in Sept. XC90 is stealing customers from other car brands
the only luxury car i ever think about. and only this model i shall choose
Um, the system wasn’t capturing “wasted energy” for the electricity to recharge the Volvo. The system was increasing the rolling resistance of the vehicles on the road, and that increased resistance required additional gasoline to maintain their speed. The system then inefficiently turned that additional gasoline burned by cars on the road into electrical energy for the Volvo.
Thanks for nothing, Volvo!
notice how bumpy was the tubes on the roaad. made everyone slow down and accelerate again unnecessarily wasting lots of fuel. thanks volvo
Recently drove XC90 (2016 basic model) and Merc (E class (E250 if not mistaken) station wagon model 2015). Prefer XC90.
It has more power, comfy (even when compare to a Merc!), intuitively designed (I’m used to Merc, but switching to the XC90 is a piece of cake), more space. I’m no car lover, but after driving both for a week each – my preference is very clear – XC90, anytime.