Free Republic

Sweden’s new right-wing government has sparked an outcry after scrapping the Ministry of Environment in a move the opposition has branded “devastating”. Previously, the ministry was a high-profile stand-alone department with a minister in the cabinet, but now it will operate as part of another ministry instead. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson unveiled his new cabinet on Tuesday, and although he did appoint a Minister of Climate and Environment — 26-year-old Liberal MP Romina Pourmokhtari — she will work under Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch, the new Minister for Energy, Business and Industry, rather than lead her own ministry. The leader...

European legislators on Thursday evening reached an agreement to phase out the sale of new combustion engine cars and vans by 2035. The deal between representatives of the European Parliament and the European Council was struck at around 21:00 CET and represents the first made under the bloc’s flagship Fit for 55 package to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The new legislation plans for a 55% CO2 emission reduction target for new cars and 50% for new vans by 2030 compared to 2021 levels and for a 100% CO2 emission cut by 2035, effectively...

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) on Sunday said Democrats must "quit lying" about the cost of the Build Back Better Act and called for the House to revote on the massive social spending package. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Graham claimed that the electric vehicle tax credits included in the bill would exacerbate inflation and hurt companies like BMW and Volvo. Both companies have recently announced commitments to rolling out new electric vehicles, with Volvo aiming to be all electric by 2030.

The IEA said daily gasoline demand dropped by a record 2.9 million barrels in 2020, down more than 10% from the previous year.The world's thirst for gasoline isn't likely to return to pre-pandemic levels, the International Energy Agency forecast, calling a peak for the fuel that has powered personal transportation for more than a century.The Paris-based energy watchdog, in its closely followed five-year forecast, said an accelerating global shift toward electric vehicles, along with increasing fuel efficiency among gasoline-powered fleets, will more than outweigh demand growth from countries in the developing world.The forecast comes as auto makers have pivoted recently...

Volvo says it will make only electric vehicles by 2030. But if you want one, you’ll have to buy it online. The Swedish automaker said Tuesday that it is phasing out the production of all cars with internal combustion engines — including hybrids. “There is no long-term future for cars with an internal combustion engine,” said Henrik Green, Volvo’s chief technology officer. Volvo’s announcement follows General Motors’ pledge earlier this year to make only battery-powered vehicles by 2035.

They thought she was making it all up. It cost a little boy his life. From cops and social workers to lawyers and judges, Long Island mom Justyna Zubko-Valva claims no one took her warnings about her NYPD cop husband, Michael Valva, seriously. Alleging sex abuse, starvation, brainwashing, beatings and possible child porn, the mom had insisted their three sons were suffering at Valva’s hands. But instead of getting help, Zubko-Valva became lost in a legal labyrinth where she was the one on trial, painted as a scorned woman with a “vendetta,” court papers show. One Suffolk County Family Court prosecutor...

The Swedish car company Volvo this week shared two similar looking ads on Facebook -- one to their main page and one to their Polish page -- which had one glaring difference. In the post on their main page, the ad showed two homosexual men holding hands in front of a little girl driving a Volvo toy truck. The ad copy reads: "Focus on your career, or your family? From now on you can do both at Volvo Cars, because we offer employees within the EMEA region six months of paid parental leave, regardless of gender. Read the full...

Volvo is very committed to the idea of ending all fatalities in cars it builds, and it’s even willing to watch you like a hawk and snitch on you to make that happen. Volvo announced today it will employ in-car cameras to detect when a driver is drunk or distracted, and its cars will take specific actions when such a system is detected. I suspect you can also trigger the system by just driving like a loon, but I guess we’ll just have to see. The system Volvo is proposing will be introduced on all “next-gen, SPA2-based vehicles,” referring to...

Volvo's electric performance brand Polestar is unveiling a battery-powered compact car touted as a rival to Tesla's Model 3. The Polestar 2 is a five-door vehicle with a panoramic glass roof, an all-vegan interior and a battery with enough capacity to drive 500 kilometers under European tests for range measurement, or 275 miles under U.S. testing rules.With 408 horsepower, it should accelerate from zero to 100 kph (0-62 mph) in under five seconds. Polestar said Wednesday that the car's U.S. price for the launch version will be $55,500 after tax incentives; later a lower-priced version with less range is envisioned.The...

The European Union agreed on Tuesday to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from new trucks and buses by 30 percent by a 2030 deadline as part of its commitment to cut its output of greenhouse gases. […] The EU currently has no limits on emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, unlike the United States, China, Japan and Canada. Trucks account for almost one quarter of the bloc’s transport-related emissions. […] Curbs on the transport sector, the only one in which emissions are still rising, aim to help the bloc meet its overall goal of reducing greenhouse gases by at least 40...

As Volvo prepares to inaugurate its first United States-based manufacturing facility in South Carolina, the Swedish luxury marque announced it will also reveal the 2019 S60 sedan at the same location. The S60 will make its debut at the Charleston production facility on June 20. Motor Authority is scheduled to be on hand in Charleston for the reveal of the S60 and a tour of the new plant. The reveal is part of Volvo's shifting strategy around media events. Volvo issued a press release about that strategy on Friday. Rather than attend major auto shows, Volvo said it will plan...

Monday, the auto-parts maker that supplied the radar and camera on the Volvo SUV that struck and killed the woman last week said Uber had disabled the standard collision-avoidance technology in the vehicle. "We don't want people to be confused or think it was a failure of the technology that we supply for Volvo, because that's not the case," Zach Peterson, a spokesman for Aptiv, said by phone. The Volvo XC90's standard advanced driver-assistance system "has nothing to do" with the Uber test vehicle's autonomous driving system, he said. Aptiv is speaking up for its technology to avoid being tainted...

Volvo has pulled its advertisements from Sean Hannity's show on Fox News after his coverage of sexual misconduct allegations made against Roy Moore. We have spoken with our media agency and have advised them to cease advertising on the show. - Volvo Car USA (@VolvoCarUSA) November 13, 2017 None of the advertisers said they were pulling their ads because of Hannity's coverage of the allegations, including from a woman who says she was 14 at the time. However, the decisions come amid an online campaign targeting advertisers for Hannity's show. Hannity said on his show Thursday that viewers shouldn't rush to...

N. Korea still using Volvo cars bought 43 yrs ago from Sweden without payment: report 2017/10/25 10:09 SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is still using Volvo cars as taxis outside Pyongyang that it bought from Sweden 43 years ago without honoring its debts for the vehicles, Voice of America reported Wednesday. Citing Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Katarina Roslund, VOA's Korean Service said Volvo vehicles are not easily seen in Pyongyang and the Volvo 133 model cars still run in the countryside frequently as taxis. VOA earlier reported North Korea's debt to Sweden currently amount to SEK 2.7 billion...

Volvo Cars hasn’t yet produced its first automobile in Berkeley County, but it is already looking to double its investment there to $1 billion and hire a total of 4,500 workers, sources close to the negotiations said Monday. The Swedish carmaker is looking to spend an additional $500 million to add a second production line at its site off Interstate 26 near Ridgeville, the sources said. The expansion will add 2,500 workers in addition to the 2,000 people Volvo currently is hiring. Volvo officials have said the Ridgeville auto plant remains on schedule for a late 2018 opening. Berkeley County...

When Gerald Greiner walked into his first job as a safety manager for Eisenmann Corporation, a subcontractor building the paint shop at the Mercedes plant in Vance Alabama back in 2013, he was surprised to see Eastern Europeans pouring concrete, erecting steel and fitting pipe at the company's expansion project. "There was Polish and Slovenian and Croatian people there it was hard for me to believe because I just didn't understand why they would be here," Greiner told "CBSN On Assignment" correspondent Vladimir Duthiers during an interview at a neighborhood park near Greiner's home in San Jose, California. "The cars...

HOLLY HILL -- Dozens of community, business and education leaders packed the Holly Hill Depot on May 31 to learn more about the economic impact the new Volvo automotive plant will have on the area. “In terms of its operations here, over the next several years (Volvo) will employ about 2,000 people at the plant,” said David McNair, president of The McNair Group, a South Carolina-based public relations group working with Volvo. “In the next year, there will be about 1,600 people hired.” McNair emphasized the number of people working in the plant itself represents only the tip of the...

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Berkeley County leaders want everyone who wants to work at the upcoming Volvo plant to have their best chance. They're launching a program with Trident Technical College to provide training to county residents that will teach them everything they need to know to snag a manufacturing job. While the training doesn't guarantee a job at Volvo, it does give participants a leg up over someone who is just coming in off the street. "This pilot program shows that Berkeley County leaders are keeping our promises and connecting Berkeley County citizens with jobs," said Berkeley County...

Volvo is making a huge commitment to electric cars. Today, The Swedish car manufacturer put quantities and dates on goals it first published in its Volvo Cars Sustainability Report 2015. Volvo said that it will make one million electric cars by 2025 in a press release.

Volvo has made a pretty bold statement this week. It says it wants to make things so that no one dies in a Volvo or because of a collision with one by the year 2020. "If you meet Swedish engineers, they're pretty genuine," said Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars North America. "They don't say things when they don't believe in it." A pretty serious lot it seems. People who say what the mean and mean what they say. "With the development of full autonomy we are going to push the limits of automotive safety," says Volvo safety engineer Erik...