A Plug-In Hybrid Volvo With 1,380 Horsepower? It's Possible.

Parent company Geely’s impressive 900-volt plug-in-hybrid system could power future Volvo models.

During our recent trip to China with Geely to experience everything the Chinese automaking colossus is doing both in its home country and globally, one of the biggest things that stuck out to us was its new, 900-volt plug-in hybrid system. This setup has started rolling out on several Geely SUV models, including its Zeeker brand’s 8X and 9X and the Lotus For Me (known here as the Eletre). And from what we’ve heard, there’s nothing stopping Geely-owned Volvo (or Polestar for that matter) from using it to power its U.S.-market cars.

What’s This 900-Volt System All About?

Underpinned by Geely’s SEA-S “super hybrid vehicle architecture,” the 900-volt setup is one of the more innovative PHEV systems we’ve encountered to date. Even better from a pure excitement level, it’s capable of up to a whopping 1,380 horsepower and 1,335 lb-ft of torque, with Geely quoting 0–60-mph times of less than 3 seconds for its all-new 8X model (the fastest accelerating hybrid SUV in the world, naturally), a vehicle that weighs roughly 6,000 pounds.

The system employs a 2.0-liter, gas-powered inline turbo four-cylinder engine rated at 275 horsepower. It acts as a motivational power source or supplemental generator depending on the vehicle setting and is mated to a single-speed transmission. Inside the greater transmission housing are two electric motors, dubbed P1 and P3.

The 200-hp P1 motor’s role is to either work in concert with the engine or by itself as a generator to deliver power to the battery pack, which in its optional configuration is rated at 70 kWh—bigger than the batteries of some pure EVs. The 389-hp P3 motor’s role is to drive the front wheels, and during most normal cruising situations it acts as the primary means of motivation.

At the back is what’s known as P4 (we didn’t ask what happened to P2), which is either one or two motors depending on the option. Each motor is rated at 496 horsepower and employs torque vectoring.

Charge On the Go!

As for the 900-volt capacity itself, it’s an incremental step above the 800-volt configurations found in contemporary Hyundai and Porsche EVs, among others (several Chinese automakers are already starting to roll out 1,000-volt systems). What that means on a practical level is quicker charging at DC fast chargers.

Geely refers to its 6C battery as a “world’s first” in that it can reportedly charge at 6 times the battery’s energy capacity, or at 420 kilowatts of peak power input, with claimed charging times of 9 minutes from 20 to 80 percent state of charge. Overall range is somewhere around 160 miles to a charge with an 840-mile total range via our back of the napkin conversion of the 380- and 1,200-km figures on China’s CLTC scale to our more pessimistic EPA estimates.

A novel part of the system, however, is its ability to juice up the battery while you’re driving. Traveling at a cruising speed of roughly 75 mph, Geely says the battery can charge from 30 to 80 percent capacity in 90 minutes and the P1 motor can reportedly charge it at speeds of up to 100 kilowatts depending on the situation.

So, Volvo, What Say You?

Given Volvo’s deep ties with Geely, we naturally asked whether the 900-volt setup would be possible to use on a future U.S.-market model, and the feedback we got was that, yes, it’s entirely possible to use SEA-S and the 900-volt plug-in platform for North America, and no, it wouldn’t be subject to any sort of tariff or other penalty. Cost is another matter, but hey, let Geely pick up the tab!

With appetites for EVs in flux here for the time being, it’s probably a question that Volvo’s product planners have been asking themselves. Yes, there are the challenges around the use of plug-ins here in the U.S., but given the fact this one can charge itself and its battery capacity is so large, it’s a somewhat different proposition. And of course, there’s the added benefit of a superlong overall range and a supplemental gas engine that offers U.S. buyers an assurance that they’d never be stranded or suffer from dreaded range anxiety.

Although it’s unknown whether real plans exist to make this platform and powertrain available in America (likely a long shot at best), this intriguing jack-of-all-trades system has the kind of brute force and efficiency that we’d like to see in some new vehicle, be it a Volvo or otherwise.