2009 Volvo S40 2.4l Sunroof Leather One Owner Very Clean on 2040-cars

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Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining

New electric Volvo crossover on the way, to be built in the U.S.

Automotive News reports that Volvo has a new electric crossover coming, the intel relayed by "two sources familiar with the plans." Said to be codenamed V546 at the moment, the new product is said to slot in between the XC60 and XC90. If size is a factor in its tweener placement, the XC60 is 185 inches long, the XC90 195 inches long, so the V546 could be about the length of the 189-inch Ford Edge. The sources claim it will ride on a new electric platform, which could be SPA2 bones that will support the coming electric XC90 and that the Concept Recharge electric crossover study (pictured) sits on. The Swedish automaker debuted the Concept Recharge in June last year as a template of future styling cues, sustainable materials, and advanced infotainment and autonomous technology. The AN piece says we'll see that some design and tech transfer into the V546. Out of a global production of about 100,000 units, 40% will be allotted to Volvo's plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina, to serve the North American market, starting in early 2025. That leaves an available capacity of 110,000 units out of the plant's 150,000-unit annual cap. The four-year-old plant builds just the S60 sedan at the moment — turning out roughly 23,000 units last year — but is transitioning to an all-EV assembly operation. Before the V546 arrives in three years, the Ridgeville facility will add the battery-electric version of the next-generation XC90, thought to be called the Embla, and the battery-electric Polestar 3, both hitting the market in 2023. Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson has said Ridgeville will "be the only plant in the [Volvo Cars Group] which only makes full-electric cars."  And although it's fallen off the radar, we're still anticipating the new flagship XC100 to debut in 2023 as well. AN's Future Product Pipeline says the top model will come in six- and seven-seat layouts akin to what BMW and Range Rover do, with the six-seater bolting up captain's chairs in the second row. Ridgeville also gets the nod for this one, production said to begin in early 2023.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. 2022 C40 Recharge crossover

Google's new HD Maps to launch with Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3

Volvo and sister company Polestar will be partners in launching Google's new HD Maps service -- an integrated solution designed specifically for automotive applications that pulls realtime data to improve vehicle navigation. The new tech will launch in Volvo's all-electric EX90 and the Polestar 3. HD Maps will integrate sensor data with real-time traffic information to better enhance route planning and will talk to the onboard Pilot Assist semi-autonomous suite to provide highly accurate information about the vehicle and its surroundings. Volvo says the new suite will be available on models equipped with its Pilot Assist system. "The addition of Google HD Maps in our future car lineup marks an expansion of our strategic collaboration with Google, reflecting our commitment to work with technology leaders," says COO and Deputy CEO Javier Varela. "Implementing Google HD Maps in our upcoming cars will help us offer our drivers a more enjoyable driving experience and in future contribute to the introduction of safe autonomous driving." "Building on our long history of mapping the world, Google’s new HD map is designed specifically for automakers and provides comprehensive lane-level and localization data that is crucial to powering the next generation of assisted and autonomous driving systems," says Jorgen Behrens, VP and general manager of Geo Automotive, Google. "WeÂ’re excited to continue partnering with leading automakers like Volvo Cars to improve the safety and comfort of drivers everywhere." Volvo's existing relationship with Google brought us the Android Automotive operating system (not to be confused with Android Auto, the app) currently rolling out across the brand's lineup. In fact, the two companies announced that the latest over-the-air update the company will deploy includes Google Assistant updates. It is expected to reach 350,000 customers worldwide.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.