Volvo’s mission is to become a 100% climate-neutral car manufacturer by 2025. Therefore Volvo is taking real initiatives towards reaching that goal, both from the brand’s perspective as the consumer’s perspective.

For instance, Volvo is the first major car manufacturer that is offering a electrified plug-in hybrid as an option for all its models. Every model will be available as a full-electric version in the future as well.

Volvo wanted to position itself as the pioneer of electric driving at the 2019 Brussels Motor Show. But with many competitors stealing the attention with new electric models, Volvo needed a big statement of another level.

The automotive industry is enduring one of its most important challenges to date. Its impact on the environment is massive, and pressure of the general public for sustainable innovation is building up.

It is why car brands worldwide are shifting towards electric vehicles, which will account for 30% of all car sales by 2025. And while this is the first major step, not a single one of these brands are talking about the real elephant in the room: can we ensure these electric vehicles are also charged sustainably?

Volvo made sure you had the opportunity to drive green by charging green, by offering its own energy contract ‘Volts By Volvo’ using pure wind and solar energy.

Volvo shifted its business from a pure car manufacturer to a green energy provider as well, by offering electric drivers the opportunity of a 100% green energy contract. With ‘Volts By Volvo’, people could power their house with pure wind and solar energy, and thus charge their car sustainably every time they do so. This way, Volvo gave people the full package of driving electric as it’s meant to be: no emissions, and zero impact on the environment.

Not surprisingly, about 91% of people buying electric cars do so to lessen their impact on the environment. The paradox, however, is that 56% of these drivers are not aware of the source of their energy. With even 24% acknowledging they charge their electric vehicle with unsustainable energy sources such as nuclear energy and coal.

Volvo believes in driving electric, but also want people to charge sustainably. So by offering a green energy contract to accompany your electric car, we not only made it very accessible to drivers to truly drive green, but we also educated the general public about this paradox and helped Volvo position itself as a pioneer within the automotive electric revolution.

A partnership with Belgian green energy company Eneco was set up, with Eneco acting as the practical supplier of the green energy and ‘Volts By Volvo’ as the official energy company. People were sure they got 100% Belgian energy out of wind and solar power. Remarkably, Volvo was able to offer the cheapest green energy in Belgium for people signing up for a three year contract.

‘Volts By Volvo’ got its own website, explaining the reason of Volvo’s business transformation, and with all the practical details of the green energy contract. With a few clicks people could sign up, and Volvo would arrange your switch of energy provider without you having to do anything.

‘Volts By Volvo’ was launched at the 2019 Brussels Motor Show. And while all competitors talked about electrification, Volvo really grasped the attention of the media by addressing the real elephant in the room.

‘Volts By Volvo’ got a reach of 7.5 million Belgians, on a population of 11 million.

71% will now re-evaluate their electricity contract because they saw the campaign. (source: iVox Survey)

After Tesla, Volvo is the brand most associated with the environment. So it beats Audi in its E-tron launch year. (source: Northstar Brandtracker)

1 in 4 Belgian electric drivers engaged with our online platform.

Conversion rates were 20 times higher than a traditional energy campaign.