Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has announced that it is to invest heavily in the development of more eco-friendly vehicles, focusing on the potential of fuel cell technology.
The company has revealed will significantly ramp up its environmentally-friendly research and focus its efforts on creating a fuel cell vehicle that will be able to compete with existing petrol-powered vehicles in the future.
At present, fuel cell technology has been used in cars such as the Toyota Prius to help reduce emissions by enabling the car to switch between petrol and the electric power created by the fuel cell.
However, experts believe the future could see the development of vehicles that only need to run on fuel cells and are as effective as existing cars.
A big stumbling block in the creation of a fuel cell-powered vehicle is that the battery uses hydrogen and at present large quantities of the gas are required to deliver the power required to function the car.
However, people with
eco car insurance could benefit in future from the technology because Volvo is now looking at ways around this problem and is keen to develop a car that is completely powered by fuel cells, which would produce water as its only by-product.
"I am immensely proud that we are building this company on a technology that has been developed by Volvo for 15 years," said Per Ekdunge, chief executive of Powercell Sweden, which is currently owned by Volvo Technology Transfer.
Meanwhile,
eco car insurance policyholders living in cities could benefit from a new collaboration between Aston Martin and Toyota.
The two organisations are looking to develop an environmentally-friendly car specifically aimed at commuters.
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not those of the BGL Group