Volvo recently revealed the XC40 Recharge fully electric vehicle, based on the XC40 small SUV, the first of a family of fully electric Volvos.

“We have said this several times before: for Volvo Cars, the future is electric,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive. “Today we take a major new step in that direction with the launch of our fully electric XC40 and the Recharge car line.”

The electric all-wheel drive powertrain has a range of over 248 miles on a single charge and output of 408hp. The battery charges to 80 % of its capacity in 40 minutes on a fast-charger system.

To further encourage electric driving, every Volvo Recharge plug-in hybrid model will come with free electricity for a year, provided through a refund for the average electricity cost during that period.

Volvo Cars aims for plug-in hybrid cars to make up 20 per cent of total sales in 2020.