Is a car maker about to save the planet? | Zoe Williams

Volvo’s move to electric demonstrates the role ethical business can play in shaping our society for the better• Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist“I think a lot about electric cars,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously said at a party at the very end of the 80s. “Do you think a lot about electric cars?” The problem with thinking a lot about electric cars is that certain things become impossible to unthink: powering a car with fossil fuels, meeting 21st-century challenges with 19th-century answers, become more than irresponsible. It becomes ridiculous.You’ll never know when the tipping point is – it’s possibly as little as five minutes – but think enough about electric cars, especially if you’re a car manufacturer, and wham … you’re Volvo. They were rolling along perfectly happily until they thought too hard: about their business model and benefit to society; about climate change and their future customers; and so they made the decision that all their cars would be fully electric, or at least hybrid, by 2019. Not one car solely powered by internal combustion engine will come off a Volvo production line by 2020. Related: UK to fund research into letting electric cars return power to grid Related: Elon Musk's big battery brings reality crashing into a post-truth world | Tim Hollo Not one car solely powered by internal combustion engine will come off a Volvo production line by 2020 Continue reading...