Volvo XC60 Plug-In Hybrid: A Plug-in With a Plug You Can Handle

My $19 hairdryer from Target has a cute electrical cord that retracts with the push of a button. My vacuum cleaner has simple, short arms that I wind the cord around to keep it neat and tidy. And my Apple computer has a cord that connects to the computer via a magnet.

Perhaps the emergence of plug-in cars should give rise to charging cords that are more manageable for the everyday family to use. Volvo seems to offer a solution with its XC60 plug-in hybrid concept. Volvo isn’t rushing to market with a plug-in, so perhaps the company is taking extra time to Scandanavianize — or simplify — the actual cord itself.

I spoke with Olle Odsell, Volvo’s technical director, about the cord itself. While the XC60 plug-in hybrid concept’s use of a standard wall outlet is great for the consumer, some work still needs to be done on the cord’s storage mechanism. I asked Odsell about using a retracting cord like in my hairdryer, and he said that while it’s a good idea, the concern would be making a cord retractor that can work seamlessly without getting tangled and breaking inside the vehicle.

If Volvo’s engineers can make a car that stops itself to avoid collisions, it seems to me that they could make a cord retractor that works. Odsell’s solution? Possibly an aftermarket product that hangs on your garage wall and retracts the cord there so it would be easier to fix if it breaks.