I found a science book at my local library, and under the chapter "Electrical Engineering", I found this very interesting paragraph:

"Another develpment with potential environmental impact is that of the hybrid-drive vehicle, which ahs been used in a concept car developed by Volvo in the late 1980s. (Italics mine) The car overcomes the problems associated with electric cars -low power and short range- by using an onboard diesel electrical generator. The car can be run on electricity alone to achieve zero-exhaust emissions on short runs, while on longer runs the diesel engine can be used to recharge the power plant as the car is moving...."(1)

The article shows a photograph of the vehicle's instrument panel, which could be perfectly at home in any model 2007 vehicle, including what it appears to be a Navi display.

This was 20 years ago...WOW. This was so advanced back then! What happened to Volvo's hybrids?

(1)The new illustrated Science and Invention Encyclopedia, Vol 27.
H.S. Stuttmant Publishers.

The U.S. has reached a point “where the priorities of Congress could become so distorted by politics” that it would turn its back on the next great global industry, clean power — Rhone Resch

Many companies have made diesel/electric hybrid PROTOTYPES.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicle

VW made a prototype diesel-electric hybrid car that achieved 118 mpg US fuel economy (2 liters per 100 km), but has yet to sell a hybrid vehicle.

Dodge had the ESX3 diesel/electric which achieved 72 MPG.

The problem so far: no one can build one CLEAN ENOUGH and CHEAP ENOUGH for consumer viability.

To make them 50-state clean takes a TON of diesel-specific filtering technology and various engine fuel-and-exhaust-processing tricks to destroy or eliminate diesel exhaust particles before they exit the tailpipe. This is very expensive, and has been a major problem.

My prediction (and hope) is that sometime in the next few years, someone besides VW or MB will build and sell a no-compromise 5-passenger diesel/electric hybrid that gets EPA in the 70 MPG range and has about 200 horsepower.

A lot of technology has to get better and cheaper to become viable first though....

Perhaps an additional factor was, that when this concept car was being considered, fuel costs were ultra-cheap.

I understand the issues about diesel engines, however, Volvo has some very fine gasoline engines, which could be used in a revived version of this car.

Keep your fingers crossed!

The U.S. has reached a point “where the priorities of Congress could become so distorted by politics” that it would turn its back on the next great global industry, clean power — Rhone Resch

There are several diesel-hybrid trucks on sale in Japan today. Regarding the hybrid history issue, gasoline-hybrids were sold widely around the turn of the last century too. There's just been a long gap without them!

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ecotech/ecot.htm

Peugeot and Citroen are planning on having diesel electric hybrid cars for sale by 2010.