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Swedish carmaker Volvo is to launch a plug-in hybrid car in collaboration with the local energy company Vattenfall. The car is due to be ready for series production by 2012.

Volvo and Vattenfall are forming a joint venture to produce the diesel-hybrid vehicles, with the cars being built in Sweden by Volvo and the charging systems and electricity supply handled by Vattenfall.

The two companies have been working on plug-in technology for the past two-and-a-half years and are due to launch three demonstrator vehicles based on the Volvo V70 this summer.

The cars will have lithium-ion batteries and will take about five hours to charge from a standard wall socket. They will also feature regenerative braking.

Vattenfall says that it will make an eco-friendly electricity tariff available to Swedish drivers, so they can recharge their vehicles from electricity known to have been generated from green sources.

Stephen Odell, Volvo's CEO, said: "This is an important business development for us and our partnership with Vattenfall allows us to take a giant step towards offering our customers cars with an even smaller environmental footprint."