Plug-In Hybrid Concept

This is the one-off Pure-Tension Pavilion. Solar charging just got amazing This is Volvo's, fold-away portable solar charging pavilion that…

This is the one-off Pure-Tension Pavilion. Solar charging just got amazing

This is Volvo's, fold-away portable solar charging pavilion that tops up the plug-in hybrid underneath.

The pavilion is a flexible mesh structure held in place by carbon fibre rods, and it's embedded with photovoltaic cells so it can create energy from indoor lighting as well as the sun. Finished charging? Fold it up in the boot and pootle off.

Thing is, it doesn't actually exist. The design's the winning entry from a contest run by Volvo Italy, and developed by Synthesis Design + Architecture, Buro Happold, and Fabric Images. But it's not some flim-flam drawing - Volvo assures us that there's actual science and physics involved, and one will be built...