Polestar, the electric performance brand owned by Volvo Cars and its Chinese parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding, has set itself a “moonshot” goal: to create a climate-neutral car by 2030.
With the Polestar 0 project, the EV maker knows it will have to re-think the entire development process as well as shake up the value chain, from suppliers to retailers.
“Can we get there? That is a very relevant question,” Polestar Head of Sustainability Fredrika Klaren told Automotive News Europe. “A moonshot goal is something that you use to inspire new thinking, innovation and a sense of urgency. That is what we want to do internally.”
Polestar says it intends to reach the goal by eliminating emissions rather than using tactics such as planting trees to offset CO2 produced from the car’s creation until it’s sold.
“Offsetting is a cop-out,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement. “By pushing ourselves to create a completely climate-neutral car, we are forced to reach beyond what is possible today. We will have to question everything, innovate and look to exponential technologies as we design toward zero.”
By comparison, Volkswagen brand says it has already made the ID3 electric compact car CO2 neutral by converting to renewable energies and using offsets such as supporting climate protection projects that include replanting forests.
Polestar got an indication of the challenges it will face last year during a life cycle assessment of the Polestar 2.
The research showed that the full-electric compact sedan leaves the factory with a carbon footprint of 26 metric tons, mostly because of the carbon created to provide the car its aluminum, batteries and steel.
“This is where we see a lot of dependency on fossil fuels that occur during the production,” she said in a video chat. “That is something we will need to tackle.”
Klaren said Polestar has been “very picky” about the suppliers it chose to help make the Polestar 2 and Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid. For some partsmakers, the demands came as a surprise.
“They are not used to being asked for data on climate impact or traceability [to make sure the components are made from ethically sourced materials],” she said, adding that Polestar’s demands for this information will only intensify.
Polestar today also committed to disclosing the carbon footprint and traced risk materials for all its cars on the company website and at its retail spaces.
The labeling, which will start with the Polestar 2, is supposed to provide transparency to consumers.
Polestar says the information will be similar to what some food and fashion companies are doing to showcase their sustainability efforts.