Polestar highlights climate impact of the Polestar 2 EV, aims for environmental transparency
The Polestar 2. Images: Polestar
Polestar has just published full details of the carbon footprint of its latest models, in a move to improve transparency around the auto manufacturing process, and drive an industry-wide shift to sustainable mobility.
Tesla leads the automotive world with its Impact Report, published annually to highlight the company’s own sustainable mobility and energy push, and provide data from all aspects of the business including commodities sourcing, materials recycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and company workforce diversity.
Polestar’s Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) consider a range of factors in a car’s life cycle, from supply to manufacture to recycling, and summarise this climate impact in a single number.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, says: “Carmakers need to take full responsibility. Every week, we see a new announcement that an automaker is changing direction towards electrification. But going electric alone is not enough. Making cars electric is not the end game, it is a starting point. We need to be honest and transparent.”
Polestar wants to go further, and urges the industry to adopt greater transparency to rebuild consumer trust. Events like Volkswagen Group’s “Dieselgate” destroyed consumer trust in the group’s brands, and according to Polestar, recent research proves that only one in four consumers trust car manufacturers to be transparent and to operate in the best interests of society, and that over half of consumers demand more transparency and the ability to compare CO2 footprints between cars. Polestar says the adoption of an industry-wide standard could be the key.
The new LCA has found that the new Polestar 2 variants – Long range Single motor and Standard range Single motor – leave the factory with carbon footprints ranging between 24 and 25 tonnes of CO2e, a number that remains flat during the use phase if the car is charged with green energy. The existing Long range Dual motor’s footprint was previously declared to be 26,2 tonnes of CO2e in 2020.
“We are working towards net-zero production emissions, but our LCA shows that Polestar 2 is already a climate solution. EV technology provides a car with less than half the carbon impact of an equivalent petrol car if charged with green energy,” says Fredrika Klarén, Head of Sustainability at Polestar.
While the manufacturing of electric vehicles can result in emissions as high or even higher than internal combustion vehicles, we know that the life cycle emissions of EVs are a small fraction of internal combustion equivalents. The below graph from Polestar, showing the differences in the LCA score from renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources, demonstrate that the clean energy can effectively halve the score of each model.
View the LCA graphs supplied by Polestar below, and view the automaker’s sustainability goals and 2020 review here.
The LCA figures for the Polestar 2 range, with different energy sources.
A LCA comparison of the Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor.
A LCA comparison of the Polestar 2 Standard Range Single Motor.
A LCA comparison of the Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor.