Polestar has announced a collaboration with some of the world’s leading automotive suppliers in the development of a “truly climate-neutral” car for 2030. The Polestar 0 Project is looking to unite companies, from inside and outside the auto supply chain, to help the transport sector reduce its climate impact.

The Swedish electric performance car company has signed Letters of Intent with strategic partners SSAB, Hydro, ZF, ZKW, and Autoliv on areas of focus related to LCAs (life cycle assessments) of its current electric vehicle (EV) carbon footprints. The LCAs have helped pinpoint the components and processes—such as metals, tires, safety, driving systems, and electronics—involved in producing cars that need to be reimagined to reduce and ultimately eliminate carbon emissions.

“It was clear from the start that this is not a solo mission and we are very excited to present such a strong line-up of interested partners, all leaders within their fields,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO. “We are leveraging innovation and collaboration to address the climate crisis.”

Polestar is actively inviting others, from suppliers, researchers, universities, entrepreneurs, investors, and governmental and non-governmental organizations, for possible collaboration. On top of the open call, the company will be reaching out to researchers around the world through the SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network), the global initiative for the United Nations and the world’s largest academic network working in support of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

“We believe in the exponential development of climate solution technologies,” said Hans Pehrson, leader of the Polestar 0 Project and former Head of R&D at Polestar. “For this project, we must tap into solutions that are still in the innovation stage. Even more exciting is that the solutions we develop will not only benefit the automotive industry overall but help decarbonize manufacturing and society more widely as well.”

 

The project

Founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding in 2017, Polestar has produced two electric performance cars. In September 2021, it announced its intention to list as a public company on the Nasdaq in a business combination agreement with Gores Guggenheim, Inc., the special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of The Gores Group, LLC, and by an affiliate of Guggenheim Capital, LLC.

The Polestar 1, built between 2019 and 2021, was a low-volume electric performance hybrid GT with a carbon-fiber body and an electric-only WLTP range of 124 km—said to be the longest of any hybrid car in the world. The Polestar 2 is an electric performance fastback, the company’s first fully electric, high-volume car, and its only current offering, but that will change soon.

The company plans to launch one new EV per year, starting in 2022 with the Polestar 3—the company’s first electric performance SUV. To follow in 2023 is the Polestar 4, a smaller electric performance SUV “coupe.” In 2024, the Polestar 5 electric performance four-door GT is coming, being the production evolution of the Polestar Precept—the concept car released in 2020 that showcases the brand’s future vision in terms of design, technology, and sustainability.

Announced in 2021, the Polestar 0 Project is expected to take the next step in sustainability to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030. The target is motivated by the United Nations Environment Program, which says that the transport sector is the fastest-growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector and is expected to reach a share of more than 30% of total GHG emissions in the future.

The project is being conceived to eliminate emissions from the supply chain and change the way cars are made—rather than planting trees to offset CO2 emissions. The company says that environmental experts warn that offsetting through tree planting is not sustainable in the long run. Questions around the long-term carbon storage capacity of forests and soils remain as forests could be logged, devastated by fire, or altered by climate change.

Polestar says its approach will encompass collaboration across the entire development process and value chain, from suppliers to retailers. The brand aims to be climate neutral across its operations by 2040.

The project targets what Polestar can measure and control—zero carbon emissions in the production of the car, its delivery to the customer, through its end-of-life. The company says that the use phase of an electric car can already today be close to climate-neutral if the car is charged with renewable energy.

 

The partners

Nordic steel and metals producer SSAB intends to collaborate with Polestar on fossil-free steel, which could potentially replace not only conventional steel in a car but also other materials with significant carbon footprints.

“We want to support our customers in their goal to strengthen their competitiveness and market position while helping them to eliminate most of their carbon footprint,” said Martin Lindqvist, President and CEO at SSAB. “The transport sector has a great opportunity to make a difference and we are very pleased with having the chance to work with Polestar on this issue.”

In 2026, SSAB aims to be the first steel company to deliver fossil-free steel to the market. In January, the company decided to transform its Nordic strip production and accelerate its green transition against the backdrop of strongly growing demand for fossil-free steel. It signed strategic partnerships in 2021 for fossil-free steel with customers such as Volvo Group, Volvo Cars, Cargotec, Daimler/Mercedes, and Peab. Its ambition is to largely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions around 2030, 15 years earlier than previously announced.

Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company Hydro intends to collaborate with Polestar’s experts on zero-carbon aluminum.

“To reach the Paris climate agreement, Hydro has carved out three paths to net-zero aluminum products toward 2030,” said Eivind Kallevik, EVP and head of Hydro Aluminum Metal. Those paths are  “recycling of post-consumer scrap, carbon capture and storage from existing aluminum smelters, and development of Hydro’s proprietary HalZero technology for greenfield smelters. We will now explore which path is most suitable for the Polestar 0 project, but the timelines align very well.”

Hydro has experience in supplying carmakers with hydropower-based low-carbon Reduxa aluminum, but the Polestar 0 Project will require zero-carbon footprint aluminum. Hydro’s experts will collaborate with Polestar on defining joint R&D programs and explore specific aluminum alloys needed for the vehicle. Hydro will apply technologies defined in the companies’ technology roadmap for zero-emission aluminum production and address end-of-life recycling of the car.

As Hydro sees it, by replacing combustion engines with electric engines, the emissions from the use-phase of vehicles can be reduced to nearly zero if the car is charged with renewable energy. The next step is to focus on the materials, how they are manufactured, renewable energy use throughout the supply chain, and how the vehicle can be taken apart and recycled after the end of its life. The company believes that lightweighting with aluminum is one of the most effective ways to improve EV energy efficiency. In addition to weight savings, it says that the energy absorbent nature of aluminum increases safety and the material is fully recyclable.

Automotive systems supplier ZF intends to explore with Polestar how innovation in electric powertrain and overall systems competence could eliminate carbon emissions and save resources.

“The Polestar 0 Project is a fantastic moonshot initiative,” said Stephan von Schuckmann, Member of the ZF Board of Management and responsible for the Electrified Powertrain Technology division. “ZF supports it with enthusiasm because it perfectly complements our own holistic climate protection program…By 2040 ZF will become truly climate neutral.”

ZF will initially focus on developing, sourcing, and producing electric drivetrains that meet the project’s sustainability targets. It is also offering its systems expertise in chassis as well as active and passive safety technology.

The systems supplier is interested in the project because it focuses on real emissions avoidance rather than compensation through the purchase of emissions credits—the first overarching initiative of its kind. It is also looking at the project as an opportunity to expand its own ecosystem of partnerships around the topic of sustainability, working with universities, suppliers, and startups to create standards that make a measurable contribution to reducing emissions and conserving resources.

Automotive safety supplier Autoliv intends to partner with Polestar to research and develop technology aiming at finding climate-neutral solutions and innovations related to automotive safety such as pyrotechnics, textiles, and new generations of materials for airbags and seatbelts. The collaboration is in line with its commitment to be the first automotive safety supplier to become carbon neutral in its own operations by 2030 and aim for net-zero emissions across its supply chain by 2040.

“To reach our ambitious climate targets, we need to collaborate across the value chain,” said Mikael Bratt, President and CEO of Autoliv. “We are well-positioned to continue to support our partners and customers in achieving their sustainability goals.”

Automotive lighting manufacturer ZKW intends to team up with Polestar on climate-neutral electrical control systems and wiring. The company is being very aggressive in converting its sites to CO2-neutral production by 2025.

“We want to take an active role in shaping climate protection and take a close look at the CO2 footprints of our products,” explained Oliver Schubert, CEO of the ZKW Group.

 

The collaboration invitation

The announced collaborations are said to be the beginning for Polestar. The company is inviting other suppliers, researchers, universities, entrepreneurs, investors, governmental- and non-governmental organizations, and innovators to join it in developing the technologies of the future.

To participate in the project, the pitch is done through an online recruitment process. The applicant must submit information on the area of concern, what the solution might be, whom they are representing, and if any prior research is needed.

A designated Polestar team will evaluate submitted ideas and decide whether the next steps should be taken towards a potential partnership.

The process is open from February 23 to March 23.

What will unite the future partners is a shared conviction that zero means zero, no low-carbon solutions, and no misleading offsetting schemes.