Volvo’s China plant to be renewably powered

All vehicle manufacturing at Volvo Cars’ largest plant in China will now be powered by 100% solar, wind or hydroelectric power as the company heads towards generating 50% of global sales from fully electric cars by 2025, with the rest hybrids.

The change at the Chengdu plant will see Volvo’s global renewable electricity mix in its manufacturing network increased to 80% as the company moves to reduce CO2 emissions by 11,000 tonnes per annum.

Under a new supply contract, around 65% of the electricity supply will come from hydropower, while the remainder comes from solar power, wind power and other renewable sources.

“Our ambition is to reduce our carbon footprint through concrete, tangible actions,” industrial operations and quality head Javier Varela says.

“Securing a fully renewable electricity supply for our largest plant in China is a significant milestone and underlines our commitment to taking concrete, meaningful action.”

All Volvo Cars’ European plants have had a climate neutral electricity supply since 2008, while the engine plant in Skövde, Sweden was the first in the company’s network to become completely climate neutral in 2018.

At the Ghent plant in Belgium, Volvo Cars installed 15,000 solar panels in 2018, the first large-scale introduction of solar energy in its global manufacturing network.

These and other measures are part of the climate plan Volvo Cars launched late last year which goes beyond addressing tailpipe emissions through all-out electrification and also seeks to tackle carbon emissions in the company’s wider operations, its supply chain and through recycling and reuse of materials.