Polestar spearheading transparency movement in the car industry

Polestar has done the unthinkable and published the full details of the carbon footprint of its latest models for the general car buying public to see.

The Swedish EV-maker believes the car industry should be a driving force in the shift to sustainable mobility, and that transparency is a key enabler. 

It says 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 one easily understood number. This enables consumers to make quick and educated decisions when buying a car.

 Polestar already displays the CO₂e footprint and traced risk materials of the launch version of Polestar 2 through its product sustainability declaration. 

The declaration will now be updated to include the new single motor versions of Polestar 2, making it easy and intuitive for consumers to consider the climate impact of different variants, along with price and range.

“Every week, we see a new announcement that an automotive manufacturer is changing direction towards electrification,” Polestar chief executive Thomas Ingenlath says.

“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 is urging the industry to adopt greater transparency to rebuild consumer trust. 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. 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 Polestar head of sustainability Fredrika Klarén.