“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.
