Swedish electric car maker Polestar has vowed to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030. Hydro joins Polestar as a materials partner to explore how aluminium can contribute to the Polestar 0 project.
Polestar is working to gather some of the world’s leading suppliers of materials to the automotive industry – including aluminium.
“Polestar has embarked on an inspiring, tough and important journey, and we are proud to contribute with our expertise and explore how aluminium can play a key part in realising a truly carbon-neutral car,” says Head of Hydro Aluminium Metal Eivind Kallevik.
“We’re so pleased that Hydro is interested in collaborating on our Polestar 0 project as we strive to create a truly climate-neutral Polestar car by 2030. Hydro’s development of low-carbon aluminium and growth in renewable energy from hydropower, wind and solar means it is a very important partner for the Polestar 0 project, in our effort to reduce emissions in production and use,”
CEO Polestar Thomas Ingenlath.
Hydro has many years of experience in supplying car makers with hydropower-based low-carbon Hydro REDUXA aluminium, but the Polestar 0 project will require zero-carbon footprint aluminium. Hydro’s experts have announced that they will now collaborate with Polestar on defining joint R&D programs and explore specific aluminium alloys needed for the vehicle.
Hydro has announced that they will apply technologies defined in the companies’ technology roadmap to zero emission aluminium production to supply Polestar and also address end-of-life recycling of the car.
“To reach the Paris climate agreement Hydro has carved out three paths to net-zero aluminium products towards 2030. Either through recycling of post-consumer scrap, carbon capture and storage from existing aluminium 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,” says Kallevik.
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 throughout the supply chain and how the vehicle can be taken apart and recycled after the end of its life.
Light-weighting with aluminium is one of the most effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of electrical vehicles. In addition to weight savings, the energy absorbent nature of aluminium increases safety and the material is fully recyclable.
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