'V8 is no longer a positive image': why Swedish electric car brand Polestar says you might want to rethink your next gas or diesel car purchase

Polestar says manufacturers need to think beyond building electric vehicles as the vise closes on internal combustion technologies.

Polestar, the new all-electric brand spun off from Volvo and Geely, has set ambitious goals to build the world's first truly carbon-neutral car by 2030. not solve the problems of the industry.

The brand's first mass-market model, the Polestar 2, which will arrive in Australia early next year, is positioned as the greenest vehicle in our market, and the Swedish newcomer is the first to release a vehicle life cycle assessment report.

The LCA report tracks as much CO2 emissions as possible, from the raw material to the source of charging power, to determine the car's final carbon footprint, informing buyers how many miles it will take to "pay for itself" with an equivalent in-house engine. combustion model (the LCA report uses the Volvo XC40 internal combustion engine as an example).

The brand is open about the high carbon cost of producing batteries for electric vehicles, and thus, depending on your country's energy mix, it will take Polestar 2 many tens of thousands of kilometers to break even. with their counterparts on ICE.

In the case of Australia, where most of the energy comes from fossil fuel sources, this distance is estimated to be around 112,000 km.

However, since transparency came first, brand executives had more to say about why this has become such a big issue for the industry.

“The automotive industry is not 'going wrong' on its own – electrification is seen as the solution to our climate crisis, without it being clear to the buyer that electrification is only the first step towards sustainability,” explained Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath. .

“The industry needs to make sure everyone understands that you need to charge your car with green energy as well, you need to make sure that an electric car has a load on CO2 emissions.

Polestar is explicit about the high CO2 cost of building an electric vehicle.

“We should aim to reduce this when it comes to electric vehicle manufacturing, everything from the supply chain to raw materials needs improvement. There are OEMs investing in legacy technology – this is something we can push on the agenda as a pure EV brand.”

Polestar is using a variety of new methods to try to reduce the carbon footprint of its supply chain, from recycled water and green energy in its factories to using new blockchain technologies to track the raw materials used in the construction of its vehicles.

He promises that future vehicles will be made up of even more widely recycled and renewable materials, framed recycled aluminum (a material that currently makes up more than 40 percent of Polestar 2's carbon footprint), linen-based fabrics and interior plastics made only from recycled materials.

The four new Polestar models will use more and more recycled materials in their construction.

While the brand has been outspoken that electrification is not a magic solution, its head of sustainability Fredrika Claren warned those still clinging to ICE technology: fuel sales targets for countries committed to zero emissions.

“We will face a situation where consumers will start thinking: “If I buy a new internal combustion car now, I will have trouble selling it.”

Mr. Ingenlath added: "The V8 is no longer a positive image - many modern manufacturers hide the exhaust system rather than flaunt it - I think that such a shift [moving away from combustion technology] is already happening in society."

While Polestar is going to share its platforms with Volvo and Geely vehicles, all of their vehicles will be fully electric. By 2025, the company plans to have a lineup of four vehicles, including two SUVs, the Polestar 2 crossover and the Polestar 5 GT flagship vehicle.

In a bold plan for the new brand, he also forecasts 290,000 global sales by 2025, noting in an investor presentation that it is currently the only other EV-only brand capable of reaching the global market and mainstream sales besides Tesla.