Polestar is welcoming twelve new partners to the Polestar 0 project to develop a climate-neutral car. (Earlier post.) Each partner will focus on certain materials, components and processes involved in the production of cars. New partners, listed below, cover areas such as plastics, composites, chemicals and metals.

The transport sector is the fastest-growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector, expected to reach a share of more than 30% of total GHG emissions in the future, according to the United Nation’s Environment Programme.

Polestar and its partners share a common goal: to decarbonize the complete supply chain and manufacturing process.

The real potential of electric cars will be fulfilled when we as an industry can say goodbye not just to tailpipe emissions, but production-related emissions as well. We made a bold commitment 18 months ago when we launched the Polestar 0 project, and these strong partnerships show the steady progress towards our goal.

—Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar

Polestar has opened a second call for collaboration, targeting transformative solutions for new technologies to create man-made materials without any GHG emissions in the field of minerals and metals, bio-based chemicals and plastics, and other base materials. Interested parties are encouraged to apply online.

New partners and their focus areas in the Polestar 0 project:

• Pensana: Independent and sustainable supply of rare earth materials

• Boliden: Copper and other metals

• Papershell: Advanced fibre composite based on paper

• Sekab: Bio-based chemicals

• Bulten: Fasteners

• Hexpol TPE: Soft polymer compounds, TPE

• Plasman: Manufacturer of bumper-fascias, grilles, exterior trim, and subsystem components

• YFPO: Bumpers and similar materials

• Ovako: Engineering steel from 100% carbon-neutral operations and 97% recycled content

• Mistra Carbon Exit: Research consortium with objective to analyse and demonstrate how supply chains of buildings, infrastructure and transportation can be transformed and decarbonised

• Stilride: Green metal manufacturing and mobility through proprietary STILFOLD technology, dubbed “industrial origami”

• GG Group: Sustainable cables and harnesses

Partners previously signed up include:

• SSAB: Fossil free steel

• Hydro: Zero-carbon aluminium

• Autoliv: Safety equipment

• ZF: Electric powertrain and overall systems

The Polestar 0 project is Polestar’s moon-shot goal of creating the first truly climate-neutral car by 2030. The scope of the project is to identify and eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from the extraction of raw materials to when the car is delivered to the customer, as well as the end-of-life handling.

The Polestar 0 project aims to cut carbon emissions by changing the way that cars are made, rather than using traditional processes and then planting trees to offset CO₂e. This approach will encompass collaboration across the entire development process and value chain, from suppliers to retailers.

The project targets what Polestar can measure and control: zero carbon emissions in the production of the car, delivery to customer, and end-of-life.

The use phase of an electric car can already today be close to climate neutral if the car is charged with renewable energy. The timeline for launching a car in 2030 means the advanced research needs to be completed by 2025, when work with the car’s architecture begins. By 2027, the vehicle project starts, which means that the application of that research, the advanced engineering required to take a research project into industrial production, needs to be completed.