In this Fleet News Group podcast linked here Samantha Johnson, managing director of Polestar Australia, talks about the Volvo sister company’s electric vehicle design and its pole position among automakers in the sustainability race.
“Polestar really are ahead of everyone else in the auto industry, and they are influencing others to come along on their journey,” said Johnson. “We are doing everything that we can to bring the emissions down to zero within our cars that we are manufacturing and also as an organisation.”
Johnson is formerly of Volvo, which is owned by Sweden-based Geely, the same group that owns Polestar. Polestar started selling its electric vehicle the Polestar 2 in Australia in 2021 and to date has about 2,000 vehicles on the road. The Polestar 2 is based on the automaker’s Precept concept.
More recently, Polestar launched a new concept vehicle — the Polestar 0, using more recycled materials and different grades of metals such as aluminium to cut dependence on virgin sources. The concept project aims to build a car by 2030 that is truly climate neutral, where the manufacturing of it and the materials used are completely free from greenhouse gras emissions.
When I learned Polestar was using recycled fishing nets as a fabric in their high-spec vehicles, I was hooked on the brand. They are using flax instead plastic, recycled corks for floor mats and recycled plastic bottles to make seating fabrics.
“Making sure there’s minimum air disruption is maximum aerodynamics, so that you’re using less drag and therefore less energy when you’re driving the vehicle,” said Johnson, talking about the extent of how circular economy design principles are factored into everything the carmaker does.
“We’re also looking at end of life and partners such as the Battery Stewardship Council, because we can build all this sustainability, put circularity into the vehicles but what happens at the end of life here in Australia? How are we going to handle those products when they come back to be broken up?” said Johnson.
Polestar has partnered with US SUV and utility automaker Rivian to report on sustainability in the auto industry. The ‘Pathway Report’ sets out a way to bring down emissions in the transport sector to meet the United Nation’s climate goals to inhibit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Right now we are still heading way above that. So there’s a lot needs to be done in all different industries,” said Johnson.
The report, which models the current trajectory for emissions stemming from the car industry, was prepared by global management consulting firm Kearney. It reckons the only way to reach the UN targets involves cutting supply chain emissions along with a transition to battery electric vehicles that are powered by fossil-free energy.
“It’s really important that we not only design the cars to have more circularity built in, less scrap at the end, but we have to make sure that there are the organisations with the capabilities here in Australia and everywhere else in the world that can actually do the right things with those components at the end.”
