Polestar partners with suppliers to develop climate-neutral car

Swedish electric carmaker Polestar said on Wednesday it has partnered with suppliers including Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen and Swedish steelmaker SSAB to speed up the development of a car free of carbon emissions.

Polestar said it had signed letters of intent to work with Norwegian aluminium maker Norsk Hydro, Swedish airbag and seatbelt maker Autoliv, LG Corp lighting and electronics unit ZKW Group, ZF and SSAB to eliminate carbon emissions in different areas of its electric vehicles (EVs).

The auto industry is under pressure to go electric in Europe and China, while wrestling with the problem that it takes more carbon emissions to produce an EV than a fossil-fuel car, notably because of the large batteries.

Unlike most carmakers, Polestar has published assessments of the carbon footprints of its EVs over their life cycle.

"It was clear from the start that this is not a solo-mission and we are excited to present such a strong line-up of interested partners," Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said .

Polestar is due to go public by merging with a US-listed blank-cheque firm Gores Guggenheim, which is backed by billionaire Alec Gores and investment bank Guggenheim Partners, in a deal worth $20bn (roughly R300,490,800,000).

The electric carmaker was founded in 2017 by Volvo Car Group and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding.

SSAB will work with Polestar on a fossil-free steel, and Hydro will work on zero-carbon aluminium, while the others will focus on reducing emissions in the production of parts and components.

Reuters