Volvo EX30 electric car: the lowest carbon footprint

When developing the Volvo EX30 electric car, Volvo focused on emissions from the entire production process and the vehicle’s life cycle.

The fully electric Volvo EX30 emits no smoke during its operation, which is not the only feature that contributes to reducing the carbon footprint. The impact of such cars on air quality can be very large: for example, a new study from the University of South Carolina has shown that. even a small increase in the number of electric vehicles at the expense of those with internal combustion engines can have a direct positive effect in a given area on reducing the number of emergency room visits due to asthma attacks..

However, electrification alone is not enough to reduce a vehicle’s overall carbon footprint. It is not just the car itself that is important, but also how it is designed, manufactured, manufactured and transported, all of which offer opportunities to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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“Our new Volvo EX30 is a big step in the right direction to achieve our sustainability ambitions,” said Anders Kärrberg, our Global Director of Sustainability. “By 2025, we aim to reduce total CO2 emissions per vehicle by 40% compared to 2018, which we aim to achieve by reducing total tailpipe emissions by 50% and reducing emissions by 25% in all our operations, sources and distribution . – all this will help us achieve our goal of becoming a climate neutral society by 2040.”

There are recycled materials throughout

A car company Volvo was able to reduce the carbon footprint of the Volvo EX30 to 75% of our current electric models. For example, due to the fact that in the production of a small car, it is necessary to produce a small amount of material. Aluminum and steel represent the two main sources of CO2 emissions from production.

That’s why Volvo uses less steel and aluminum when building new small SUVs. In addition, most of the materials used are recycled. Approx A quarter of all aluminum used in car construction is made from recycled materials and at the same time approximately 17% of the steel used in the Volvo EX30 comes from recycling, further reducing the negative impact of the production of these materials on the environment.

This method also looks inside, because the most sustainable part is the one that doesn’t exist. Using optimization as a key principle in sustainable design, Volvo designers were able to combine many functions in the interior of the Volvo EX30 into a single unit. This made it possible reduce the number of components in the car cabinwithout affecting performance.

Another factor that contributes to a more sustainable way of building new cars is the materials from which these cars are made. Around 17% of all plastics in the car, from interior components to bumpers, come from recycling, the highest percentage of any Volvo car to date.

Another step towards achieving climate neutrality

Other important areas with the potential to reduce emissions are: manufacturing and supply, where, for example, clean electricity can be used as an energy source. The Volvo EX30 was built in a factory that runs on climate-neutral energy, including 100% climate-neutral electricity.

In terms of supply, for this car, Volvo works with first-class suppliers, which and 95% have committed to using 100% renewable energy in their production by 2025, most of them have already reached this goal. This reflects the automaker’s desire to not only “reduce” emissions within our own operations, but also focus on encouraging our partners in our wider supply chain to do the same.

The manufacturing process of the Volvo EX30 has been streamlined in several ways. This means, for example, that during production there is the highest level of material consumption in body parts created so far.

Volvo continues to focus on solving problems related to equipment tracking. In the production of Volvo EX30 battery systems, they use the established blockchain technology to help track the path of important raw materials, including. lithium, manganese, cobalt, graphite and nickel.

Smarter and more sustainable materials

In the car cabin, Volvo uses a lot of recycled and reusable materials, from which the seats, dashboard or decorative door trim are made. He belongs to this group materials such as denim, linen, and cotton blends that contain approximately 70% recycled polyester. A great example of using materials in a smarter and more sustainable way is Denim decorative trim.

Volvo uses Denim to create decorative interior trim fibers that would otherwise be waste from the denim recycling process. After the denim processing process is completed, the cut fibers are spun into yarn and the long fibers are combined. However, short fibers usually fall off and are thrown away. That’s what Volvo will use.

Uncompromising job cuts

According to all the procedures mentioned, the car will be created boasts an average door-to-door CO2 emission of 18 tonnes. The terminal-to-gate statement shows the amount of CO2 emissions resulting from the extraction of raw materials until the delivery of the vehicle to the authorized sales partner, i.e. until the vehicle is put into operation.

In addition, the Volvo EX30 is designed to be nand at the end of its life cycle 95% can be recycledin the form of recycling equipment and obtaining energy from what cannot be reused.

The new Volvo EX30 will be presented on June 7, and it will be possible to order it in the Czech Republic on that day.

source: press release