With clear objectives of becoming a climate-neutral company, several vehicle makers are driving their sustainability programmes quite aggressively. Many of the Scandinavian companies have accelerated even further. On these lines, Volvo Cars announced earlier that it would become a climate-neutral company by 2040 by reducing emissions across its entire value chain.
As part of its initiative, the company has been making every car launched from 2019 onwards with an electric motor. It aims to have 50% of its annual car sales to be all-electric by 2025, with the remainder consisting of hybrids.
The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), South Carolina (US), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China), and body components in Olofström (Sweden).
The carmaker aspires to have climate-neutral manufacturing operations by 2025. As of today, its global plants are powered by over 80% climate-neutral electricity. Not to mention, since 2008, all its European plants have been running on hydroelectric power.
Realising that extending its intent to the supply chain is critical to reaching its climate target, the Swedish car manufacturer has been encouraging its top suppliers to use 100% renewable energy by 2025 and to develop a more circular approach to materials.
Green steel
And now Volvo Cars is teaming up with Swedish steelmaker SSAB to jointly explore the development of fossil-free, high-quality steel for use in the automotive industry. The collaboration with SSAB is the latest initiative that supports Volvo Cars’ overall climate action plan, one of the most ambitious in the car industry.
The collaboration makes the company the first carmaker to work with SSAB and its HYBRIT initiative, which it started along with iron ore producer LKAB and energy firm Vattenfall.
Touted to be the steel industry’s most ambitious and advanced projects in fossil-free steel development, the technology aims to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for iron ore-based steelmaking, with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen. The result is expected to be the world’s first fossil-free steelmaking technology, with virtually no carbon footprint.
Initiation
As part of the collaboration, Volvo Cars will be the first car maker to secure SSAB steel made from hydrogen-reduced iron from HYBRIT’s pilot plant in Lulea, Sweden. According to the automaker, the steel will be initially used for testing purposes and may be used in a concept car.
The steel maker hopes to supply the market with fossil-free steel at a commercial scale in less than five years from now. Volvo Cars will be its first customer to use fossil-free steel for its production cars.
Håkan Samuelsson, Chief Executive, Volvo Cars said as the company continuously reduces its total carbon footprint, it is aware that steel is a major area for further progress. The collaboration with SSAB on fossil-free steel development could give significant emission reductions in its supply chain, he believes.
SSAB is building an entirely fossil-free value chain all the way to the end customer, avers Martin Lindqvist, President and CEO, SSAB. “Our breakthrough technology has virtually no carbon footprint and will help strengthen our customer’s competitiveness. Together with Volvo Cars, we aim to develop fossil-free steel products for the cars of the future,” he added.
As the global steel industry is currently dominated by an iron ore-based steelmaking technology, using blast furnaces depending on coking coal, it accounts for about 7% of global direct carbon emissions.
For Volvo Cars, the CO2 emissions related to steel and iron production for its cars account for about 35% in a traditionally powered car and 20% in a fully electric car of the total CO2 emissions from the material and production of the components going into the vehicle.