Polestar Announces Partnership with Circulor as an Important Step in Transparency Journey
- Polestar enters strategic partnership with blockchain provider Circulor
- Collaboration targets blockchain traceability and CO2e tracking
- Progressive in scope and ambition, partnership enables unprecedented supply chain transparency
Polestar, the electric performance car brand, is spearheading a movement for transparency throughout the automotive industry to accelerate the shift to a climate-neutral future. In April 2021, the company announced plans for a climate neutral car by 2030—Polestar now communicates an important step on its transparency journey, announcing a new partnership with blockchain provider Circulor.
Polestar already works with Circulor on the traceability of cobalt in the batteries for the Polestar 2 electric performance fastback. With this new partnership, Polestar and Circulor have set a progressive scope and ambition that aims to entail a range of raw materials, focusing on those with identified risks in either environmental and/or human rights, such as nickel, mica, manganese, graphite and lithium, amongst others.
True climate action needs transparency, and the aim with CO2e tracking is to finally see the embedded emissions that have been created as part of the production process, per facility as well as those inherited from suppliers through the supply chain. The greenhouse gas tracking solution offered by Circulor enables a more accurate CO2e footprint than using generic emissions data from databases.
“Caring about ethics and the environment is key to Polestar. This unprecedented level of traceability means that Polestar can promote sustainable and ethical practices in its supply chain, and provide better transparency for consumers,” says Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
“We are delighted to be a strategic partner of Polestar and play a key role in enabling supply chain transparency for Polestar, its suppliers and its customers. Our platform’s ability to dynamically track and attribute CO2e across the supply chain will help enable Polestar’s moonshot goal to create a climate-neutral car by 2030,” says Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, Circulor CEO.
Circulor supports businesses in achieving more sustainable supply chains and works with blockchain technology to trace materials. A blockchain is a digital ledger containing a list of records linked to each other via cryptography. A ‘digital twin’ for the raw material being traced is created and the material is then tracked through the supply chain, creating a digital thread that follows and records the various industrial processes and transformations it undergoes.
This means that the source and the methods by which the raw materials are extracted, processed and transported, can be better regulated, helping to ensure that the materials used in battery production come from the expected mines or recycling facilities. Blockchain technology is already applied to Polestar 2, to support the traceability of cobalt in its batteries.
Polestar is on a mission to drive the shift to sustainable mobility. Supply chain transparency is one big step on the journey. Consumers will be able to follow the journey thanks to Polestar’s Product Sustainability Declaration, which discloses carbon footprint and traced risk materials through labeling on the company website and in Polestar Spaces, setting a unique transparency precedent for the industry.
About Polestar
Polestar is the independent Swedish premium electric performance car brand founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding. Established in 2017, Polestar enjoys specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefits from significant economies of scale as a result. The company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and its vehicles are available and on the road in ten global markets across Europe, North America, and China. In 2021, Polestar is expanding into eight new markets across Europe and Asia Pacific.
Polestar produces two electric performance cars. Polestar 1 is a low-volume electric performance hybrid GT with a carbon fiber body, 619 hp, 738 lb-ft of torque, and an electric only range of 60 miles – the longest of any hybrid car in the world. The Polestar 2 electric performance fastback is the company’s first fully electric, high volume car. The Polestar 2 model range includes three variants with a combination of long- and standard range batteries as large as 78 kWh, and dual- and single motor powertrains with as much as 408 hp and 487 lb-ft of torque.
In the future, the Polestar 3 electric performance SUV will join the portfolio, as well as the Precept – a design study vehicle released in 2020 that is slated for future production. Precept showcases the brand’s future vision in terms of sustainability, digital technology and design.
Images provided by: Taylor Vande Beek (Extension PR)
