STOCKHOLM – This week, Volvo has unveiled its new flagship electric vehicle, the EX90 three-row SUV. It’s not just a look at a product we’ll see hitting the market in 2024, but a glimpse of the approach. Volvo is working to become more sustainable as it aims to be all-electric by 2030 and carbon-neutral by 2040. Following the launch of the EX90, we had a chance to speak with Henrik Green , Volvo’s director of innovation and sustainability, as part of a roundtable discussion about the brand’s future climate strategy.
Part of the strategy is accountability and transparency. In an industry where sensitive materials such as cobalt and lithium can cause environmental, social and geopolitical problems, traceability is paramount. Volvo will use blockchain technology — the same kind of secure ledger technology that powers cryptocurrencies — to trace cobalt, lithium, and nickel from their very origins on earth all the way to the EX90s rolling off the factory floor. Green said he hopes that traceability will extend to more materials, but those three things are what Volvo can commit to to this day. Green also predicts the point at which “you as a consumer will be able to see, ‘Here, in my app, this is the car I bought, this is where my coin came from this. It’s in my car.’”
While step one is to improve transparency, “the next step is — this is a much longer term step — how can we influence the industry to source from the most sustainable sources possible?” And that leads us to recycling. A circular economy is the goal, in which raw materials are used to a minimum, replaced by materials derived from used cars, the battery, electronics and the like. But that depends on the first generation of Electric Car complete their life cycle before they can be recycled. And it’s clear that the better the lifespan of products like batteries, the longer it will last. “Unfortunately, it has this built-in time lag when putting the batteries out there lasts until they need to be replaced, and then we get the material back.”
The partners are starting to find those recyclable materials from sources like non-automotive electronics, “but large volumes of car batteries won’t be accessible until the umbrellas come in. This car has been on the road for 10, 15 years or so.” But recyclability is one of the key factors Volvo looks for when partnering with companies like Northvolt. Volvo is building a factory and R&D center in Gothenburg, Sweden.
However, recycling isn’t just about batteries. The EX90 is Volvo’s most recycled vehicle to date. 15% plastic is recycled, 15% steel and 25% aluminum. Volvo aims to scale that up to 25% plastic, 25% steel and 40% aluminum in its cars by 2025, and significantly more by its 2040 climate neutral target date. And Volvo is working. force to make our cars not only more recycled, but more recycledmaybe, so it can use more of its own materials in the production of that circle. “The hard part of that is taking it apart and sorting it into single-material bins” for recycling, says Green. “I predict that in the long run, coming here, we will build cars that are easy to disassemble and sort them in boxes of purer materials. That way, we can really bring the circular economy and circular business to life.”
And when something is difficult to recycle, such as plastic, Volvo is looking to increase its use of bio-based materials that are part of the EX90. Designers are the driving force behind ditching materials like leather and virgin plastic, says Green, in favor of recycled, bio-based and natural materials. For example, Nordico upholstery fabric by EX90 are made from recycled materials like plastic bottles, and wool seats are also an option. The wood on the vehicle is sourced from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
On the manufacturing front, Volvo is also working quickly to achieve climate neutrality there. While Volvo can easily control its operations, Green said the next step is the supply chain. “That’s where we’re really working the hardest,” getting tier-one, tier-two and so on, all running on climate-neutral electricity. Volvo wants to reduce carbon emissions from its supply chain as well as its internal operations, grew by 25% by mid-decade. He admits this is a big challenge for electricity generation, as battery production is carbon-intensive. “So you first increase that burden, and then you need to decrease [it]. “
Thankfully, suppliers are participating in the program, and Volvo is seeing less feedback and more cooperation from them to align with its climate goals. But for those who drag their feet, Green says, “we have a very Strong message and part of us say it here [to the media] and we say that to the world, so that also becomes evident in our discussions with suppliers. “ Volvo has also implemented an in-house carbon valuation, where a ton of carbon dioxide costs SEK 1,000 (about $96), which can be included in business discussions. you can say this ton of CO2 is 1,000 SEK, this is the cost of poor quality, this is the cost of part,” to help find a balanced final cost. Volvo has implemented a carbon price. That was about a year ago, but Green wants to see it grow.
Another sustainability strategy Volvo is pursuing is becoming increasingly familiar: two-way charging. This allows the vehicle to not only charge the battery pack for driving duties, but also for home backup power, remote power, and grid stabilization. Volvo claims the EX90 will be its first product with two-way charging capability. The entire strategy is still “in the works”, but Volvo will offer a wall box for home energy storage, and customers can get a total price for home energy products and installations. from a Volvo seller or website, which will then be provided by Volvo partners.
Ultimately, Green says, “you can really optimize a city or a society if you” collaborate with energy suppliers. While renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are intermittent, thousands of connected batteries can balance the grid when those sources are not available. “There is a bit of a future… but my personal view is that cars can become the resource that helps the world power less stable, sustainable electricity sources. We’ve built two-way charging into the EX90 for that purpose.”
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