By tackling emissions across the entire production and lifecycle of the Volvo EX30, Volvo have managed to reduce its total carbon footprint over 200,000 kms of driving to below 30 tonnes*. This is a 25 per cent reduction compared to our fully electric C40 and XC40 models – a good step towards Volvo’s aim to cut their overall CO2 emissions per car by 40% between 2018 and 2025.
In order to reduce the overall carbon footprint of a car, electrification is not enough. A car is not just driven, it is also designed, developed, built and transported – and all those steps offer opportunities to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycled materials all around
Designing a smaller car means that you need less material to produce it. Aluminium and steel are two of the biggest contributors to production related C02 emissions.
While Volvo use less steel and aluminium when building the new small SUV, more of it is also recycled content. Around a quarter of all aluminium used in building the car is recycled, as is approximately 17 percent of all steel used in producing a Volvo EX30, further reducing the environmental impact from those materials.
The material used for the Volvo EX30 is another contributor to a more sustainable way of creating new cars. About 17% of all plastics in the car, from interior components to exterior bumpers, are recycled – the highest percentage in any Volvo car to date.
Another step towards climate neutrality
Another crucial area for emission reduction is the manufacturing and supply chain, for example through the supply of clean energy. The Volvo EX30 is built in a factory powered by high levels of climate-neutral energy, including 100 per cent climate-neutral electricity.
95% of Volvo’s Tier 1 suppliers for this car have committed to 100% renewable energy in their production by 2025 and many are already there. The production process for the Volvo EX30 has also been streamlined in multiple ways. This means the car represents one of Volvo’s highest rated of material utilisation in stamped body parts during manufacturing.
Smarter and more sustainable materials
Inside, Volvo have used a wide range of recycled and renewable materials for seats, dashboard and doors including materials such as denim, flax and a wool-blend that also contains around 70% recycled polyester. The denim is a good example of how to use materials in smarter and more sustainable ways.
To create the denim interior decor, Volvo have used fibres that would otherwise be waste products of the denim recycling process. When jeans are recycled, the shredded fibres are twisted into a yarn, and long fibres link with one another. The short fibres, however, usually fall away as waste – and Volvo have rescued these short fibres by using them in the EX30 denim interior decor.
Anders Kärrberg (Volvo’s Global Head of Sustainability) said:
“Our new EX30 is a big step in the right direction for our sustainability ambitions. By 2025, we aim to reduce our overall CO2 emissions per car by 40 per cent from 2018 levels through a 50 percent reduction in overall tailpipe emissions, and a 25 per cent reduction in emissions from our operations, raw material sourcing and supply chain – all on the way towards our ambition of being a climate neutral company by 2040.”
Available to order today VOLVO EX30!
