Elite Traveler Summer 2022

etr li at ve eler SUMMER 2022 61

30,000 components going into a car but can we — and how can we — get that down to net-zero? We are striving for climate neutrality. Some may call that a bold, even brave, move. Sometimes, the more boring stu ff has the most impact. We are trying to be brave in our choices and materials. We are reevaluating aluminum and fi nding solutions to textiles and plastics that we have in the car. How do we make the car more recyclable? Circular renewables are always in the discussion. So is our transparent future. We’re going way too slow and not meeting the climate crisis. Let’s accelerate the transition. How do you think Polestar is disrupting the traditional methodology behind automobile manufacturing? We’re going about the sourcing and design process in a whole new way. We’ve got a questionnaire of 112 questions that we send out to potential partners, which in and of itself is something many car brands still won’t do — teaming up with someone outside of the brand. Those questions cover everything from material solutions to traceability and inclusion. We’ve already been told that some of these companies simply have never been asked these questions before, but we are nerdy and data-driven, and once we receive that questionnaire back it becomes really clear who we want to team up with. polestar.com

Clockwise from top left Polestar engineers its vehicles in extreme conditions; Polestar O2 roadster concept; inside the O2; developing a bespoke bonded aluminium platform; Fredrika Klarén, Polestar’s head of sustainability

o ff sets. We’re still using leather, although our leather and wool requirements are the highest you can imagine. We want to fi nd a more sustainable alternative. We see the need for data so we can actually know the impact. Speaking of data, you recently released a life cycle assessment for one of your vehicles, which is unprecedented in the auto industry. Why? The simple answer is to be transparent to our customers and encourage our industry to do the same. We performed a life cycle assessment [an environmental impact study of a product] to determine the lifetime carbon footprint of the Polestar 2 including emissions from materials production, manufacturing, the use phase of the Polestar 2 and its end of

Polestar HQ in Gothenburg, Sweden

life. We released it as well as the methodology we used. There are