Batteries, steel, aluminium: Polestar breaks down full carbon footprint of Polestar 5

Swedish electric carmaker Polestar has once again delivered on its commitment to publish the full carbon footprint of every vehicle in its lineup, and says the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of its Polestar 5 four-door GT measured in at 23.8 tonnes of CO2-equivalent.

Polestar is the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to publish the full carbon footprint of every vehicle in its lineup, part of the company’s efforts to provide customers with greater transparency about the climate impact of the cars that they drive.

The Polestar 5 four-door GT – soon to be released in Australia – boasts a range of up to 678 kilometres (WLTP) and, in its dual-motor variant, up to 650kW of power and acceleration from 0-100km/h of just 3.2 seconds.

But it’s the car’s manufacturing process in the spotlight here, boasting a cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of 23.8 tonnes of CO2-equivalent (tCO2e).

According to Polestar’s analysis, 60 per cent of the cradle-to-gate climate impact is due to the materials used in the vehicle’s production, which excludes the battery modules. A smidge over 50 per cent of the materials emissions comes from aluminium, with steel and iron accounting for another 17 per cent.

The lithium-ion battery modules accounted for 29 per cent of a single car’s emissions, with logistics (10 per cent) and manufacturing rounding out the list.

In Polestar’s estimation, the climate impact of the battery is relatively low due to the use of 100 per cent renewable electricity in the production of the anode and cathode active materials and in the cell production of the battery modules.

Importantly, to account for the huge impact aluminium has on the car’s emissions during production, 13 per cent of the aluminium used is recycled and 83 per cent comes from smelters powered by renewable electricity.

As a result, Polestar has been able to avoid 14 tCO2e per car compared with conventional aluminium sourcing.

Other emissions savings were made with the use of innovative materials in the car’s interior, such as natural fibre composites and recycled materials.

The full vehicle life cycle, which includes cradle-to-gate and then a further 200,000 kilometres driving plus end-of-life treatment, works out to 28.5 tCO₂e using the European electricity mix, but skyrockets to 38.6 tCO2e if manufacturing were to rely on the global electricity mix.

“You cannot reduce what you don’t measure,” said Fredrika Klarén, head of sustainability at Polestar.

“Making the carbon footprint of a car visible helps focus the industry on where emissions occur, particularly in materials and manufacturing. That transparency is essential if we want to scale the low-carbon materials, renewable energy and circular solutions needed to reduce the climate impact of cars.”

The full Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) for the Polestar 5, available in full here, is based on the 2026 model year, the car’s first model year, and has been critically reviewed by British engineering services firm Ricardo.

The Polestar 5 is currently available in Australia with a hefty price tag in excess of $185,000, and up to nearly $210,000 for the Performance – Launch edition.