EX30 SUV will not only offer smaller dimensions but also Volvo’s lowest carbon footprint
Two weeks before the public gets its official debut of the upcoming EX30 small SUV, Volvo continues to trickle new tidbits of information to us to build anticipation. This morning, the automaker shared that the upcoming SUV represents its lowest total carbon footprint to date, reducing its environmental impact by a huge fraction compared to its current EV models.
It’s only been 14 days since Volvo began teasing the debut (and the compact size) of its latest model, dubbed the EX30. So far, we know the small SUV will be targeted toward a younger demographic, those who prefer to shop online.
Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan previously relayed the new SUV would arrive at a “really nice price point” for an entry-level EV that will be smaller than a C40 Recharge with a decent range. Rowan also described the EX30 as “very safe,” a factor Volvo elaborated further upon last week.
The automaker said the small SUV was designed with the safety we’ve come to expect from Volvo, with an added focus on protection for people inside and out of the EV in crowded city settings. While Volvo takes pride in its reputation for safety, it is also working to establish itself as a leading automaker in sustainability, vowing to go all-electric and become entirely carbon neutral by 2040.
Today, Volvo is touting a large breakthrough in reducing CO₂ emissions throughout an EV’s entire life cycle as the EX30 SUV will arrive as its lowest carbon footprint vehicle to date.
According to an update from Volvo Cars early this morning, it has successfully lowered the emissions across the production and estimated life cycle (200,000 km or 125k miles) to under 30 tons (based upon usage of charging electricity from the EU27 electricity mix).
Volvo states this is a 25% decrease in overall CO₂ emissions compared to its C40 and XC40 Recharge EVs. The automaker also says this decrease shows tremendous progress in lowering carbon emissions per car by 2025. Volvo Cars’ global head of sustainability, Anders Kärrberg, elaborated:
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 percent from 2018 levels through a 50 percent reduction in overall tailpipe emissions, and a 25 percent 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.
So how was Volvo able to cut the emissions of its upcoming small SUV by a quarter? First, a smaller vehicle requires less material – that’s an easy one – but the automaker also used less steel and aluminum in the EX30 while prioritizing more recycled materials. Volvo says about 25% of the aluminum and 17% of the steel used to produce the SUV is recycled.
Additionally, roughly 17% of all plastics inside and out of the car are recycled and tally together as the highest percentage in any Volvo vehicle to date. Lastly, the EX90 will be assembled in a facility that is powered by high levels of climate-neutral energy, including 100% climate-neutral electricity.
With 95% of Volvo’s Tier 1 suppliers already committed to using 100% renewable energy in their production by 2025, Volvo’s sustainability will continue to expand beyond its own walls, paving the way for future EVs that will produce even fewer carbon emissions across their entire life span.
The Volvo EX30 small SUV is scheduled to make its global debut on June 7. Be sure to check back with Electrek for the latest news surrounding this new EV model.
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Wind power generation and shoal aquaculture are seen at a demonstration base of coastal shoal industry in Yancheng City, East China’s Jiangsu province, May 16, 2023. (Photo credit should read Lu Hongjie / CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Lu Hongjie | Future Publishing | Getty Images
The world’s energy system is no longer “fit for purpose,” according to World Energy Council CEO Angela Wilkinson, who alluded to lackluster momentum toward a planned green energy transition.
“The most recent pulse from April shows that the world energy system is no longer fit for purpose,” Wilkinson told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Wednesday, in reference to the findings from her organization’s Energy Pulse reports which offer snapshots of trends across the energy ecosystem.
The council’s most recent report forecasts that around half of the global energy system will still not be electrified by 2050, which would mark a blow to many governments’ net-zero pledges.
“The concern from most energy leaders is [that] the pace of change is too slow to keep us on track for the Paris Agreement,” she continued. The report cited 64% of global energy leaders sharing their concerns.
The world’s governments agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global heating to well below 2 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The slow pace of the planned energy transition could be attributed to stresses on energy capacities and security even before the coronavirus pandemic, Wilkinson said.
Following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, global energy markets have also been impacted by a series of setbacks: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s decision to decouple from Russian hydrocarbons and a looming global recession. Which has caused energy markets, and the global system, to tread a fine balance.
“We are trying to grow [and] build a double size energy system to meet demand, [and] at the same time, decarbonize the energy system faster than ever before,” Wilkinson told CNBC.
Taxes an impossible feat?
The planned journey to net zero has been underpinned by a variety of toolkits aimed at shifting energy mixes away from fossil fuels toward zero or low-emissions energy sources. One approach is the adoption of carbon taxes, which is a fee levied on greenhouse gas emitters for each ton of carbon they emit.
Forty-six countries are pricing emissions by means of carbon taxes or other emissions trading programs, according to data last year from the International Monetary Fund.
“A global carbon tax would just be impossible to administer,” Wilkinson said. “There’s no such thing as a true market price of energy, or a true market price of carbon, because you’ve got subsidies, you’ve got regulations, you’ve got very uneven economies and playing fields.”
The importance of the tax lies in its price signaling mechanism for both investors and consumers, she added. “There is a cost of carbon that needs to be borne by societies … so the signal’s important.”
NIO’s new ES6 already looks to be a key factor as the EV maker looks to expand its brand and compete in the booming Chinese electric vehicle market. According to Morgan Stanley, NIO hit a new year-to-date order intake record aided by the launch of the second-generation ES6.
After launching what many consider its most important model to date two weeks ago with its second-gen ES6 electric SUV, NIO has seen increased interest in the brand.
Although NIO was the only major EV maker in China to see a monthly sales decline in May, delivering 6,155 models (down 8% from April), the company has a plan to turn things around… and it already looks to be paying off.
Although the ES6 has been the company’s top seller since launching in 2018 as a more affordable option to the ES8, NIO knew it was time for an upgrade.
The EV maker is focusing on its NT 2.0 EV platform vehicles, including the recently launched EC7, second-generation ES8, ET5, and ES7 models. All NT 2.0 models are built on the NIO Adam supercomputer using four Nvidia DRIVE Orin system-on-chips (SoCs).
New ES6 boosts NIO’s order intake to record YTD high
A research report released last week from the Chinese consumer behavior research agency CarFans highlighted consumer behavior in NIO stores within the first 72 hours of launching (May 24 to May 27) the new ES6.
The report found each NIO store received 90 pre-orders on average, with around 20 confirmations that included a down payment.
With roughly 330 stores, that’s around 29,700 pre-orders or 6,600 confirmations. For just three days, that’s pretty impressive for a premium SUV.
Although the cancellation rate is expected to be around 10%, the new ES6 is already leading to a new order intake record for the year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao (via CnEVPost).
In a research note on June 5, Hsiao said the firm had been tracking feedback from startups’ major sales channels in Tier 1 cities since last year to analyze the market. The team shared data that confirmed the new ES6 accounted for 35% to 40% of new orders in May, suggesting a meaningful impact on inflow as it launched in the final week of the month.
NIO’s overall traffic at flagship stores rose 30% to 40% month-over-month, with momentum continuing into early June. The new ES6 is NIO’s cheapest electric SUV, starting at RMB 368,000 ($51,614).
Meanwhile, the team said that despite customer traffic at the stores it tracks returning to levels seen this February, they are still “20% below last September’s level when the company rolled out ET5.”
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The first turbine blades for Vineyard Wind 1, the US’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, have arrived at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal in Massachusetts.
The $3.5 billion offshore wind farm will feature 62 GE Haliade-X 13-megawatt (MW) turbines spaced one nautical mile apart. The first turbine blades – each one 107 meters (351 feet) long – arrived at the Port of New Bedford (pictured above) from GE’s production site in Nazaire, France, on the heavy load vessel Rolldock Sky. (And no, it’s not lost on us, either, that wind turbine blades arrived on a fossil fuel vessel. May we collectively resolve that ironic problem ASAP.)
The turbine sections will be assembled at the terminal before they’re shipped out and installed this summer.
The 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 is 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts. It’s a 50-50 joint venture between clean energy company Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) funds CI II and CI III.
Vineyard Wind I will supply clean energy for over 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts and reduce carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year. It’s expected to come online at the end of 2023.
Read more: This US offshore wind farm is piloting a bubble curtain – what it is and why it’s cool
Photo: Avangrid
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