Blockchain to Help Polestar Track Battery-Material Sources

Polestar is expanding its use of blockchain to trace the sources of the ingredients of the batteries it uses in its electric vehicles.

The Swedish automaker has announced a partnership with blockchain provider Circulor to track battery ingredients following the pair’s collaboration over the traceability of cobalt in the batteries for the Polestar 2 model.

With the new partnership, the companies want to trace a range of raw materials, focusing on those with identified risks in either environmental and/or human rights, such as nickel, mica, manganese, graphite and lithium, among others.

Polestar’s move is part of its strategy to accelerate the shift to a climate-neutral future as it bids to build a climate-neutral car by 2030. It says the aim of carbon footprint tracking is to recognize the embedded emissions that have been created as part of the production process by each facility, as well as those inherited from suppliers through the supply chain.

The greenhouse gas tracking solution offered by Circulor claims to produce a more accurate CO2 footprint than using generic emissions data from databases.

From a consumer’s point of view, they would be able to follow the journey through Polestar’s Product Sustainability Declaration, which discloses carbon footprint and traced risk materials through labeling on the company website and in Polestar outlets.

“Caring about ethics and the environment is key to Polestar,” CEO Thomas Ingenlath says. “This unprecedented level of traceability means that Polestar can promote sustainable and ethical practices in its supply chain and provide better transparency for consumers.”