Volvo explores fossil-free steel as next step to reduce carbon footprint. What’s that?

When Volvo said that they want to be a carbon-neutral company, we did not picture so far ahead to include details like where they source their steel. As the next step to achieving carbon neutrality, Volvo has teamed up with steelmaker SSAB to explore the development of fossil-free steel.

Volvo is the first car maker to dip their toes into the use of fossil-free, high-quality steel for use in the automotive industry. This means that they are also the first car brand to join SSAB’s HYBRIT initiative.

HYBRIT was started by SSAB, iron ore producer LKAB, and energy firm Vattenfall. The aim is to replace coking coal that is traditionally needed for iron ore-based steelmaking with electricity and hydrogen to forge the metal.

As of yet, fossil-free steel is still in its pilot project at HYBRIT’s pilot plant in Lulea, Sweden. The first batch of steel that Volvo secured from SSAB will be used for various testing and to build a concept car.

Why is Volvo jumping head-first into the development and use of fossil-free steel? For Volvo Cars, the CO2 emissions related to steel and iron production for a traditionally powered car amounts to around 35%.

This number is reduced to 20% in a fully electric car but that's still not enough to offset the carbon emission during manufacture, despite emitting zero carbon when driven.

So, even if Volvo does manage to reach its goal of being a fully electric car company by 2030, it will still not achieve carbon neutrality in that same year.

With the use of fossil-free steel along with other steps like recycling and reusing materials, Volvo hopes that this will reduce the carbon footprint of producing a car by 40% between 2018 and 2025. Hence, allowing them to achieve the status of climate-neutral company by 2040.