Carbon Neutrality in Automotive Materials: 10 Tons of CO₂ per Car

Over the full life cycle, an electric vehicle generates more emissions at the manufacturing stage than a car with an internal combustion engine. The main reason is raw material extraction and materials processing. Volvo Cars and the China-UK Low Carbon College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have therefore prepared what they describe as China’s first comprehensive analysis of the cost of decarbonizing EV materials.

Where the Emissions Come From

The study covers the Chinese market and uses the Volvo ES90 as the reference model. The car was broken down into materials, and the team built a “material - energy - emissions - cost” model. The key tool is a marginal abatement cost curve: one axis shows emission reductions, the other shows the change in vehicle cost. This makes it clear which measures pay off and which do not.

Over 200,000 km, the ES90 emits 31 t of CO₂ across its life cycle, or 26 t with green electricity during use. The manufacturing stage accounts for about 23.5 t, most of it tied to materials:

• aluminum: 24% of mass and 35% of emissions;
• steel: 34% of mass and 17% of emissions;
• battery electrode materials: 9% of mass and 18% of emissions;
• polymers: 18% of mass and 9% of emissions;
• copper, glass and electronics: 6% of mass and 11% of emissions.

About 80% of emissions arise in the supply chain at Tier 1 and above. The authors therefore see the shift from designing individual components to collaboration across the entire value chain as the key step.

The Bottom Line: 10 Tons per Car

With vehicle performance and cost unchanged, a baseline reduction of about 7 t of CO₂ is achievable. Factoring in China’s carbon price (assumed at 100 yuan per ton of CO₂), the market unlocks roughly 3 t more. In total, the technically and economically feasible potential is about 10 t of CO₂ per vehicle. There are four priority areas:

• more recycled content in aluminum, steel, batteries, polymers and copper;
• material substitution: PP instead of PA or PC/ABS, steel instead of some aluminum, aluminum instead of some copper;
• 100% green electricity and other green energy, such as biomethane, across the chain;
• closed-loop recycling and, in the long run, more expensive routes: hydrogen-based steelmaking (H₂-DRI-EAF), bio-based polymers and chemical recycling of plastics.

Polymers: Cheaper and Cleaner at the Same Time

Cars use modified PP, PA, PU, PC/ABS and other plastics in bumpers, door panels, instrument panels, seats and under-hood parts. In the ES90, 16% of polymers are recycled or bio-based. About 70% of a polymer’s emissions come from raw material production, 20% from electricity used in compounding and 10% from molding. Emission factors vary widely (t of CO₂ per ton): PP 3.8, ABS 5.5, PC 6.1, PC/ABS 6.4, PU 7.8, PA 9.3.

The most cost-effective measure is therefore to replace carbon-heavy plastics with modified PP wherever safety and durability requirements allow:

• powertrain cooling module: PA GF30 replaced with PP GF50, cutting emissions by 70% and cost by 30%. This works because temperatures around an electric motor are lower and operating media are better controlled than in a combustion engine;
• seat structural part: PC/ABS replaced with PP GF30 TD20, cutting both emissions and cost by 50%. Such materials also suit door handles, seat backs and key card holders.

Recycled plastic is harder. Collection, sorting, washing and modification make high-quality recycled feedstock 5-20% more expensive than virgin material. Even so, mechanically recycled PP in some exterior parts and a higher share of recycled PA6/66 reduce emissions without raising costs. Chemical recycling is still at an early commercial stage and noticeably more expensive, so it fits high-value niches. Mechanical recycling will remain the main route, especially as regulation tightens: the EU’s ESPR requires 15% recycled plastic by 2027 and 25% by 2030, including 6.25% from end-of-life vehicles.

Renault Group offers an example of a closed loop: old bumpers and underbody shields are shredded, washed, sorted by flotation, modified and turned back into automotive parts. Success depends on feedstock traceability and targeted modification of the recycled material, and for interiors also on control of odor and volatile organic compounds.

Bio-based polymers made from castor, soybean and used cooking oil, corn and sugarcane reduce dependence on oil but remain expensive: castor-based PA56 emits 60% less than its petroleum-based counterpart but costs 45% more. Nordico® eco-leather, made from pine-oil-based PVC blended with recycled PET bottles, emits 2.4 kg of CO₂ per square meter, 74% less than conventional leather.

Aluminum and Steel

Primary aluminum produced with coal power emits up to 18 t of CO₂ per ton, “green” aluminum (electrolysis on green power) about 6 t, and recycled aluminum about 1 t. More than half of primary metal emissions (51%) come from electricity for electrolysis. The ES90 currently uses 29% recycled and 43% green aluminum; the authors propose moving to 65% recycled and 35% green. Wheels made from 75% wheel scrap and 25% green aluminum cut emissions by 85% at a cost change of minus 1%. For some non-structural parts steel is the better choice: over the life cycle it emits about 15 t of CO₂ per ton versus 32 t for primary aluminum and costs about 45% as much.

For steel, the production route is decisive: the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace route (BF-BOF) emits up to 2.1 t of CO₂ per ton, an electric arc furnace on 100% scrap 0.7 t, the same furnace on green power 0.4 t, and hydrogen direct reduction (H₂-DRI-EAF) about 0.1 t. The hydrogen route becomes economical when green hydrogen costs about 10.5 yuan per kilogram, with cost parity with BF-BOF expected in some regions around 2030. The share of electric arc furnace steel in China reached 15% in 2025 and is planned to rise to 20-22% by 2030.

Batteries, Copper and Electronics

The traction battery accounts for up to 18% of an EV’s life cycle emissions. An NCM622 cell emits about 63.4 kg of CO₂ per kWh, of which up to 39 kg comes from the cathode material. What helps:

• 100% recycled nickel, cobalt and lithium salts from hydrometallurgy cut emissions to 42.5 kg of CO₂ per kWh; hydrometallurgy recovers 98% of nickel and cobalt and 90% of lithium;
• switching from NCM to LFP lowers cost by 21% and emissions by 11%;
• green energy in production cuts battery emissions by almost 28%;
• dry electrode coating reduces cost by about 18% and emissions by about 40% (industrialization window 2027-2028), and a hard carbon anode cuts emissions by about 19%.

From August 2031, the EU Battery Regulation requires at least 16% recycled cobalt and 6% each of recycled nickel and lithium. Yet recycled materials from spent batteries in China will cover only about 30% of demand, so the authors call building in-house supply chains for recycled salts a strategic task.

Primary copper emits about 4 t of CO₂ per ton, recycled copper 0.6-2 t. Volvo’s electric motor windings already contain 80% recycled copper. Another option is aluminum busbars instead of copper ones in the high-voltage system. Electronics account for 1.8 t of CO₂ per car, 84% of it from printed circuit boards; a domain architecture can replace 70-100 control units with 3-5 domain controllers.

Recommendations for Industry and Government

• Automakers: recycled content targets for typical parts, joint optimization of metals and polymers, transparent supplier carbon footprints and a shared emissions database.
• Component suppliers: a common internal understanding of the cost of carbon and sharing decarbonization pathways with automakers.
• Government: industrial parks for recycling and battery processing, subsidies and tax incentives, carbon footprint accounting standards, and incentives for green procurement and first-of-a-kind production lines.

The work took a year: the authors surveyed about 40 companies, identified around 50 decarbonization methods and selected 22 key measures. The calculations are based on ISO 14044:2006. There is no unified methodology for automotive materials yet, and the authors themselves note possible inaccuracies in their cost estimates.