Polestar has made a battery update for the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 EVs.
What has changed in the Polestar batteries?
Polestar says the batteries used in the Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 now contain at least 50 per cent recycled cobalt, as the brand steps up its focus on battery circularity.
The company says the change is aimed at lessening reliance on newly mined raw materials and keeping more resources in use for longer. It also forms part of a wider plan that covers battery repair, refurbishment and recycling, rather than focusing only on how a battery is built in the first place.
What does this mean for Polestar owners?
For owners, one of the more practical points is how Polestar handles battery replacements. The company says it works with Volvo Cars battery centres to refurbish high-voltage packs. Where a Polestar 2 or Polestar 3 needs a replacement battery, the customer receives a refurbished pack with an equivalent state of health. Polestar says that helps preserve battery value while also reducing environmental impact.
How is Polestar handling battery refurbishment and recycling?
The company is also setting up recycling partnerships across all of its markets to meet producer responsibility requirements and recover more battery materials once packs reach the end of their useful life. The wider aim, it says, is to extend battery life wherever possible and maximise material recovery when recycling is needed.
Fredrika Klarén, Head of Sustainability at Polestar, said: "To drive a Polestar is an intentional choice by customers who care about tomorrow. Electrification, powered by renewable energy and enabled by circular battery materials, points to a new kind of system: one where resources stay in use and abundance replaces depletion.”
What other recycled materials are Polestar using?
Polestar says this circular approach runs through other parts of its cars, too. Examples it gives include recycled aluminium and steel, carpets based on 'Econyl' polyamide and yarn made from PET waste. It also says it is trying to reduce material complexity and use more modular and mono-material designs, which can make parts easier to reuse or recycle later.
What else has Polestar said about its sustainability work?
The brand links this latest step to a wider sustainability strategy it has been developing for several years. Since 2020, Polestar has published Life Cycle Assessments for each of its models and has reported CO2e emissions across its value chain. It also says Polestar 2 was the first car to feature blockchain-traced cobalt.
Polestar says it has cut relative CO2 emissions per vehicle by 25 per cent since 2020, while also adding four models to its line-up.