By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) – Swedish electric carmaker Polestar said on Wednesday it has partnered with suppliers including Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen and Swedish steelmaker SSAB to speed up the development of a car entirely free of carbon emissions.
The carmaker said it has signed letters of intent to work with Norwegian aluminium maker Norsk Hydro, Swedish airbag and seatbelt maker Autoliv, LG Corp lighting and electronics unit ZKW Group, ZF and SSAB to eliminate carbon emissions in different areas of its electric vehicles (EVs).
The auto industry is under pressure to go electric in Europe and China, while wrestling with the problem that it takes more carbon emissions to produce an EV than a fossil-fuel car, notably because of the large batteries.
Unlike most carmakers, Polestar has published assessments of the carbon footprints of its EVs over their entire lifecycle.
"It was clear from the start that this is not a solo-mission and we are very excited to present such a strong line-up of interested partners," Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement.
Polestar is due to go public by merging with a U.S.-listed blank-check firm Gores Guggenheim, which is backed by billionaire Alec Gores and investment bank Guggenheim Partners, in a deal that will value it at $20 billion.
The electric carmaker was founded in 2017 by Volvo Car Group and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding.
SSAB will work with Polestar on a fossil-free steel, and Hydro will work on zero-carbon aluminium, while the others will focus on reducing emissions in the production of parts and components.
(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Will Dunham)
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