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Volvo will issue world's first EV battery passport ahead of EU rules for 2027

LONDON — Volvo Cars is launching the world's first EV battery passport recording the origins of raw materials, components, recycled content and carbon footprint for its flagship EX90 SUV, which is about to start production, the Swedish automaker told Reuters. The passport was developed by Volvo, which is owned by China's Geely, in partnership with UK startup Circulor, which uses blockchain technology to map supply chains for companies, and took over five years to develop. Battery passports will be mandatory for electric vehicles (EVs) sold in the European Union from February 2027 showing the composition of batteries, including the origin of key materials, their carbon footprint and recycled content. Volvo's head of global sustainability Vanessa Butani told Reuters that introducing the passport nearly three years before regulations kick in was aimed at being transparent with car buyers as the automaker targets producing only fully-electric cars by 2030. "It's really important for us to be a pioneer and a leader," Butani said. The EX90 SUV with a battery passport is due to start production soon at Volvo's plant in Charleston, South Carolina, and will be delivered to customers in Europe and North America from the second half of the year. Volvo owners can access a simplified version of the passport using a QR code on the inside of the driver's door. Butani said the passport would be gradually rolled out to all of Volvo's EVs. A more complete version of the passport will be passed to regulators. It will also include up-to-date information on the EV battery's state of health - vital for assessing used EV values - for 15 years and will Volvo cost around $10 per car, Circulor CEO Douglas Johnson-Poensgen told Reuters. Circulor's system traces battery materials from the mine to individual cars, piggybacking on suppliers' production systems to track materials throughout the supply chain and checking suppliers' monthly energy bills - and how much of their energy comes from renewable sources in order to calculate a total carbon footprint. If Volvo brings on board a supplier, Circulor will need to audit it to keep information current, Johnson-Poensgen said. The passport has also required changes in how Volvo traces parts through its manufacturing process to understand the origins of every part in every vehicle. "Car manufacturing has never been about which rock went into which component and which got connected to which car," Johnson-Poensgen said.

Volvo Pure Tension concept folds solar charging pavilion into trunk

Even by the 'anything-goes' standards of concept cars, this one is a head-spinner: the "Pure Tension" Volvo V60 Pavilion, commissioned by Volvo Italy and winner of the Pure Volvo Pavilion Design competition. The alien form seen hovering all over the rendered V60 is a pavilion, as in the kind erected for trade shows or outdoor events. Developed by Synthesis Design + Architecture, Buro Happold, and Fabric Images, the pavilion is a flexible mesh structure held in place by a carbon fiber rods.
What's more, the mesh is embedded with photovotaic cells so that the pavilion can absorb energy from the sun or indoor lighting, making it a portable charging station. It can power itself or the crossover, the V60 at the center of it all being a diesel hybrid that plugs straight into the pavilion. When it's time to go, the entire structure can be folded small enough to fit in the trunk of the car.
We're told it will be shown in September in Rome. Even if we never see this particular creation on the streets, it's comfortable proof that our future will eventually be wilder than we can imagine.

Scratch that new crossover, Volvo teases ad campaign for XC60

If we were to paraphrase the opening lines of Kenneth Graeme's Wind in the Willows for our own purposes, we'd write, "Have you heard about Volvo? They never planned a new crossover at all. It was all a horrid low trick of theirs...." To be fair, though, we can't blame them for our own presumption. When the Swedish car company created a site called LeaveTheWorldBehind.com and teased a couple of videos for some kind of collaboration with Swedish House Mafia, we thought the crossover in one of the teasers pointed to a new vehicle on the way.
Turns out that's not the case. It really is 'just' a collaboration with the band on a music video for Swedish artist Lune's cover of their 2009 song, Leave the World Behind.
But there are Volvos in it, and you can watch it below and hear original song alongside. We've also included the press release with more details on why it all came together, and a behind-the-scenes video on the collabo. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "That's all we have to say about that."