Text/Yang Zheng
On April 11, Mercedes-Benz Group AG held the first ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) Forum to announce specific measures to reduce carbon emissions. Ola K llenius, chairman of the company's board of directors, presented a clear roadmap for Mercedes-Benz to achieve its carbon neutrality goal: aiming to halve carbon emissions from passenger cars by 2030. ”
Simply put, Mercedes-Benz aims to reduce the full-life cycle carbon emissions of each passenger car by an average of 50% by 2030 compared to 2020.
By 2030, the life cycle of bicycle carbon emissions will be reduced by 50%
Note that it is a carbon reduction throughout the life cycle, not as simple as "burning less oil and using more electricity".
The "carbon reduction" of cars is a bit like people losing weight. Dieting alone is not enough to effectively reduce weight; in the same way, the real effective "carbon reduction" is far more than replacing the internal combustion engine with an electric motor. It is more responsible to find ways to reduce carbon emissions from the design and production of the vehicle all the way through to the life cycle of use. Otherwise, the so-called "carbon reduction" is just a transfer of carbon emissions.
Therefore, what should the "carbon reduction" process of a car's whole life cycle be? From the Mercedes-Benz ESG report, Beiqing Automobile summarized the following:
■1. New car design
Carbon reduction in design first requires designers to turn on the lights less when designing new cars to increase the use of sustainable materials. Mercedes-Benz's route is to apply the concepts of "design for the environment" and "design for recycling" to the material selection process, aiming to increase the proportion of renewable materials used per vehicle to 40% by 2030.
Renewable materials are widely used in New Mercedes-Benz models
Currently, renewable materials used in Mercedes-Benz's new cars include seat decoration fabrics made from recycled PET plastic bottles, automotive carpets made from recycled fishnet yarns and used carpets. Cable conduits from EQS and EQE will be processed from recycled domestic waste.
■2. Procurement of raw materials
Of course, renewable materials are not omnipotent, and people can accept carpets made of fishnet yarn, but they will never recognize the body frame structure made of plastic. Therefore, in terms of raw materials with low substitution, such as steel and aluminum, Mercedes-Benz's route is to build a green supply chain, increase the use of low-carbon dioxide and zero-carbon dioxide steel on a large scale, increase the use of recycled aluminum and encourage suppliers to mine, smelt and process aluminum in a more ecological and environmentally friendly way.
■3. Manufacturing
Towering chimneys were once a symbol of a well-developed auto manufacturing industry, but now car companies, including Mercedes-Benz, are paying special attention to carbon emission reduction in production and manufacturing. Within this year, all of Mercedes-Benz's self-operated plants will be carbon neutral in production. In addition, Mercedes-Benz will promote solar and wind energy at all of its manufacturing sites to further increase renewable energy capacity. By 2030, renewable energy will meet more than 70% of the energy needs of major bases.
By supplying energy to your factory through solar power, you save more than just electricity bills
■ 4. Battery
Mercedes-Benz believes that batteries are the most powerful gripper to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (in layman's terms, batteries are the most expensive components of electric vehicles). In the current EU's power mix, supply chains and production account for more than half of its CO2 emissions over its entire life cycle. The use of renewable energy can significantly reduce the share of carbon emissions in the supply and production chains. After the shift to carbon-neutral production, the overall emissions of battery packs in the production process will be reduced by 20%. In addition, Mercedes-Benz also pays attention to the use of renewable resources and the substitution of non-renewable resources in the research and development of new battery technologies.
■5. Use
Carbon reduction over the life of the vehicle naturally also includes the use of the vehicle after it is sold. Mercedes-Benz believes that the use of renewable energy charging is an important way to reduce carbon emissions. More importantly, Mercedes-Benz intends to do this part of the carbon reduction work for users. In Europe, around 300,000 public charging stations in the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes me Charge network have introduced a "green charge" function, and when customers charge their vehicles, Mercedes-Benz will ensure that an equal amount of electricity from renewable sources is fed into the grid.
Through "green charging", Mercedes-Benz actually shares the carbon reduction work of car owners in the car
For a long time, people have seen Mercedes-Benz fully promote the electrification of its product lineup: such as the electric lineup that has been expanded to 6 models, and will soon be increased to 9 models, and the proportion of plug-in hybrid and pure electric models will rise to 50% by 2025. However, in addition to the promotion of electric vehicle products, Mercedes-Benz's carbon reduction efforts in the whole life cycle of automobile products are more commendable, "electric" is only a means, "carbon reduction" is the purpose. The original intention of developing new energy vehicles should be like this.