Polestar’s artistic collaboration leads to sustainable material innovation

In October 2021, Polestar and awareness artist Thijs Biersteker presented the interactive installation “We Harvest Wind”. The collaboration, which was inspired by Polestar’s LCA report, aimed to bring attention to the importance of renewable energy, ended up leading to more than just innovative art. During the project’s creation, a new, fully biodegradable corn-based adhesive was developed, which has shown the potential to become a future component in Polestar cars.

The We Harvest Wind sculpture is three metres in diameter, featuring a collection of blades that spin around a central spiral. Visitors can control the ‘wind planet’ themselves controlling large fans, making them aware that the power to make real change is in their own hands. When creating the piece, Biersteker’s Woven Studio and Polestar’s UK-based R&D team worked hand-in-hand on the research and development.

In selecting a material for the blades, the team initially explored the use of Bcomp powerRibs™ together with a natural fibre and polypropylene (NFPP) board – the same flax-based composite material featured extensively on the Polestar Precept concept car. However, the majority of natural fibre based products use fossil fuel based polypropylene resin, and this was something the artist together with Polestar’s R&D team wanted to challenge during the collaboration. A series of more sustainable, biodegradable resins were explored.

“When you’re creating artwork that talks about environmental impact, you have to create something that doesn’t impact the world too much itself,” says Thijs Biersteker, artist and founder of Woven Studio.

“The We Harvest Wind collaboration enabled Woven Studio and Polestar to join forces and explore new combinations of materials using bio-based polymers instead of traditional fossil fuel-based materials. This collaboration has kick-started several initiatives within the team at Polestar and cemented some ongoing studies we have with Bcomp. Now we are hoping to implement a fully bio-based solution, with powerRibs™ and bio-sourced polypropylene, in the future production of Polestar cars,” says Ross Kelk, Chief Engineer of Interiors at Polestar UK R&D.

Thijs Biersteker continues: “We made the blades in the sculpture from 3D printed recycled PET plastic, and the outer wings were made with the flax-based structure and a new eco-friendly and corn-based resin – a combination of materials which was developed during the project by Woven Studio and Polestar. We developed a composite between the flax and polylactic acid (PLA), which is basically a biopolymer that is biodegradable and made of corn. The combination of these two materials created a really organic feel to the artwork.”

The installation was monitored and documented through a materials passport, tracking the methods and materials used, for future recycling. Polestar is taking concrete action to achieve a climate-neutral future, through embracing transparency in carbon footprint reporting, supply chain ethics and materials traceability.

About Polestar

Polestar was established as a new, standalone Swedish premium electric vehicle manufacturer in 2017. Founded by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding,Polestar enjoys specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefits from significant economies of scale as a result.

Polestar is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and its vehicles are currently available and on the road in markets across Europe, North America,China and Asia Pacific. By 2023, the company plans to be present in 30 global markets. Polestar cars are currently manufactured in two facilities in China, with additional future manufacturing planned in the USA.

In September 2021, Polestar announced its intention to list as a public company on the Nasdaq in a business combination agreement with Gores Guggenheim, Inc. Full information on this definitive agreement can be found here.

Polestar has produced two electric performance cars. The Polestar 1 was built between 2019 and 2021 asa low-volume electric performance hybrid GT with a carbon fibre body, 609 hp, 1,000 Nm and an electric-only range of 124 km (WLTP) – the longest of any hybrid car in the world.

The Polestar 2 electric performance fastback is the company’s first fully electric, high volume car. The Polestar 2 model range includes three variants with a combination of long- and standard range batteries as large as 78 kWh, and dual- and single-motor powertrains with as much as 300 kW / 408 hp and 660 Nm.

In the coming three years, Polestar plans to launch one new electric vehicle per year, starting with Polestar 3 in 2022 – the company’s first electric performance SUV. Polestar 4 is expected to follow in 2023, a smaller electric performance SUV coupe.

In 2024, the Polestar 5 electric performance 4-door GT is planned to be launched as the production evolution of Polestar Precept – the manifesto concept car that Polestar released in 2020 that showcases the brand’s future vision in terms of design, technology, and sustainability. As the company seeks to reduce its climate impact with every new model, Polestar aims to produce a truly climate-neutral car by 2030.