Manufacturing steel is one of the most carbon-intensive parts of making a car. In order to reduce the environmental impact of its vehicles, Porsche says that it will use CO2-reduced steel in its vehicles as of 2026.
The material will be supplied by H2 Green Steel using a novel technique. The process uses electricity and hydrogen, rather than coking coal, in order to get the steel up to temperature. That helps reduce the CO2 emissions during production by as much as 95 percent, per H2 Green Steel.
Porsche says that it will use the lower emission steel directly, as will some of its direct suppliers, starting in 2026. However, it won’t be able to convert entirely to the new steel, due to manufacturing limitations. Porsche will only be getting 35,000 tons of H2 Green Steel. While that may sound like a lot, the automaker used 220,000 tons of steel in its vehicles in 2022.
Read: Volvo To Use Steel Made With Hydrogen And Electricity Saving Tons Of Fossil Fuel
“Porsche is working towards a carbon-neutral balance sheet across the value chain for its cars by 2030. CO₂-reduced steel plays a key role in our sustainability strategy,” said Barbara Frenkel, head of procurement at Porsche. “With the steel from H2 Green Steel, we aim to further reduce the CO₂ emissions caused by this important material.”
The automaker isn’t the first to commit to using low-CO2 steel. Others, like Volvo and Mercedes, have also signed deals with suppliers using similar processes. The former even made a load carrier out of low-emission steel.
Porsche says that it has been slowly reducing the amount of steel it uses in its vehicles, in favor of lighter aluminum. However, it claims that steel’s favorable mechanical properties make it hard to get rid of completely. Finding a way to reduce its environmental impact will be important, as the steel industry contributes up to 7 percent of direct CO2 emissions globally per year.
