Volvo promotes the “smaller” CO2 footprint of the EX30

Volvo is back with new details on its future EX30 electric SUV. This time, the Swedish automaker talks about the vehicle’s carbon footprint, saying it’s smaller “than any Volvo car you’ve ever seen before”.

In fact, Volvo is so determined to give the house an air of understatement that it has made promotional images of the EX30 in miniature. Look how small it is, cruising in a shadow on the dashboard of a full-sized car.

A promotional image for Volvo’s upcoming EX30 electric SUV.

I don’t want to hear your excuses! The EX30 needs to be at least… three times bigger than that.

Volvo claims to have reduced the EX30’s total CO2 emissions “over 200,000 km of driving to less than 30 tonnes”. An asterisk next to this quote explains that it is “assessment-based”. Volvo hasn’t said anything about the assessment, other than calling it a “verified life cycle assessment document” which it plans to release “at launch.” TechCrunch has contacted Volvo for more details on the paper as well as who will check it.

The Swedish company already sells two fully electric vehicles, a crossover named C40 and an SUV named XC40. According to Volvo, its next small SUV will emit 25% less CO2 than its current all-electric models. An earlier Volvo assessment pegged the C40’s total emissions at around 42 tonnes.

Keep in mind: Electric vehicles emit less carbon pollution overall than their gas-powered counterparts, but they still aren’t replacing more efficient means of transport, including public buses and trains.

For the EX30, Volvo said it has reduced CO2 pollution by using recycled metals and plastics, eliminating components, committing to manufacture it in a “factory powered by high levels of neutral energy for climate,” asking “Tier 1 suppliers” to do the same, and tracing raw materials like lithium and cobalt with “blockchain technology.” Please don’t get us started on the carbon footprint of blockchain.

Volvo added in a statement: “Designing a smaller car means you need less material to produce it.” Still, Volvo hasn’t announced the dimensions of the EX30. The company told TechCrunch that those details will arrive on June 7. Who knows ? Maybe it really will be incredibly small?

Or not: Carscoops reports that the EX30 will be between 165 and 170 inches long, which puts it in Mini Countryman territory. That wouldn’t be far off Volvo’s electric crossover, which is 174.8″ long.