{"id":12767,"date":"2025-09-29T07:25:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T05:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/mercedes-cuts-evs-environment-footprint-with-low-carbon-aluminium\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:25:59","slug":"mercedes-cuts-evs-environment-footprint-with-low-carbon-aluminium","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/mercedes-cuts-evs-environment-footprint-with-low-carbon-aluminium\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes cuts EVs&#8217; environment footprint with low-carbon aluminium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Executives told\u00a0<em>Reuters<\/em>\u00a0that this is part of a wider effort to decarbonise operations.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes uses the low-carbon aluminium, developed in partnership with Norwegian metals producer Norsk Hydro, to make its new electric CLA model.<\/p>\n<p>The collaboration is an example of how makers of premium consumer products may pay extra for raw materials in return for a more environmentally friendly profile, executives of both companies said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are of course extra costs from using an especially low-carbon steel or aluminium,&#8221; said Gunnar Guthenke, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz&#8217; procurement and supplier quality.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sustainability and desirable products, such as the ones we produce, simply go hand in hand,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>GROWING DEMAND FOR LOW-CARBON PRODUCTS<\/p>\n<p>The companies declined to provide a breakdown of costs, but said the new CLA was made with 40% less CO2 emissions than its non-electric predecessor.<\/p>\n<p>While decarbonising value chains can be costly, partnerships offered a way to share the burden, so it is not borne by manufacturers or customers alone, Norsk Hydro Chief Executive Officer Eivind Kallevik said.<\/p>\n<p>The metal&#8217;s price premium is also not deterring buyers, even in a more difficult market for aluminium seen in recent years marked by low economic growth, he added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are seeing a growing demand for low-carbon products,&#8221; Kallevik said.<\/p>\n<p>The metal made for Mercedes at Norsk Hydro&#8217;s Aardal on Norway&#8217;s coast causes just 3 kg (6.6 pounds) of CO2 emissions per kilogram of aluminium compared with a global average of 16.7 kg, the companies said.<\/p>\n<p>It includes one quarter of aluminium scrap in the mix, further reducing the volume of primary metal from the energy-intensive smelter.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes in the past faced criticism over an advertising campaign highlighting sustainability at a time when it was facing a lawsuit from a climate group in Germany over its environmental impact. The suit was dropped by a German court in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12768,"template":"default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-12767","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Aluminium made with renewable power and from recycling is helping luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz cut carbon (CO2) emissions in the production of its new line of electric vehicles (EV).||Aluminium made with renewable power and from recycling is helping luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz cut carbon (CO2) emissions in the production of its new line of electric vehicles (EV).","published_date":"2025-09-29 00:00:00||2025-09-29 00:00:00","news_description":"","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18210,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12767\/revisions\/18210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=12767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}