Porsche reduces CO2 emissions per vehicle by 75% since 2014

Porsche Taycan factory

Sports car manufacturer Porsche has reduced the CO2 emissions per vehicle by more than 75 percent since 2014.

Porsche also reduced the corresponding energy consumption by around 31 percent. Porsche  has increased the number of vehicles produced in Zuffenhausen and Leipzig by 82 percent to 184,791 units in 2018 from 101,449 in 2014.

“We are optimising our vehicles to make them more environmentally friendly. A number of both large and small initiatives at Porsche result in an overall concept that allows all areas of the company to improve their ecological sustainability step-by-step,” said Albrecht Reimold, member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche.

The sports car manufacturer achieved return on sales of 16.6 percent in 2018.

Porsche determines the key performance indicator “Reduction in environmental impact in Production”, which is made up of several parameters. In addition to CO2 emissions and energy consumption, this also includes the overall fresh water consumption and the quantity of volatile organic compounds (VOC) used.

Porsche has also made progress in these areas: compared with 2014, 34 percent less solvent is used in production. The water consumption per vehicle has been reduced by 20 percent.

Since the start of 2017, the sports car manufacturer has produced with renewable energy that comes with a certificate of origin for the actual physical source of the electricity. The rail logistics for Porsche within Germany is climate-neutral as well. Porsche is also working on reducing its environmental impact throughout the value chain.

In autumn, its first electric sports car, Taycan, will leave the production line. Its production at the factory will be CO2-neutral right from the start.

Porsche has used a surface technology that absorbs nitrogen dioxide during the construction of the new Taycan factory in Zuffenhausen. The facade elements are made of aluminium coated with titanium dioxide. The coating acts as a catalyst, and breaks down the absorbed pollutant particles into the harmless substances water and nitrate when exposed to sunlight and low air humidity.

In a first pilot project, Porsche is testing the NOx-absorbing high-tech facade on an area of 126 square metres, which corresponds to around ten parking spaces. There it performs the work of ten trees.