The upcoming new Volvo EX90 sports utility is due to become the first electric car to carry a "battery passport" which shows customers key data on the pack's carbon footprint.
Volvo and the British start-up Circulor have been developing the passport solution over the past five years. Tesla and Audi have also shown prototype versions of their "passports," but Volvo is the first to launch a vehicle fitted with one.
The Volvo EX90, a premium EV flagship, which sits alongside the combustion engine-powered XC90, will soon enter production at the US plant in Charleston in South Carolina before entering showrooms in Europe and North America in the second half of 2024 with a price tag of around €83,000 or $78,000.
Based on block-chain technology, the passport shows consumers information such as the composition, origin of the materials, carbon footprint and recycled content of the vehicle battery. Volvo plans to equip all electric cars with the feature in future.
The feature dovetails with the EU's vision of a "circular economy", in which all materials used in manufacturing consumer products are eventually recycled towards the end of their lifecycle.
Battery passports are also set to be far from just a nice-to-have feature from February 2027 onwards, when they become mandatory for new electric cars in Europe.
"Future customers will learn a lot more about the vehicle they buy from the battery pass," John Helveston, assistant professor of engineering and systems management at George Washington University, told the US tech site Electrek.
Vanessa Butana, head of global sustainability at Volvo, said that by introducing the programme three years before the deadline, the company hoped to offer buyers more transparency on the road to an all-electric car future.
To access information about the battery, owners need to scan the QR code on the inside of the driver's door. Volvo says it will eventually include a more detailed passport that also includes EV battery health information.
The passport costs around $10 per car to install, according to Circulor, and be available for 15 years after the car is built.
Volvo was one of the first car manufacturers to commit to going fully electric by 2030 and the company said the commitment has paid off so far. Volvo said the new all-electric models are performing well in the world's most key markets.