Nissan to use low-emissions Kobe Steel for its cars

Nissan and Kobe Steel have announced that Nissan will use Kobeable Steel for Nissan models, starting from January 2023 onward. Kobenable steel helps to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the blast furnace process.

Kobe Steel will also supply Nissan with aluminum sheets made from green-aluminum raw materials. This will be the first time Kobenable Steel will be used in mass-produced vehicles.

Nissan aims to achieve carbon neutrality throughout the entire product life cycle by 2050. Since approximately 60% of a vehicle's weight is made up of steel parts and around 10% of its weight is made up of aluminum parts, the use of green steel and green aluminum is an effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during parts manufacturing.

Nissan models will use Kobenable Premier, which reduces 100% of carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing. The specific amount of steel to be used by Nissan will be determined through further discussions.

The green aluminum raw material purchased by Kobe Steel to produce aluminum sheets for Nissan are electrolytically smelted using only electricity generated by solar power, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions during aluminum ingot production by approximately 50%.