Mercedes-Benz has launched a partnership with the Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB for CO2-free steel. The first prototype parts for body shells made of CO2-free steel are already being planned for next year.
SSAB Oxelösund rolled its first steel produced using HYBRIT technology—i.e., reduced by 100% fossil-free hydrogen instead of coal and coke—in July. That steel is now being delivered to the first customer, the Volvo Group.
In 2026, SSAB plans to supply the market with fossil-free steel at a commercial scale after the conversion of its Oxelösund blast furnaces to an electric arc furnace and by using HYBRIT technology, which replaces coking coal, traditionally needed for iron ore-based steelmaking, with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen. This process virtually eliminates carbon dioxide-emissions in steelmaking.
By 2039 at the latest, the Mercedes-Benz new passenger car fleet will become CO2-neutral along the entire value chain, including the supplier network. Together with all of its steel suppliers, the company pursues the goal of a green steel supply chain. In doing so, Mercedes-Benz is deliberately focusing on avoiding and reducing CO2 emissions instead of compensation. The partnership with SSAB is another important step towards this goal, with which the company accelerates the development and production of CO2-free steel in Europe.
SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall created HYBRIT, Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology, in 2016, with the aim of developing a technology for fossil-free iron- and steelmaking.