Electric car brand Polestar will be selective with who it does business with when selling NVES credits.
Electric Cars
Polestar Australia will look to sell NVES credits to other brands when the NVES CO2 bills start flooding in. However, the Sino-Swedish company’s Australian boss, Scott Maynard, has stated that some brands are categorically off the table.
Speaking to assembled media at a Polestar roundtable in Sydney yesterday, Maynard was asked if there were some brands he wouldn’t sell credits to on principle.
“I won't name [them], but there are. Yes, there are.”
This year, Australia has mandated strict new vehicle emissions standards (NVES) which issues credits – or monetary fines – to car manufacturers based on the CO2 emissions of every new car they sell.
NVES came force on 1 January, 2025 with a six-month grace period for manufacturers. On 1 July, 2025, however, the measurement of CO2 tailpipe emissions began with fines to be levied at a rate of $100 for every gram per kilometre of CO2 each passenger car or light commercial vehicle (vans and utes) sold is over the mandated limit.
That could leave some car makers – without a fleet of lower emitting vehicles in their ranges – facing hefty fines, with the financial impost likely to be passed on to consumers.
However, manufacturers who are struggling to meet the stringent targets are able to offset their fleet emissions by buying NVES credits from manufacturers with greener fleets, who are issued ‘CO2 credits’, which can be on sold to other higher-emitting brands.
Maynard said Polestar Australia, which only sells zero-emitting electric vehicles, would look to offload their credits to other manufacturers.
“It would make sense to sell those credits out,” Maynard told assembled media, including Drive, “if for no other reason than to make good on the intention of that legislation, to make those manufacturers that don't embrace NVES pay for it.
“And so I don't see any harm in being one of the brands that make sure that happens.”
Maynard confirmed he had already been approached by manufacturers looking to buy credits to lessen the financial impact of their high emission fleets.
When asked where he thought the market price for NVES credits would land, Maynard remained circumspect when a figure previously mooted, of $90 per gram per km, was put to him.
“I don't think it's going to go that high,” he said. “Only because the standards, particularly in the introductory year, are low enough that most brands can comfortably slide underneath them… with a relatively minor tweak to the portfolio they bring to market.”
“There’s been a huge word cloud of concerns about NVES, but now that it's here and the job is [to] knuckle down and get it done, I like to think that it's well within the reach of most of the brands operating in this country that have a portfolio of models that they can draw from to be able to service NVES.
“And so I'd like to think that the actual demand for credits won't be as high as perhaps it's been talked about. And so I don't think the unit price of those credits will be particularly high, certainly not as high as $90, no.”
Maynard was also quick to dispel the idea that selling CO2 credits would significantly enhance the brand’s profitability in Australia.
“No, not significantly,” he stated. “And let's remember that [the] first indication of that will be in February of ’26 and then they won't get their first bill until February of ’27 and won’t have to pay up until ’28. So we're not running off to the bank or excitedly starting to free spend.”
Electric Cars Guide
Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.
