Fisker Inc. has released the first life-cycle assessment of its all-electric Ocean sport utility vehicle. 

The Manhattan Beach-based electric vehicle manufacturer claims that the Ocean has the lowest published carbon footprint of any electric SUV.

Chief Executive Henrik Fisker said that the life-cycle assessment confirms that climate neutrality has been a priority since well before the company started building vehicles.

“Since we founded Fisker Inc., building the most sustainable electric vehicles is not just a marketing slogan; it’s core to our culture,” Fisker said in a statement. “It means shifting antiquated thought processes from across a 100-year-old industry, challenging the supply chain down to the most minute details, working with partners to improve the way cars are assembled, the energy they are charged with and working on the way our vehicles are recycled after they come off the road.”

Central to the assessment, the company said, are the detailed explanations of the five phases of the vehicle’s life span. The five phases are obtaining raw materials; assembly of the vehicles; the inbound/outbound transportation of the suppliers and vehicles; use and maintenance of the vehicles; and their end of use. Of the five phases, it was the first that contributed the most to the carbon footprint of the Ocean.  

“We recognize that reducing the mass and carbon footprint of materials significantly reduces overall carbon emissions for the life cycle of a vehicle,” the assessment said. 

The second phase – manufacturing – is the one with the lowest impact. That is because Magna Steyr, the Graz, Austria-based manufacturing partner of Fisker, produces the Ocean vehicles in a carbon-neutral facility powered by electricity sourced from 100% renewable energy, the assessment added.