By: Joshua Lee
August 14, 2023
Owning an electric vehicle is still new territory for a lot of consumers, but there are still challenges to adopting an EV lifestyle. A higher purchase cost, range anxiety, charging prices and speeds, and an ongoing development of charging infrastructure are some of the things that consumers will come across. Thankfully, automakers have been introducing EV models into their lineup at a steady pace, offering a large variety for people to choose from.
Polestar originated as a Swedish racing team that helped Volvo in 1996. It later partnered up with the brand to provide performance modifications to its existing models, and now Polestar is its own premium electric performance brand.
Following the limited production hybrid grand tourer, the Polestar 1, the Polestar 2 is offered to the masses. This fully electric hatchback is very minimalistic; it gives a faint reminder of Volvo with its crisp lines and somewhat blocky body. You won’t find any chrome accents, as the Polestar 2 looks sleek with its blacked-out A-pillars, grid-like grille design, frameless side mirrors, and 19-inch black diamond cut wheels. To further enhance simplicity, the badges are colour matched to the paint finish; our model is shown with the optional $1500 Jupiter colour that shimmers in the sun, combining both grey and gold tones. Under certain conditions, a beautiful rose-gold hue appears, which is stunning. Up in front, the Polestar 2 features Pixel LED headlights that consist of 84 LEDs in each headlight. The unit can switch on or off any LEDs to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic or brighten certain areas for better vision. The rear consists of a full-width LED light bar that has 288 LED lights.
Our Polestar 2 is the Single Motor variant that has a 78kWh battery pack, which gives the car 231 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of torque. On paper, it doesn’t look like much, but it’s mighty quick with all that instant torque. It’s a great cruiser around town and picks up speed on the highway. One-pedal driving is a little aggressive in Standard mode, so choosing Low or having it off is the way to go. The steering feel is light, so it’s easy to manoeuvre and fun to go around a corner. Our model is the front-wheel-drive version, but Polestar will switch it to rear-wheel drive for the 2024 model year.
The minimalist approach carries over inside as well, with a tablet-style 11.2-inch touchscreen that controls pretty much everything on this car. The system is responsive and comes with Google built-in; a simple log-in to your account provides easy access to all your saved destinations. There is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but there is Spotify in the system, so we didn’t plug in our phones the entire time. There is no start button; the car turns on as soon as you sit inside. It feels odd at first, but you get used to how simple it is to operate the vehicle.
Our model has the Plus pack, which comes with an immersive 13-speaker Harman Kardon premium sound system, a full-length panoramic glass roof, and high-level interior illumination. There is seating for five, and the seats are quite comfortable. We do find that the Polestar rides a little firm, but road and wind noise are kept low. With how the centre console is designed, it feels cramped in the front, and we notice that there aren’t many storage solutions either. Sitting in the rear feels tight in headroom, but the panoramic roof makes up for it; you can also see a Polestar projection up at the front! The hatchback makes it easy to load cargo in the back, with 405L with the seats up and 1095L with them folded down. The frunk has a 35L capacity.
The Single Motor variant provides an estimated range of 434 kilometres and takes around eight hours to charge on a level 2 charger and around 35 minutes on a level 3 fast charger. The Polestar 2 Single Motor starts at $53,950 and comes to a total of $63,450, including destination charge, after adding the optional paint finish, the Pilot Pack ($4700), and the Plus Pack ($5,700).
It’s hard to stand out in the EV world, but the Polestar 2 excels in styling, as we noticed people staring as they tried to figure out what we were driving. The only information about the car is on a sticker that’s on the bottom portion of the front doors. Style does come with a price though; interior space is less than some of its competitors and we feel that the Swedes could’ve designed this better. The Polestar 2 is fun to drive, nicely equipped with features and tech, and has more than enough range for daily use. It feels satisfying to own and is truly underrated for how unique this car is.
