Polestar 2's performance, convenience offset range anxiety

Making the switch to full-electric driving could be a bit more difficult than expected. That was the key takeaway after 10 days testing the new Polestar 2 in southern Germany.

Product: The first mass-market EV from the Volvo Cars subsidiary is an elegant-but-understated rival to the Tesla Model 3. The Polestar 2 comes with a 78-kilowatt-hour battery that promises a range of 470 km (292 miles) from a 100 percent charge. Polestar, however, recommends that the charging is limited to between 80 percent and 90 percent, resulting in a range of 350 km to 400 km. The performance was outstanding, especially the snap-your-head-back acceleration. The best example of this was when I was able to safely pass three cars and a large delivery truck driving up a steep hill on a two-lane country road. This same move would be a sweat-inducing exercise in any comparable vehicle with a gasoline or diesel engine.

Home charging: With a standard German outlet, charging to 80 percent from 55 percent charge took five and a half hours. Going to 90 percent from 66 percent took the same amount of time. The power bill comes annually so it wasn’t possible to know what effect Polestar 2 had on our energy costs. The convenience of plugging in at night was much appreciated, especially during a deadly pandemic.