There’s nothing like a proper road-trip to really put a car through its paces.
Which is how, following an informal chat over dinner at the Goodwood Festival of speed, I found myself driving a new uprated UK-spec Polestar 2 – right-hand drive and on British plates – on a relaxed three day trip from Copenhagen in Denmark to the company’s headquarters in Gothenburg Sweden, where I also spent a fascinating hour with chief executive Thomas Ingenlath.
Always a fan of those award-wining dark Scandinavian ‘Scandi Noir’ mysteries, I took a slightly circuitous route to take in key locations that have featured on our British TV screens and achieved – rather like Polestar – a cult following, including: ‘The Killing’, ‘The Bridge’, ‘Wallander’ and also my favourite Scandi political drama ‘Borgen’.
Ray at Polestar’s minimalist HQ, called ‘The Cube’, in Gothenburg
But as my zero-emissions electric car was in white, it was more a ‘Scandi Blanc’ than a ‘Scandi Noir’ experience.
Although the original all-electric Polestar 2 was initially unveiled in 2019 and first launched to customers in 2020, I was driving the recently relaunched and significantly upgraded model which has received a number of key updates, including new and more efficient electric motors.
Propulsion has switched from front-wheel to rear-wheel for a more engaging drive for the single motor variants. The power delivery benefits from weight shifting over the driven wheels.
Range has increased by around a fifth (up to 22 per cent) to up to 406 miles (654 km). That should just about get you from London to Edinburgh on a single charge, though to avoid sweaty palms I’d recommend a booster charge somewhere around Newcastle (at about 300 miles and a historically favourite destination for Viking ‘visitors’) just to be on the safe side.
Faster charging – up to 34 per cent quicker – is another benefit with the maximum DC charging speed now up to 205kW for versions with the new 82kWh battery.
The design has been tweaked – especially on the ‘face’ – to remove the earlier grille-like front and replace it with a an all-encompassing solid, aerodynamic nose. As there is no engine to cool, there’s no ned for a grille. And the new nose acts as a ‘smart zone’ behind which all manner of sensors and scanners can be hidden out of sight.
It also promises a more comprehensive list of equipment as standard, key software updates, and a reduced manufacturing carbon footprint.
Ray and to the epic 5-mile long Oresund Bridge that spans a stretch of the Baltic to link Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmo in Sweden and which featured in the series ‘The Bridge’
Over the bridge: Ray crossing the Oresund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden
My own car, in a fetching Magnesium white with a zinc-coloured ‘Animal Welfare’ Nappa leather interior with a light ash trim, was the Long-Range Single Motor Polestar 2 which costs from £48,950. But optional 20-inch black alloy wheels (up from 19 inch standard but costing £900) and the Pilot Pack (£2,000) bumped that up to £51,850.
Powered by a 220kW (295bhp) electric motor linked to a single-speed gearbox and an 82kWh lithium ion battery , my rear-wheel drive Polestar 2 accelerates from 0 to 60mph in 5.9 seconds up to a top speed of 127mph.
I used one-pedal driving which meant simply taking my foot off the accelerator slowed me down and helped generate additional charge.
Charging to 80 per cent takes 35 minutes on a DC fast charger or 8 hours on a domestic AC wall-charger.
Ray charging up on motorway South of Gothenburg, Sweden
I set off from delightful Copenhagen – setting for the Danish TV drama ‘The Killing’ featuring Detective Inspector Sarah Lund, who became a hit with her knitted jumpers, and for the political drama ‘Borgen’, charting the adventures of woman Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg filmed around the city’s main Parliament buildings at the Christiansborg Castle.
Copenhagen is a pleasure to drive around and the comfortable Polestar 2 with its minimalist interior and exterior styling adds to that serene sense of calm even in what is a normally stressful urban setting.
The city is full of normally-dressed cyclists with good manners – rather than an axe to grind – who actually stop at red traffic lights to let pedestrians cross. So motorists respond in kind. It’s all very good-natured. There’s none of that ‘us and them’ lycra warfare which blights inner city driving in Britain. But good rear mirror visibility and warning sensors on my car help keep everyone safe.
Out of town and on open roads and motorways, I could open up. Acceleration is swift, powerful but not extreme.
Before long I was cruising across the epic 5-mile long Oresund Bridge that spans a stretch of the Baltic to link Copenhagen in Denmark to Malmo in Sweden and which featured in the series ‘The Bridge’, beginning with a dismembered body found exactly halfway across, necessitating police from both countries to investigate.
Swede dreams: The new 127mph Polestar 2 boasts a range of up to 406 miles
The design has been tweaked – especially on the ‘face’ – to remove the earlier grille-like front and replace it with a an all-encompassing solid, aerodynamic nose
A search for a decent vantage point from which to photograph the car and the bridge took me through a coastal suburb of Malmo, full of family homes and a sprinkling of schools, and highlighted the car’s quiet, low-speed manners.
Then it was a diversion along some splendid country and coastal roads to the town of Ystad, famed for its medieval buildings and small working port, and the setting for the crime drama ‘Wallander’, starring our own Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous brooding detective. En route I was able to enjoy navigating some rolling and fast flowing rural highways and curves to experience my car’s swift acceleration and precise, planted steering.
Next day it was a few hours of relaxed motorway and highway cruising most of the way up to Gothenburg and Polestar’s chic minimalist cubic headquarters and my scheduled meeting with Ingenlath, who said: ‘The upgraded Polestar 2 is the best version to date. With improved software, better quality, longer range and faster charging, it is the basis from which we continue to grow our business.’
Although on a full charge I could have covered the 160-odd mile trip – which included lots of sight-seeing diversions – on a single charge, for ease, I charged overnight at the hotels in Copenhagen and Ystad, and gave it a comfort-blanket booster at a motorway services station south of Gothenburg replete with lots of chargers.
Ray used one-pedal driving which meant simply taking my foot off the accelerator slowed me down and helped generate additional charge
Propulsion has switched from front-wheel to rear-wheel for a more engaging drive for the single motor variants
Swedish-based Polestar – once the performance arm of Volvo but spun off as a standalone upmarket electric car brand – is owned by the Chinese car giant Geely which also owns Volvo, Norfolk-based sports car maker Lotus, Coventry-based electric London taxi and van maker LEVC, and Smart.
Polestar plans to have a line-up of five performance electric vehicles by 2026.
Polestar 2, the electric performance fastback first unveiled in 2019 and launched to customers the following year, and just updated, is produced in a shared production facility in Taizhou, China.
It is joined by the Polestar 3 SUV which made its debut at this summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and goes into production in the first quarter of 2024. The crossover SUV-coupe Polestar 4 will launch in phases throughout 2023 and into 2024 while Polestar 5, an electric four-door GT, and the feisty Polestar 6 electric roadster are to follow.
The new nose acts as a ‘smart zone’ behind which all manner of sensors and scanners can be hidden out of sight.
The firm’s first car – Polestar 1 – was a plug-in hybrid.
The ‘Polestar 0’ project is the company’s ambitious goal of creating a truly climate-neutral production car by 2030.
Polestar in the UK is based at Bicester in Oxfordshire. All cars are sold online-only but the company currently has boutique-like retail locations known as ‘Polestar Spaces’ in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Bicester, and Bristol, with Glasgow to follow on track to eight by the end of the year – for customers to physically engage with the cars while being helped with advice and test-drives by non-commissioned staff whose pay is not determined by how many cars they sell.
Ray with Polestar chief executive, Thomas Ingenlath at the company HQ
New ’73’ plate arrives
The latest six-monthly ’73’ plate arrived on new cars from yesterday as September 1 marked a new chapter for car sales.
It comes as Volkswagen unveiled the new generation Passat — announcing that it will be sold from next year only as an estate version.
Looking ahead: Volkswagen unveiled the new generation Passat — announcing that it will be sold from next year only as an estate version
With prices expected to start from under £40,000, it’s also likely to be the last practical family car it launches with petrol or diesel combustion engines before VW’s switch to all-electric.
The car was unveiled ahead of next week’s IAA international motor show in Munich which has replaced the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Drive options in the UK include a new mild hybrid eTSI petrol engine, two new plug-in eHybrids and a TSI turbo petrol version, all combined with a direct shift gearbox as standard.
Power outputs range from 150 to 272 horsepower. More than 34 million Passats have been sold worldwide.
Goodwood Revival celebrates 25th anniversary
Get your vintage costumes ready as the Goodwood Revival celebrates its 25th anniversary next week (September 8 to 10).
It’s a great chance to dress up in costumes that reflect the glory years of the Goodwood motor racing heyday from 1947 to 1966, and comes as the Goodwood race circuit celebrates its 75th birthday.
Vintage style: The Goodwood Revival celebrates its 25th anniversary
It’s one of a flurry of automotive events including the IAA Mobility international motor show in Munich (iaa-mobility.com/en).
Closer to home, it’s the last chance this week to visit Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace (salonpriveconcours.com) which ends today, and The Concours of Elegance (concoursofelegance.co.uk) which runs until tomorrow at Hampton Court Palace, showing some of the world’s rarest and most expensive cars.
