With so many differing opinions on whether EV's make sense or not, I figured the best way to find out for sure was to try it for myself. So, during a recent trip to Toronto, I rented a 2023 Polestar 2 dual motor for a week. I then did the same thing again when I got back home, trying it out on home turf.
Now, this isn't a discussion of ethics. Yes, EV batteries are made in a dirty, non-environmentally friendly way, and EV's are subsidized by governments. Not the direction I want to take this post in, however – this is about real-world livability from a car guy's perspective.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
Why not a Model 3?
Because they're literally everywhere, and not that great, IMO. They're a fantastic appliance, but I'm not down with everything being crumpled into one giant screen, nor am I down with the build quality, anonymous styling, or lack of ergonomics. Sure, they do have the speed, but so does the Polestar.
With a ~4 second 0-60 and over 400hp on tap, the dual-motor Polestar 2 rips! The power comes on smoothly, it's as quick as my M4, and it stays flat in corners. Believe me, I tried to make that body roll but it simply would not, even on its base (non-Öhlins) suspension.
You'd then think it was uncomfortable, being stiff enough to actually handle well, but no. It absorbs all of Toronto's crater-like asphalt with zero issue. It obviously doesn't ride like it's on airbags, but it's very much comfortable.
The steering, while as dead as pretty much any other EPAS, is direct and reasonably quick. Though I will say, I had to crank the wheel more than I'd like in the tightest of corners.
All in all, I can see why Misha Charoudin was blown away when lapping a Performance Pack on the Nurburgring, liking it so much he got one for himself as a daily:
You could take a backroad or carve canyons in this thing and be more than satisfied. I of course wouldn't buy it for that specific purpose, but when your commuter can dance on the twisties with the best of them, you know they did something right.
About that interior
The build quality is impeccable. Every single panel is tightly screwed together, and all the materials (even the cheapest of plastics) have some interesting texture to them. Nothing in this cabin feels bad to the touch.
There's fabric trim on the dashboard and doors, the dashboard plastic itself has an almost linen-like texture to it, and even this base model plastic trim (where the open-pore wood would be on Plus Package cars) is a tapestry of 3D triangles.
They could've just done basic plastic, but they did not.
Besides looks, the cabin is very easy to use: ergonomics are exactly what you'd expect from Volvo. Perhaps the best example would be that the high sides of the center console actually serve as the exact place you naturally want to rest your wrist when operating the bottom half of the touchscreen.
It also has physical air vents, several hard buttons, actual wiper and turn signal stalks, a full set of window switches (I can't believe this is something I have to highlight, but here we are), and a normal electronic console shifter.
Modest screenage
They haven't gone to screen hell with this car, and I'm all about it. It has a proper instrument cluster (no dials, of course, but the rest of it is proper...) that shows you only what you need to see: speed and power/range info. You can add a driver-friendly port of its native Google Maps nav to that if you want.
On that note, the center screen is effectively an Android tablet. It's not too big, not too small, and if you've ever used a smartphone, you're already familiar with this infotainment system. It's mercifully scant on the submenus, and no screen overloads you with info. It even can access the Play Store...
Roadtrippability
Made up word or not, the Polestar 2 has it. Even these base Volvo seats (there are upgraded seats you can get with the Plus Package) do exactly what you expect them to do: I drove 2+ hours at a time and felt fresh as a daisy afterwards. You can get into a proper driving position without issue, in combination with the wheel that telescopes quite a bit.
What about range? Well, I had enough of it to go from Toronto to Niagara Falls and back without charging, brisk highway driving and all. It greatly helps that Ontario is flat – I got the rated 410km range without even thinking about my driving style at all. But a surprisingly hilly Vancouver saw a 25% reduction (including increased A/C usage).
Funny how you don't give certain things a second thought until they potentially prevent you from getting home...
Nonetheless, if your road trip destination has free charging like mine did, you'd be wise to fill up regardless of range.
The EV life
If the car lives in paid downtown underground garages, (ideally, one of the ones where charging is $0) then you won't have too much issue. You'll be paying for parking like you would anyway, and can leave your car overnight to a full charge each morning, as I did during my Toronto stay. And even then, I didn't need to charge every night.
However, if that one specific scenario is not your norm, the story changes.
Not owning an EV (and hence a home charger) was the perfect way to test out my local public charging network, because that forced me to rely on it. What I learned can be summed up in two simple points:
(1) Have a Level 2 charger at home
(2) Don't not have a Level 2 charger at home
This concludes my TED Talk.
Oh, you wanted actual impressions? Well, public charging really only gives you two options: Level 2 slow chargers and Level 3 DC fast chargers.
One would naturally be drawn to the faster option... In what turned into a lighter form of masochism, I and my 11% state of charge went down to the local DC fast charger one evening to see what that was like.
Not only were all four chargers occupied, but there were four other EV's waiting in line. I discovered they used a 'four way stop' type of honor system, each driver keeping an eye on who was already there before them. With a posted time limit of 40 minutes per vehicle, and a waiting F-150 Lightning having given up and left minutes after I got there, I figured I'd have to wait no longer than 40 minutes to be able to plug my car in.
45 minutes later, I couldn't help but notice that one of the four Hyundai Konas there that night – one of two that was plugged in when I got there – was still plugged in now. Another Kona owner approached this one and told her she had overstayed by 5 minutes... She haphazardly stopped charging and got out of there as fast as her nervous reaction allowed, almost backing over an old man and his shopping cart in the process. I got free entertainment, plus 45% more battery out of the next 40 minutes, costing me $13.
You might be thinking that waiting in your car for 85 minutes to charge 45% is way too long, and you'd be right. But also wrong. Your other public option is a Level 2 charger: cheaper, but a lot slower. Two hours' L2 charging at your local park nets you roughly 15%, depending on charger speed.
Ask me how I know.
Even when Level 2 charging is free, it's almost always time restricted. This means you folded your rear seats and brought a pillow and blanket for no reason.
Above is a handy-dandy chart I made, comparing the different charging options. You can immediately see that using the 110v plug on the side of your house is just as self-flagellating as waiting 85 minutes for 45%, but with the added twist of procrastinating your frustration to when you actually have to be somewhere.
A home L2 charger, even in the form of a simple 50A 240v plug and the cable that comes with the Polestar 2, is faster than any public L2 charger. At BC Hydro's upper-tier electricity rates, I'd be paying ten whole dollars to fill the Polestar 2's 'tank.' Sure, that takes eight hours instead of less than two, but those extra six hours buy you the luxury of scrolling through your phone in the comfort of your own bed, instead of doing it at a fast charger while monitoring who got there first.
Back to the car
A long-time Tesla argument was access to Superchargers. "Was" is the key word here. Polestar is one of the brands getting access to 'Big T' stations via adapters, and new Polestars are supposed to full-on switch to a NACS port in the next year or so.
Something Model 3 owners never had access to is a hatchback. The Polestar 2's made it very easy to load my luggage into the sizeable trunk – hatches are underrated.
But, access to the backseats is not so easy. The cutline of the bottom of the rear doors is such that your thigh will always make contact with the wheel arch when getting out. I don't think there are legs in the world long enough to get around this.
Once inside, though, there's plenty of space in both rows, even for the very tall. The backseat headroom is no less than in my M4.
Which is a coupe.
So, should you even bother?
Things get interesting when you look at the numbers.
On one hand, 'fuelling' costs are very low – if not free, they're as low as ten bucks every 400km. In contrast, buying 91 octane to drive the same 400km in a BMW 330i would cost about $76 here. You also can't put any of that premium fuel back into the tank of the G20 when you lift off the gas pedal. Granted, I saw no more than a 1% increase when regen-ing the Polestar 2, but still.
On the other hand, the used market has an identical 2023 Polestar 2 dual motor Pilot Pack with the same 30-ish thousand km for just over $40k. New, this car was over $60k. If you're not already buying a car that costs about as much, you can buy decades of full-size pickup truck fuel for that money...
Despite all of that, if I was in the market for one more daily driver, I would easily buy a Polestar 2. It's practical, easy to live with, handles well, pins you to your seat, and has a nice interior. Like any other good Volvo, it's elegant, comfortable, safe, and understated. The fact that it's an EV forms exactly zero percent of its personality.
Plus, the Internet says I can have that 50A 240v plug installed for like $400...
2023 Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor
[five-door compact liftback; all-wheel drive]
[five-door compact liftback; all-wheel drive]
AC
permanent magnet, asynchronous (dual)
single-speed fixed-ratio transmission
78.0 kWh
lithium ion
[top speed] 205 km/h
8.0 h
@ 240v
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