My first opinion of the car was that it looks sharp, well-built and a good mid-range saloon size vehicle, not too big, not too small.
Keyless entry made the entry into the car simple; the Polestar App also has a feature that allows you to programme a digital key to your smartphone along with many more handy features to make every day driving more relaxing.
The app features can be browsed here:
https://www.polestar.com/uk/polestar-2/interior/software-apps/the-polestar-app/
The full WLTP range of 298 miles, which I started with, prior to my 200-mile round journey, in old terms felt like a full tank of petrol/diesel or even older money, 4 bales of hay.
Starting the vehicle was a little confusing at first, just because there’s is no ON button to press, its simply select gear (forward or reverse) and GO.
So, after 50 miles it was surprising looking at the gauges that I’d only used 8% battery and all was going well, nice warm sunny day too, so I stopped for a coffee break at the services, in fairness the car got a lot of admirers.
The adaptive control was used most of the journey, with lane change assist active, both features felt a lot like the car does the driving and thinking, while I took in all the lovely scenery.
The range with just over 100 miles covered was showing 212 miles and the energy left in the tank was 77% which made me realise that if you drive sensibly in an EV you should get the WLTP range comfortably….
(which is not the case if you drive with a heavy right foot, as I found out when driving a BMW i4 M50 the week before!)
Universal Type 2 charging has simplified the charging of most EV’s these days and in this Polestar it’s just ‘plug and play’, a bit like charging your phone, throughout or at the end of the day.
Benefit in Kind for this £50,000 plus car, the personal taxation comes in at under £17.50 a month, very encouraging as that’s £200 a month saving over some of the equivalent and most efficient diesels left out there in the market.
From the employers perspective the Class 1 NIC savings are astronomical, the saving is over £3000 a year against all of the equivalent and most efficient diesels left available.
A Days Fleet typical equivalent monthly rental of £550 a month versus a Tesla Model 3 at £700 per month looks Like Elon finally has some serious competition on the fleet choice marketplace!
One let down is the charge time – as I’ve written on previous car reviews – Supercharging from the 350kw supercharger network is a must in the electric vehicle evolution.
Charging statistics:
Slow charge at 3.7kw takes approximately 24hrs, from empty to 100% – Cost per tank of fuel £26.21 based on 0.28 pence per KW (Average home charging cost)
Fast charge at 22kw takes just under 12hrs, from empty to 100% – Cost per tank of fuel £36.50 based on 0.39 pence per KW (Gridserve Electric Highway, services charging)
Rapid charge at 150kw takes 37 minutes, from empty to 80% – Cost per tank of fuel £46.80 based on 0.50 pence per KW (Gridserve Electric Highway, services charging)
I would give the car an overall rating of 8.2/10
Review by James Eastwood-Duke, Business Development Manager.
