Volvo’s Polestar unveils performance electric car, announces new ‘Tesla Model 3 competitor’
So... it will be a BEV soon, right?
So... it will be a BEV soon, right?
You can install our site as a web app on your iOS device by utilizing the Add to Home Screen feature in Safari. Please see this thread for more details on this.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Totally agree: that's a fine-looking car, inside and out. But plug-in hybrid, just as they announced they'd ONLY make BEVs? Weird.
They didn't. They just said all their future cars would be electrified. I think they even mentioned mild hybrids.
(emphasis added)In a strange move today, Polestar, Volvo’s newly rebranded performance electric car brand, unveiled its first vehicle, a plug-in hybrid 2+2 seat Grand Tourer Coupé (PHEV), and quickly made it somehow outdated by announcing that all future Polestar cars will be all-electric (BEV).
When relaunching the brand earlier this year, Volvo made a big deal of Polestar being a “performance electric car brand”.
Volvo Cars to go all electric
Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, has announced that every Volvo it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking the historic end of cars that only have an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placing electrification at the core of its future business.
[...]
Volvo Cars will introduce a portfolio of electrified cars across its model range, embracing fully electric cars, plug in hybrid cars and mild hybrid cars.
The path for Volvo branded cars and Polestar is clearly different. In the Volvo case, they definitely played with the electric part, really meaning what people usually call "electrified" which encompasses everything from mild hybrid to strong hybrid to plug-in hybrid to fully electric. Polestar on the other hand was pretty clear that the Polestar 1 is plug-in hybrid with a relatively long range while everything coming later would be fully electric.I think they deliberately play with the wording "electric car". Just look at the title and text of their July press release.
IIRC, Toyota is one of the automakers taking a stand against anything higher than 10% Ethanol. So, the Camry Hybrid was probably not going to run properly on E85 to begin with, regardless of age.So a 93 mile range Volvo presents an interesting challenge. It's very possible to drive a whole year without needing more than a 93 mile range.
But you can't leave Ethanol-based gasoline in a tank for that long, it will go bad after 6 months.
So if you drive a whole year locally only and then go on vacation (which is a quite common lifestyle) - the gas you think you have won't actually fire when you need it, or it will clog up the engine. A family member of mine recently screwed up a Camry hybrid's engine this way by putting in year-old E85.
hey didn't. They just said all their future cars would be electrified.
Just look at the title and text of their July press release.
They didn't. They just said all their future cars would be electrified. I think they even mentioned mild hybrids.
All future cars from Polestar will feature a fully electric drivetrain, delivering on our brand vision of being the new standalone electric performance brand.
At least it's good looking.Volvo’s Polestar unveils performance electric car, announces new ‘Tesla Model 3 competitor’
So... it will be a BEV soon, right?
So a 93 mile range Volvo presents an interesting challenge. It's very possible to drive a whole year without needing more than a 93 mile range.
But you can't leave Ethanol-based gasoline in a tank for that long, it will go bad after 6 months.
So if you drive a whole year locally only and then go on vacation (which is a quite common lifestyle) - the gas you think you have won't actually fire when you need it, or it will clog up the engine. A family member of mine recently screwed up a Camry hybrid's engine this way by putting in year-old E85.
I wonder if a Swedish manufacturer thought about the effect of Ethanol-based gas, since they won't have that problem in Sweden. Ethanol-free gas will last closer to 2 years so your yearly "vacation" needs will naturally cycle the gasoline. But it's very difficult to find Ethanol-free in the US and most people won't think about it.
I guess they can artificially burn off 3 gallons of fuel a month just for funsies so that you artificially run out every 6 months, but eww.
Am I missing something? The article appeared to me to say in black and white that after the Polestar 1, all future Polestar cars will be pure battery cars:
Am I missing something? The article appeared to me to say in black and white that after the Polestar 1, all future Polestar cars will be pure battery cars
According to electrek, Polestar plans to build only about 50,000 vehicles by 2023 ("around 50,000 plus") and only two of its three planned models will be EVs. Polestar’s plans to compete with Tesla Model 3 are less ambitious than we thought
Another anemic EV effort by a legacy automaker. I was hoping for more, especially given the Geely connection.
Polestar will stay the performance sub brand, Volvo will have it's own EVs, starting with an electric V40 in 2019.
https://jalopnik.com/volvos-first-electric-car-will-be-a-hatchback-report-1822556659
Polestar will still be like BMW M, or Mercedes AMG, so a volume of 50k on 3 vehicles is acceptable.
I agree it's confusing, since Polestar claimed the Polestar 2 will go after the Model 3, but I guess it will be based on a higher volume electric Volvo (S60?).
Edit: 50k is actually a lot, AMG has more like 30k cars. Not sure if Polestar will aim at lower performance, too. Maybe rebranding with slightly different interior / exterior?
Well, as you point out, that's not what Polestar's CEO says. He referred to the Polestar 2 -- its first fully electric vehicle -- as a competitor to the Model 3. The Polestar 1 -- which is a plug-in hybrid -- was described as their "halo" product. The Polestar 3 is supposed to be an SUV.
A 2022 goal of producing 50,000 vehicles, only two of which are EVs and one of which is designed to compete with the Model 3, is pretty pathetic.
We shall see if Geely's plans to market EVs under the Volvo nameplate are equally unambitious. Especially since Geely is also developing EVs for China there is still room for hope that Geely will step up and become a leader in the EV space in Europe and North America but we shall see. The details of the Polestar plan are a big disappointment after the initial hype so I am not holding my breath that Geely will do much more with their Volvo brand.