Tesla has a serious competitor …
The Polestar 1 is arguably one of the best looking modern cars out there. It’s also the first and last hybrid from the electric-performance subsidiary of Volvo. Today at an event in Sweden the automaker unveiled its second car and first pure EV, the Polestar 2.
With an expected range of 275 miles (the EPA will have their final say when the car is available for testing), 408 horsepower, 487 foot-pounds of torque and a zero to 60 time of under five seconds (via two electric motors), Polestar clearly has the Model 3 in its sights.
All that power comes from a 78kWh battery pack nestled under the floorboards. Polestar says the battery pack adds additional rigidity to the chassis. “It fits like a Lego brick,” said Polestar Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar. But the automaker notes that it also reduces road noise by 3.7dB. Couple that with the electric powertrain and the inside of the Polestar 2 should be a pretty quiet affair.
Maybe they don’t want the noise to distract you from the fact that this is the first car with Google’s embedded Android platform. The system will use native Google services like Google Maps which will have support for electric vehicle ownership with the same voice-control you’ve come to expect from Google. In other words, you’ll be able to find charging stations via navigation on the vertically-mounted 11-inch display. iPhone users shouldn’t fret, the system will work with Android and iOS.
