Polestar 2: My first time with an electric car

I had the opportunity to drive the 2024 Polestar 2 with a Dual motor long range performance pack during some days in Italy. It was not only the first time that I properly test a car but it was the first time I drove an electric car. I must say that the Polestar 2 is a very interesting product, not only from the design point of view, but also in terms of performance and comfort.

I’m not a car tester. I’m not into mechanics, and I have no idea about the technical side of cars. These are just my general impressions after driving as a normal person.

During these 5 days I drove a total of 1,000 km in the Piemonte, Liguria and Tuscany regions in Italy. The coolest part, at least to me, was that many people on the streets were looking at the car. I love that!

All eyes on me

If there’s anything I love from driving a car is arousing the public’s curiosity. I really like when people in the streets stop doing what they are doing and just look at my car. This is exactly what I experienced every time I drove the Polestar 2.

I know, Polestar is a relatively new brand in Europe, and especially in Italy where it was introduced in early December 2022 with deliveries starting in February 2023. They have dealers in Milan and Rome. So driving this car in Turin was quite big news overthere. It was probably the first time many people saw it.

Still, the car has a unique design, it is appealing, sporty, classy, and modern. Especially the Performance pack version that I was driving.

The car

Let’s start with the interior. I think it is really good, easy, and beautiful. It is not as complex as a German premium car, and it is not as simple as a Tesla. It is in fact very Volvo, very Scandinavian. In fact, many parts of the interior are coming directly from Volvo cars: the steering wheel, the steering commands, etc. Let’s say that Polestar is to Volvo, as Cupra is to Seat: the cool side of the original brand.

The dimensions of the cars are perfect to have a proper interior space and an easy parking experience. I never had issues parking, also because there is a very useful 360 camera. It is comfortable in the front and in the rear seats, with plenty of room for the legs. Nevertheless, there’s little space between the driver’s head and the roof, at least to me (I’m 1.82 meters tall).

The infotainment is really good. You can find the information easily, and the touch commands are immediate. The navigation map and sound system are a simple task, even to people like me, who are not good dealing with technology. The only complex thing from the screen was the ventilation commands.

The price in Italy for this version is €68,550 without incentives. It is definitely not cheap, and confirms a trend seen in the West of having non-affordable electric cars, in contrast to the competitive prices seen in China.

The details

Unlike Tesla, Polestar really pays attention to details. The first thing that I noticed and that I immediately fell in love with was the yellow seatbelts. They are so cool. Then you have these headlights and stoplights that look amazing at night. The yellow brake calipers also look fantastic. And finally, the logo reflection in the roof at night gives a very futuristic touch.

Trip 1: Turin – Lucca

My first long trip was from Turin in Piedmont to Lucca in Tuscany. It took me a bit more than 5 hours to drive 340 km, as I had to stop to wait for a charging station and then wait for 1 hour to get 90% charge. I mean, I could have arrived to my destination without charing the battery, but it would have been risky as the battery levels could have dropped to very low levels without having the certainty of finding a charging station working.

More than range anxiety, my real concern was to find available charging stations that were not broken. The navigation system calculates the battery usage according to the destination, and indicates where you can stop to charge the battery. I found one, but when I arrived it was busy with other two Audis charging. I had to wait for 20 minutes and then start charging. In total, I spent like one hour and 20 minutes there.

I know, I could have gotten to Lucca without any stop by driving a gasoline car. But I barely spent money. So, you decide, time or money?

Trip 2: Turin – Malpensa airport

My second and last journey was a 147 km drive from Turin to Malpensa airport. It took me one hour and 20 minutes with an average speed of 111 km/h. The battery charge dropped from 90% to 33%. It was a lovely drive as there was not a lot of traffic and the weather was good (you know what I mean).

The good of driving electric

Cost. You really save money when driving an electric car. Basically you pay less than half on energy of what you pay on gasoline when driving a combustion car. Believe me: it feels great to get to your destination without spending a lot of money.

The other fantastic sensation is the acceleration. It is crazy! The Polestar 2 with its 476 cv (469 hp) can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.2 seconds.

The not so good of driving electric

First of all, the official range claimed by the carmaker needs to be properly understood. It obviously includes all the range you can get by using the whole battery (from 100% to 0%) driving under certain conditions. This is the theory. The reality is quite different: drivers never drive that way, and the battery is not supposed to be charged more than 90% and can’t be left under 10% charge. Therefore, you have 80% of usage of the battery, meaning that the range is lower than indicated.

The charging process can be tricky too. Although I had an easy charging card that I used as a touch-less credit card in every charging station, the regular users may not be so lucky. You need to subscribe to every single provider of energy, complete long forms, and coordinate the payment method. It is not as simple as going to a petrol station. If it was difficult to me, I can’t imagine how challenging it would be for elderly people.

The Polestar 2 makes part of the upper segments within the EV world. Still I had to wait for one hour to charge from 25% to 90% with the fast chargers. I even had to wait for six hours in a slow charger. The time you wait can be a pain if you’re far away from your home or have nothing to do. But it can be a good thing if you need time to spend in a place where parking can be a problem.

Another issue that the carmakers should consider is the weight of the charging cable. It could be heavy for an older person.

And finally, the availability of charging stations. I was in Italy, who’s behind its Northern European peers in terms of infrastructure. But I was in the Northern part, where things usually go better than in the south. In the center of Turin it was hard to find available charging points, with many of them broken. Actually, the broken ones were convenient when you needed to park the car without charging it.

I’d move to an electric

In general, it was a very pleasant experience driving the Polestar 2 Dual motor long range Performance pack. I really liked it, up to the point that I give it 8.5 points out of 10. I liked everything except for the battery performance in the highways and ventilation commands.

Driving an electric was also a nice experience. I’m an anxious person, so not being sure about the charging stations availability can be stressful. But not everyone is like me, fortunately, so this can not be necessarily an issue for everybody. One thing you have to consider is that there is no perfect solution to mobility. The electric cars are at their early life. They need time to get better, just as the combustion cars did when they appeared more than 100 years ago.

You can find the score given to the Polestar in my YouTube channel

You can hear my conversation with Alex Lutz, Country manager Polestar Italy