Polestar 2 US price announced

[dbsb3233]

Yes. Buick is still GM which is still an American company, with vehicles designed and planned and funded and profited by GM (a company headquartered in the US). Even if it's assembled somewhere else (Tesla assembles cars in China too, BTW).

But of course NO production vehicle is 100% any one country anymore. So "American car" is always going to be a compromise term. I'm fine using the simple "Made by an American company" definition, others may not be. It's all subjective anyway since the term really doesn't mean anything.

Sponsored

 

[MadScientist]

The car Robert reviewed had the optional Performance pack (an extra £5k in the UK) which adds sports suspension and larger wheels. The standard version is probably less firm.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

You’re right! I suppose Scotty could always beam the car up to the service facility & back, saving those 300 miles.

I wouldn't mind windows made of transparent aluminum tbh.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I wouldn't mind windows made of transparent aluminum tbh.

Only available in Scotland.

 

[silverelan]

Out of Spec Motoring did a Livestream test drive of the Polestar 2 and the Polestar engineers claim it will do 150kW up to 80% SoC. Nobody has been able to confirm that yet, afaik, but it'd be amazing if that were true. Also, Polestar claims 75kWh usable out of 78kWh total capacity.

 

[dbsb3233]

Out of Spec Motoring did a Livestream test drive of the Polestar 2 and the Polestar engineers claim it will do 150kW up to 80% SoC. Nobody has been able to confirm that yet, afaik, but it'd be amazing if that were true. Also, Polestar claims 75kWh usable out of 78kWh total capacity.

It is curious why a few (like the e-tron, and now maybe the Polestar2) are able to do that but most have to taper rather sharply? I assume it ultimately comes down to cost (to design in better thermal management). Or they're simply letting their battery packs degrade faster and plan to have to replace a bunch?

 

[silverelan]

It is curious why a few (like the e-tron, and now maybe the Polestar2) are able to do that but most have to taper rather sharply? I assume it ultimately comes down to cost (to design in better thermal management). Or they're simply letting their battery packs degrade faster and plan to have to replace a bunch?

It's a good question. Cynically, if the minimum goal is to maintain 70% capacity for 8yr/100k miles then OEMs can adjust their DCFC rates/curves as needed with a plan to stay within the limits and so after 100,001 miles it'll drop to 69%. That's not gonna happen though.

My honest opinion is that degradation is something that is pretty well understood now and that with good cell chemistry, thermal management and BMS (to balance cells and handle charging profiles), that it really isn't a problem. Throw in the fact that DCFC sessions will be in the small minority of kWh delivered over the life of the car, and it's not something that would ever require the pack to be warrantied out for.

 

[dbsb3233]

It's a good question. Cynically, if the minimum goal is to maintain 70% capacity for 8yr/100k miles then OEMs can adjust their DCFC rates/curves as needed with a plan to stay within the limits and so after 100,001 miles it'll drop to 69%. That's not gonna happen though.

My honest opinion is that degradation is something that is pretty well understood now and that with good cell chemistry, thermal management and BMS (to balance cells and handle charging profiles), that it really isn't a problem. Throw in the fact that DCFC sessions will be in the small minority of kWh delivered over the life of the car, and it's not something that would ever require the pack to be warrantied out for.

I wish there were more widely known and available about it all. While I appreciate that Ford is being conservative by blocking off an 11% reserve to ensure the battery is well (overly?) protected, if it's just a matter of making sure people don't go too deep too often, I'd rather manage that myself if it meant unlocking 8% more range when I need it.

Same way with "too much" high-power charging. If letting it charge at a full 150 kW from 10-80% too often is damaging, but once in a great while isn't too damaging, I'd rather open it up during rare road trips.

But I don't know if it's that simple. Maybe it's more than just doing gradual damage, maybe it's downright dangerous without another $10k in super-duper battery pack features?? Who knows. Kinda frustrating why such a huge difference.

 

[zhackwyatt]

I wish there were more widely known and available about it all. While I appreciate that Ford is being conservative by blocking off an 11% reserve to ensure the battery is well (overly?) protected, if it's just a matter of making sure people don't go too deep too often, I'd rather manage that myself if it meant unlocking 8% more range when I need it.

Same way with "too much" high-power charging. If letting it charge at a full 150 kW from 10-80% too often is damaging, but once in a great while isn't too damaging, I'd rather open it up during rare road trips.

But I don't know if it's that simple. Maybe it's more than just doing gradual damage, maybe it's downright dangerous without another $10k in super-duper battery pack features?? Who knows. Kinda frustrating why such a huge difference.

Cell phones and laptops kinda work that way. Don't really reserve any space at all and at least with most cell phones, don't let you stop charging at a certain percentage. If they reserved any sort of battery the tech press would beat them up for such poor performance compared to the competitors. Of course cell phones are cheaper than a car but not by much now days!

 

[abr]

I wish there were more widely known and available about it all. While I appreciate that Ford is being conservative by blocking off an 11% reserve to ensure the battery is well (overly?) protected, if it's just a matter of making sure people don't go too deep too often, I'd rather manage that myself if it meant unlocking 8% more range when I need it.

Same way with "too much" high-power charging. If letting it charge at a full 150 kW from 10-80% too often is damaging, but once in a great while isn't too damaging, I'd rather open it up during rare road trips.

But I don't know if it's that simple. Maybe it's more than just doing gradual damage, maybe it's downright dangerous without another $10k in super-duper battery pack features?? Who knows. Kinda frustrating why such a huge difference.

Tim - you might be responsible in how you handle, but Ford doesn't want to be "on the hook" for expensive warranty work for those that are NOT responsible in how they handle. Some people, if they know Ford will be forced to replace, will not act responsibly.
I would expect Ford will alter battery reserve and charging speed after they get much more real world knowledge of degradation from early adopters, not unlike what Tesla has done.

 

[dbsb3233]

Of course cell phones are cheaper than a car but not by much now days!

True, if buying new state of the art. We've actually gone the opposite direction lately. $250 is about the most we pay for a new phone now. Once they unbundled service from the phone purchase, it dramatically improved the situation. Now we buy renewed phones on Amazon every few years.

I still look for ones with removable batteries too, although those are getting really hard to find. We're currently on LG V20's, but that may be the last removable battery on a good 6" phone left these days.

 

[Mchaelme]

Well Polestar 2 tests drives now available here in the uk, tried to book within 10 mins of getting e-mail invite only to find all fully booked !!!

 

[Florida7382]

That, yes, but not "nothing more than". They have a purpose - as leverage to try and get the other country to stop its unfair treatment of our manufacturers' products.

The ultimate goal is free trade (both sides dropping tariffs and other unfair treatment).

Alternative view: if Chinese government is subsidizing a certain product, say EV manufacturing in this case, why would you restrict the flow of Chinese tax payers money coming to US consumers (in the form of an EV in this case) rather than welcoming them open hands? If the economy would be open to competition, as it should, the American consumer would win. Now we lose and Canadian/European consumers win.

Sponsored