Boosting performance for electric pole position
FUTURE MODELS/ Polestar has unveiled its first, standalone, full production car, the Polestar 1, writes Lerato Matebese
Volvo has unveiled its first standalone model under the Polestar brand, the Swedish car maker’s performance division. It is part of the company’s strategy to push electrification across all models.
The Polestar 1 was unveiled in Shanghai and will be built at a factory in China. With production of the model earmarked for mid-2019, the performance hybrid will have a similar outlook to that used by the BMW i8, which means the use of exotic materials such as carbon fibre in the interest of weight reduction and rigidity.
The model is quoted to have a 150km electric-only range, thanks to a double electric motor system driving both rear wheels, connected by planetary gears. Producing 163kW, plus the support of an Integrated Starter Generator, the Polestar 1 in pure electric mode is a rearwheel drive electric performance car, which should yield awesome dynamics, too.
The electric motors are aided by the company’s 2.0l, fourcylinder petrol engine to produce a combined power output of 448kW and 1,000Nm, placing the model at the sharp end of the performance spectrum. It will have planetary gears, which will shuffle power and torque between the two rear wheels and provide a torque vectoring mechanism to enable better traction through corners.
“Polestar 1 is the first car to carry the Polestar badge on the bonnet. It’s a beautiful GT with amazing technology packed into it — a great start for our new Polestar brand. All future cars from Polestar will feature a fully electric drivetrain, delivering on our brand vision of being the new standalone electric performance brand,” says Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar.
According to the company, the model is based on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) but about 50% is new and bespoke, created by Polestar’s engineers. It measures 4.5m in length compared with the 5.15m of the Volvo S90. To achieve this, the engineers removed 320mm from the wheelbase and another 200mm from the rear to create the car’s powerful, sporty proportions. To the eagle-eyed, the silhouette more than harks back to the P1800 from the 1960s, which is still considered to be one of the company’s best looking models of all time.
Much like the S60 Polestar that went before it, the Polestar 1 will be fitted with Öhlins suspension; however, in this model things go further by incorporating a new electronic valve (said to be an industry first) which monitors the driver’s inputs and road surface conditions, reacting in two milliseconds. For the first time, the driver can make suspension changes from within the car to suit conditions.
To rein in speed, there are Akebono designed brakes with six-piston brake calipers and 400mm discs.
At the heart of the Polestar customer offer is a monthly subscription model the same as that recently announced by Volvo. An all-inclusive, no deposit, flat monthly payment ensures that the customer need never concern themselves with the inconvenience or cost of depreciation, insurance and maintenance. The subscription is said to also include a pick-up and delivery service where Polestar contacts the customer to arrange a time for scheduled maintenance.
According to the company order books opened on October 17, 500 units are planned for production at this stage.
The Polestar 2, said to be a mid-sized fully-electric vehicle, will start production later in 2019, while the Polestar 3, the SUV of the family, will follow at an even later stage.