Isthisthemost wokecarever?
THe TeaM behind the new Polestar 2 electric car uses the catchphrase ‘ vegan as standard’. yes, that’s right — a ‘vegan’ car. It’s free of animal hide or hair, though leather is a £4,000 extra.
I’ve just driven the zeroemissions, five- door, five- seater Polestar 2 150 miles, on a return trip to the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, with a partial recharge midway. I quickly forgot it was an electric car.
Once the racing arm of Sweden’s Volvo, Polestar is now a standalone premium electric car brand owned by Volvo and its Chinese parent Geely. The firm’s first car last year was the limited-edition, petrol-electric hybrid Polestar 1 costing a hefty £139,000.
as a rival to elon Musk’s Model 3, the new Polestar 2 marks the start of the firm’s fully electric future. looking like a saloon, it is in fact a hatchback with a voluminous boot. Oddly there’s no ignition key. a pressure-sensitive monitor in the driver’s seat fires up the engine when you sit in it.
It has Concorde-like acceleration without the noisy roar: 0-62 mph in just 4.7 seconds, up to a top speed of 127mph. It grips well, though the ride can be a tad hard on bumpier B-roads.
you can also drive it with one foot, rarely having to touch the brakes thanks to three levels of braking resistance that generate more charge for the battery. It is powered by two 150kW electric motors, developing 408hp. The official range is 292 miles. Charging up to 80 per cent on a high-energy DC current takes 40 minutes.
It costs from £49,900 — £100 beneath the £50,000 cap of the Government’s plug-in grant — so you pay £46,900 after the subsidy. you can lease from £564 a month with a £6,000 down payment. a two-wheel drive with a smaller battery at £40,000 is to follow.