Polestar 2. My thoughts

It's an interesting car.

Incidentally it's just had a model refresh of sorts.

The single motor versions will now be rear wheel drive and the dual motor version will then drive the front wheels in addition.

There has been a battery tech change and the range between charges is significantly longer.

I'm sure it still handles the same, however :)
 
ibartie said:
Last but not least ( this applies to any non Tesla EV) is the reliance on the public charging network.
Our experiences over the last 4 years have shown that the Chargefox network is iffy & unreliable. Chargers broken or faulty all over the place or just not enough of them.
Click to expand...
I assume you live in a unit/inner city terrace with no access to your own power plug?

Why would you need to rely on the public charging network?
 
Whippet said:
Hi.

Interesting and informed comments.

Well in contrast to your existing vehicle that is not a good review.

Interesting comments about the problematic Chargefox network. Is the Polestar not compatible with the Tesla charging protocol? How much charging do you perform at home?

Other than propulsion, how would you rate the driving handling and suspension of your current Tesla to a equivalent ICE vehicle, of your nomination?

Cheers.
Click to expand...
The Polestar uses the same CCS2 socket as the Tesla but the Supercharger network (apart from a couple of trial sites) is exclusive to Tesla vehicles. Tesla's can use both the public networks & the Supercharger networks but any other EVs have to rely on the Chargefox/NRMA/EVIE network.
We live 4.5 hours north of Sydney and don't rely on public chargers at all.
Some of what I have come across on Chargefox...
Top Ryde shopping centre. 1 station not working & the other charged at 12kW (very slow)
Walls End NRMA. 1 station not working & the other charged at 34kW (50kw max capacity for this charger)
East Lakes Zetland shopping centre. All 3 station not working. (they were working 3 weeks earlier)
Uni of Western Sydney. 1 station not working & the other charged at 35kW (slow) until it faulted out after 25 minutes
Karuah Chargefox. 50kW stations not working. Ultrafast chargers both had broken screens but still charged but not at the cars maximum.
Nabiac. 1 x 50kW station not working most of the time & if it is working there can be a big queue
Port Macquarie Chargefox. 1 of 2 350kW chargers has been broken for several weeks now
Thrumster shopping centre NRMA 2x 50kW. Constantly hogged by BYD & MG EVs because they charge so slowly
Coff Harbour. 2 x 350kW stations. One has been broken for weeks but shows that it is in service on the app!
Tesla Supercharger reliability is first class & easy to use. No apps, no extra cables, no dicking around. Pull up, plug it in & it starts charging
We charge all the time at home & only ever use Superchargers when we go to Sydney or the like. Our car has a real world range of 450km.
I have had many other vehicles over the years & the dual motor Tesla feels the safest & hugs the road the best of any car I have owned.
The suspension is a bit firm & there is also road noise with the crappy chip roads up here.
I have put in a lot of extra soundproofing which helped with the road noise & replaced the noisy Michelin tyres with softer Continental tyres & run them at a lower pressure. That has helped the ride a lot.
We are going to get a Model 3 Refresh when it comes out in a couple of months & if the new suspension is still firm then I will replace the springs with some softer dual rate ones from the US.
 
I had the same experience in Munich in May.

Supposed to get an Audi A2.

When @ OK Mobility desk was asked would I mind an automatic. No worries was the answer.

Turns out I'm getting a Lynk & Co. SUV PHEV. definitely way too big & it was not @ all what we wanted but they were out of small cars.

Lots of videos watched & stuff learned. Plug in lead was brand new & didn't work.

The Pension owners BMW lead did work but fully charging took overnight to get about 75km.

Very comfortable & nice on freeways but not an around town job.

BTW I've used Economy car rentals for eons in every country we've travelled over near 20 years.

They are using OK Mobilty in a number of places in Europe. We had a Renault Captur in Croatia & the Lynk & Co in Bavaria both less than 200 Euros including all insurance other than excess which was covered in our Teachers Travel Insurance.

Checked booking direct with OK Mobility & prices much higher.
 
Hi.

So why are there so many out of service chargers on the Chargefox - NRMA - EVIE networks?

I think I can vaguely recall reading something several months ago about the limited supply of spare parts from manufacturers to repair the charging stations.??

At least it seems from a real world users perspective that Tesla understand that motorists need/want reliability and confidence that the charging network does what it says on the box.

Also what is you typical kW per 100km consumption for highway and urban driving?

Cheers.
 
Whippet said:
Hi.

So why are there so many out of service chargers on the Chargefox - NRMA - EVIE networks?

I think I can vaguely recall reading something several months ago about the limited supply of spare parts from manufacturers to repair the charging stations.??

At least it seems from a real world users perspective that Tesla understand that motorists need/want reliability and confidence that the charging network does what it says on the box.

Also what is you typical kW per 100km consumption for highway and urban driving?

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Going by what people put up online from all over the world (other than Tesla"s network) the problem of out of service EV chargers should qualify as a "global pandemic".🤔
 
SLC206 said:
I assume you live in a unit/inner city terrace with no access to your own power plug?

Why would you need to rely on the public charging network?
Click to expand...
We live in the country & have our own 25A Tesla charger in the carport. We only need Superchargers or public chargers when we go out of our 450km range.
We were lucky in that the high power wall charger came with the car back then. Now you have to buy it separately & then have it installed. Costs around $2000 if you are in a house. A lot more $$, if at all possible, in a unit with body corporate, common areas & the like.
A regular power point would take 30 hours to recharge our car so not really practical vs 30 minutes at a Supercharger.
Councils seem to take a dim view of extension leads running across footpaths.
A lot of the other EVs especially the cheaper ones only get 250km (real world driving) on a charge. We have also met a lot of EV owners that don't have access to charging at home.
No home charging would make owning an EV really painful & expensive.
Our car is charged at night on off peak for about 17 cents per kW vs Supercharger @ 66 cents per kW vs Chargefox Ultrafast @65 cents (if it works).
The NRMA 50kW ones are free at the moment but tend to get hogged a lot.
 
Whippet said:
Hi.

So why are there so many out of service chargers on the Chargefox - NRMA - EVIE networks?

I think I can vaguely recall reading something several months ago about the limited supply of spare parts from manufacturers to repair the charging stations.??

At least it seems from a real world users perspective that Tesla understand that motorists need/want reliability and confidence that the charging network does what it says on the box.

Also what is you typical kW per 100km consumption for highway and urban driving?

Cheers.
Click to expand...
We average about 160Wh per km highway driving. Don't really do enough urban driving to tell you except that it is less.

A friend of mine knows all about the Chargefox NRMA issue.
They both used a certain model of Tritium charger which proved to be mega unreliable. The manufacturer couldn't supply either spare parts or enough technicians to repair broken chargers. Travel distance to chargers out of the main cities is also part of the problem.
Since NRMA bought out the Chargefox network, they have realized the problems & are swapping out all the original RT50 chargers for new RT75 ones that also have card readers so free charging is likely to come to an end..

Tesla got it right in this regard. They kept everything in house - design, manufacturing, installation, monitoring & vehicle integration with a network up time of 99.95% (according to Tesla). In 4 years we have only ever come across 1 single stall at 1 location that was not working. It was fixed within 5 days.
 
Hi ibartie.

Thanks for your information.

So 16kW per 100km costs you 16 x $0.17 (off peak home charging) x 4.5 = $12.20 to drive 450km.
A typical petrol engine would consume 7lt/100km, So 7 x $1.75 x 4.5 = $55.12 to drive 450km.

You can purchase a lot of coffees and red wine for that difference.

Cheers.
 
Whippet said:
Hi ibartie.

Thanks for your information.

So 16kW per 100km costs you 16 x $0.17 (off peak home charging) x 4.5 = $12.20 to drive 450km.
A typical petrol engine would consume 7lt/100km, So 7 x $1.75 x 4.5 = $55.12 to drive 450km.

You can purchase a lot of coffees and red wine for that difference.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Yep. We also have heaps of solar panels so off peak charging during the day is more or less free.
 
Whippet said:
Interesting comments about the problematic Chargefox network. Is the Polestar not compatible with the Tesla charging protocol? How much charging do you perform at home?
Click to expand...
In Australia, it's the same charging socket (CCS) used for almost all EVs, just Tesla haven't broadly opened their charger network to other cars yet. More here.
 
There are a couple of Superchargers open to other EVs in the current trial.
The cost is much higher for a non Tesla though. It is starting at 80 cents per kWh.
 
ibartie said:
There are a couple of Superchargers open to other EVs in the current trial.
The cost is much higher for a non Tesla though. It is starting at 80 cents per kWh.
Click to expand...
That's getting up there, $12 per 100 kms or thereabouts?
Equivelant running cost to a petrol car using 7L per 100 kms (based on the current unleaded price in my area).
.
 
My guess is Tesla are doing that on purpose as a disincentive for other EV users to use the Supercharger network.
It is one of the huge reasons for owning a Tesla - having more or less exclusive access to their super reliable & fast charging network.
 
ibartie said:
My guess is Tesla are doing that on purpose as a disincentive for other EV users to use the Supercharger network.
It is one of the huge reasons for owning a Tesla - having more or less exclusive access to their super reliable & fast charging network.
Click to expand...
GM and Ford and Rivian all now use the Tesla plug and will access Superchargers.

Tesla is now energy company as well :)
 
That agreement is in the US from next year though & they use a NACS plug which is different to the CCS2 connector here.
The US has about 19000 stall at about 1700 Supercharger locations and Electrify America has another 3500 chargers.
About half of the European Superchargers are open all EVs but there are about 150 thousand charging stations over there including Tesla ones.
Australia has about 400 stalls at 69 Supercharger locations & there are about 1400 other public charge points of varying speed dotted around the country.
Tesla are building a 15 stall charging station at Raymond Terrace that will be open to all with 250kW & 350kW charging speeds.
 
There are 9,621 service stations in Australia, (at a guess averaging 8 to 10 pumps each) to fill a vehicle up in a couple of minutes.
Sounds like we'll still need a couple more power points to service a 100% electric fleet?🤔
 
Sure do. It is happening but it is going to take time.
The other issue is charging speed. At a service station, assuming a two hypothetical tank sizes of 60 & 75 litres, it would takes roughly the same time to fill both tanks. If the 75 litre tank used a hi-flow pump then it would fill much faster.
The maximum charging speed & actual charging time of EVs varies enormously.
Tesla Model 3 or Y Long Range 250kW max charge rate (75kW battery)
Polestar 2 150kW max charge rate (78kW battery)
BYD Extended Range 70kW max charge rate (60kW battery)
At a high speed charger for a 10% to 80% charge, the Tesla (with it's bigger battery) can be gone in 25 odd minutes & the BYD will be there for about 55 minutes.
As with all battery charging, the speed tapers off as the battery gets closer to full.
Our car with a pre-conditioned battery will charge at maximum Supercharger rate until about 50% then it starts to back off & can drop as low as 40kW when it gets close to 80%. Past about 85% is painfully slow.
 
205 top end is nothing special but the acceleration is fun, until you realise that using it like that all the time costs so much that the "fuel economy" sucks and you'd be financially better off in a Corolla ;) Made in China? Big NO for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top