Polestar recently held its inaugural Polestar Day in Los Angeles, California, where it showcased its current and upcoming products and made a slew of announcements that reveal its future trajectory and the innovations one can expect from the Swedish electric performance car brand. The gathering consisted of executives from Polestar’s strategic partners, such as Bcomp, Göteborg Energi, Luminar, Mobileye, and StoreDot.
Sharing his thoughts on the occasion, Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar, said, “Polestar Day provides substantial insight into our products and the innovations we are working on together with global leaders in various fields to bring the best electric performance cars to market. We are progressing from having one car on the roads – Polestar 2 – to having three, with the ongoing launches of our two SUVs, Polestar 3 and Polestar 4. The coming months will be some of the most exciting our young company has ever seen.”
Attendees witnessed Polestar’s complete range of future models under one roof for the first time. The range included the Polestar 3, Polestar 4, Polestar 5, Polestar Precept, the Polestar Electric Roadster Concept, and Polestar Synergy. Guests also got to test drive the latest MY24 Polestar 2 and experience the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 development prototypes with Polestar engineers.
Here’s a look at the key announcements made on the Polestar Day:
Virtual power plant (VPP) project announced for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology development with Polestar 3
Polestar will join stakeholders in the electricity sector with a large-scale vehicle-to-grid (V2G) project in Gothenburg, Sweden, using a large fleet of Polestar 3 vehicles. It will be funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency, Vinnova. Together with the Swedish National Grid authority Svenska kraftnät, local grid owner Göteborg Energi Nät, regional energy distributor Vattenfall Eldistribution, home charging provider Easee, and research partner Chalmers University of Technology, Polestar aims to find potential business models for V2G that are scalable and applicable across regions.
To help manage V2G integration, Polestar is developing a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) that will link all participating Polestar 3 cars connected to the grid. The cloud-based VPP calculates the collective capacity of connected batteries and initiates charging or discharging based on the grid demand. This will allow car owners to monetise their EVs while they are parked, without any intervention – the owner simply plugs in their vehicle and the VPP will do the rest – optimising battery use for their transport needs and to support the grid. The pilot project’s test phase will begin in the first half of 2024 and run for two years.
Alongside the Gothenburg Project, Polestar is also collaborating with the California Energy Commission and non-profit energy R&D institute EPRI, on a pre-study – also funded by Vinnova – to create a roadmap for the implementation of vehicle-to-grid services in California. The pre-study will run from December 2023 to October 2024.
Manufacturing footprint set to expand to South Korea; Polestar 4 production set to begin in Busan in 2025
Now confirmed by the firm, the manufacturing of Polestar 4 in Hangzhou Bay, China, will soon be complemented by production in Busan, South Korea. Polestar, Geely Holding, and Renault Korea Motors (RKM) have entered into an agreement which will bring contract manufacturing of Polestar 4 vehicles for the North American and domestic South Korean markets to RKM’s Busan plant. The South Korean operations are expected to begin during the second half of 2025.
Sharing his thoughts on the announcement, Thomas Ingenlath, CEO – Polestar, said, “We’re very happy to take the next step in diversifying our manufacturing footprint together with Geely Holding and Renault Korea Motors, a company that shares our focus on quality and sustainability. With Polestar 3 on track to start production in Chengdu, China, in early 2024 and in South Carolina, USA, in the summer of 2024, we will soon have manufacturing operations in five factories across three countries, supporting our global growth ambitions.”
The Polestar 4 was launched at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023. The SUV coupé is the second SUV in the Polestar line-up, and is positioned between Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 in terms of size and price. It is also the fastest Polestar production car to date.
Polestar 4 to integrate Luminar LiDAR with Mobileye Chauffeur
Polestar is working with Luminar, a leading automotive technology company, and Mobileye, a global leader in autonomous driving solutions, to enhance the safety and future autonomous driving capabilities of the Polestar 4 with the integration of Luminar’s next-generation LiDAR technology and Mobileye’s Chauffeur platform.
Polestar 4 is planned to be the first production car to feature the Mobileye Chauffeur platform, now with Luminar LiDAR, which builds upon the full-surround camera-based SuperVision platform available in Polestar 4 from launch. Together, the three companies aim to offer eyes-off, point-to-point autonomous driving on highways, as well as eyes-on automated driving for other environments.
With Mobileye Chauffeur, Polestar 4 is set to feature three Mobileye EyeQ6 processors, a front-facing LiDAR from Luminar, and Mobileye’s front-facing imaging radar to provide the extra layer of sensing and artificial intelligence needed to enable eyes-off, hands-off driving.
Polestar and StoreDot to showcase extreme fast charging (XFC) tech in Polestar 5 prototype
Polestar is working with StoreDot, a Lithium-ion battery manufacturer, to bring their extreme fast charging (XFC) technology to production. Dubbed ‘100-in-5’, the XFC tech can add 100 miles (160km) of range with only five minutes of charging. It can be integrated into existing battery pack designs and does not require any redevelopment of battery design.
StoreDot’s XFC pouch cell charging demonstration took place on Polestar Day. The two companies plan to demonstrate StoreDot’s XFC technology at full scale in a Polestar 5 prototype in 2024. Polestar is also one of the key investors in StoreDot.