2021 Polestar 2

Volvo’s electrified sub-brand Polestar impressed us earlier this year with their luxury plug-in hybrid sport coupe, the Polestar 1. The long-awaited second vehicle from Polestar is a fully-electric five-door fastback that sticks to their simple naming system and is dubbed the Polestar 2. 

For its debut, the Polestar 2 is only available in a fully-loaded “launch edition”. Pilot Assist, Pixel LED headlights, and Polestar Digital Key are just a few things that come standard. 

The Polestar 2 powertrain consists of a twin-motor drive system that boasts an equivalent 408-horsepower and 487 lb-ft of torque. All-wheel-drive is standard.

The 78 kWh battery gets an EPA range of 233-miles, which does fall a little short of the competition. But by using a fast charger, you can recoup an 80% charge in about 40 minutes.

Brian Robinson: “Well, it’s great to finally see a full EV from Volvo’s electric performance brand and it was worth the wait. The biggest takeaway for me is that it’s different but it’s not too different. Meaning that you get in it and you start driving it, you know it’s an EV but then you find some curves and you really start pushing it, and you forget about it really quickly. It just turns into a really nice responsive sports sedan.”

Polestar is focused on being environmentally responsible so the standard interior is vegan and uses recycled materials.

Up front is the simple and modern Scandinavian design that we appreciated in the Polestar 1 but even more minimal. The large 11-inch center display is akin to many of its EV competitors but the center console features a more traditional gear-shifter. 

One thing that does takes some getting used to is its self-starting feature.

Dave Scrivener: “This may put me in the old-dog/new tricks category, but I wasn’t quite ready for the self-starting car. The Polestar 2 has no ignition switch per se.. It energizes as you approach it with the smart key, then once you sit in the driver’s seat, body weight sensors activate the car and make it ready to drive. I guess as long as it doesn’t weigh in on my diet choices, I’m ok with that.”

The 2021 Polestar 2 is available now with a starting price of around $60,000. We’ll have our full Road Test on the all-electric Polestar 2 coming up soon on MotorWeek!