2023 Polestar 2 Price and specs detailed for Australia, from $63,900

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The Polestar 2 is made in China and based on the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) that’s shared with the internal combustion engine and pure-electric Volvo XC40.

Updated design touches for the 2023 model-year include a tweaked design for its standard 19-inch black diamond cut alloy wheels and new optional 20-inch black silver alloys with a more aerodynamic look ($1400).

Magnesium silver is now the standard no-cost exterior colour (replacing Void black). New optional colours have been added to the pallet, including Space black and Juipiter bronze ($1500, replacing Void and Moon respectively).

The cabin of the electric liftback continues to be offered in animal-free seats, including textile (Charcoal or Zinc) with etched trims as standard or WeaveTech seats (Slate or Charcoal) with black ash trims when the Plus Pack is fitted.

Unlike the previous model, any seat colour can now be matched with all exterior colours.

All 2023 variants can also be had in a new optional Zinc coloured Nappa leather upholstery with Light Ash trim ($6000, replacing Barley Nappa with reconstructed wood). Polestar says the Nappa seats have “greater sustainability credentials”. This also brings ventilation for the front two seats, in addition to the standard heating function.

All Polestar 2s offer a 41-litre carpeted frunk storage space under the bonnet.

The liftback’s electric tailgate opens to a 405-litre boot, with 60/40 split folding rear seats that expands capacity to 1095-litres, and there’s two ISOFIX child seat anchor points at the rear outboard seats.

The Polestar 2 boasts a drag coefficient of 0.28cd.

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The Polestar 2 line-up is offered in two battery sizes and two permanent magnet motor electric powertrains – single-motor front-wheel drive (FWD) or dual-motor all-wheel drive (AWD) configurations.

The entry-level Standard Range Single Motor is the most efficient model with a 67kWh usable (69kWh gross) nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery pack providing a claimed driving range of up to 470km (WLTP) from a full charge. Its front-wheel driven electric motor can accelerate from 0-100km/h in a claimed 7.4 seconds.

The mid-spec Long Range Single Motor, as the name suggests, offers the most driving range by gaining a larger 75kWh usable (78kWh gross) NMC battery to yield up to 540km of claimed range (WLTP). It has an identical electric motor setup and outputs as the Standard Range.

Meanwhile, the flagship Long Range Dual Motor is the most powerful; it’s able to sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds. As it uses the same large 75kWh (usable) NMC battery, the claimed range figure is less at 480km (WLTP).

New for 2023 is an improved heat pump – included in the optional Plus Pack – that now has an optimal temperature range of between -7 and 25-degrees celsius to improve energy efficiency.

The Polestar 2 has a 1500kg braked towing capacity and 75kg maximum roof load.

The Performance Pack ($8000) can be had exclusively on the top-spec Long Range Dual Motor. It adds 20-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in Continental SportContact 6 rubber (245/40); gold-painted brake callipers, valve caps and interior seat belts; four-piston Brembo brakes with ventilated and drilled front discs; and Öhlins manually adjustable dampers. It also lowers the overall height by 6mm (usually 1479mm) and ground clearance by 5mm (usually 151mm).

Likewise, an over-the-air (OTA) software performance update ($1600) is available on the range-topper via the Polestar Extras web store. It unlocks 50kW and 20Nm more power and torque respectively as an additional boost between 70 to 130km/h. This results in outputs of 350kW/680Nm and reduces the 0-100km/h sprint by 0.3 seconds to just 4.4

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Based on a standard 400-volt class architecture, the all Polestar 2s have an 11kW AC onboard charger.

The Standard Range battery is capped at up to 130kW DC fast charging speeds, while the two Long Range variants can go up to 150kW DC.

The Volvo performance spinoff company says a full charge on a three-phase, 11kW AC charger takes seven hours on the Standard Range or eight hours on the larger Long Range pack.

All models are claimed to DC fast charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 37 minutes on a compatible station.

The Polestar 2 uses the standard Type 2/CCS2 charging port located at the rear-left side of the electric car. It isn’t capable of bidirectional charging.

All models come with a Mode 2 home socket to Type 2 Schuko charging cable (10-amp, up to 2.3kW AC) and a Mode 3 Type 2 to Type 2 cable (16-amp, up to 11kW AC) to use at public AC charging stations.

The liftback features battery preconditioning when a DC charger destination is set via the built-in Google Maps and three regenerative braking settings, including one-pedal driving and ‘creep’ forward abilities.

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The Polestar 2 has achieved a five-star ANCAP safety rating under the 2021 criteria.

The premium electric liftback comes with auto emergency braking (AEB) with vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian detection; lane keeping assist; run-off road mitigation; oncoming lane mitigation; post-impact braking; road sign information; reversing camera and front- and rear parking sensors as standard.

The Pilot Pack Lite ($3400) adds reverse AEB; blind spot alert with steering support; rear cross traffic alert with brake support; adaptive cruise control with Pilot Assist; emergency stop assist; a 360-degree surround view camera; side parking sensors; LED front fog lights with cornering function; and automatically dimming wing mirrors.

All Polestar 2s boast an 11.15-inch portrait infotainment system and 12.3-inch digital driver’s instrument display using the Android Automotive system, which enables built-in Google Maps, Assistant, and other downloadable Play Store apps like Spotify music streaming and the Vivaldi web browser. It’s also capable of wired Apple CarPlay.

The Polestar Connectivity Plan and Google services are included for three-years using an integrated e-SIM. This enables over-the-air (OTA) software updates, Polestar Connect telematics and mobile app that can act as a digital key replacement.

The in-car system also includes Polestar apps like Range Assistant, Video Player (beta), and Air Quality.

The latter is part of the Plus Pack ($6000) which adds more advanced sensors to monitor the exterior and filtered interior particulate matter (PM2.5) pollutants and an improved heat pump – both which is new for the 2023 model-year.

It also includes a fixed panoramic glass roof; Harman Kardon speakers (replacing the eight-speaker, 250-watt system); WeaveTech (Charcoal or Slate) seats with Black Ash trim; fully electric adjustment seats including a front leg extension and backrest storage nets; heated rear seats, steering wheel and washer fluid wiper nozzles; ‘high-level’ interior illumination; 15-watt Qi wireless phone charging pad; tinted rear window; and a boot floor lid with bag hooks

Polestar 2 Standard Range Single Motor – $63,900 before on-road costs

The Standard Range Single Motor comes with as standard:

• 67kWh (usable) battery
• Single permanent magnet synchronous motor, front-wheel drive
• 19-inch diamond cut alloy wheels (245/45)
• Safety assistance suite (details above)
• 11.15-inch portrait infotainment system powered by Android Automotive OS with built-in Google Maps, three-year connectivity plan, and wired Apple CarPlay
• 12.3-inch digital driver’s instrument cluster
• Polestar Connect telematics and mobile app Polestar Digital Key
• Textile vegan seats (Charcoal or Zinc) with etched trim
• Charcoal headliner and textile floor mats
• Two-zone climate control with CleanZone pre-ventilation and multifilter
• Heated front seats
• Semi-electric, four-way power adjustable lumbar support front seats
• Driver’s seat memory
• LED headlights with active high beam and Thor’s Hammer daytime running signature
• Full LED rear tail light bar with light signature and auto dimming
• Frameless heated wing mirror
• Hands-free electric tailgate with foot sensor
• Keyless entry fob and waterproof activity key tag
• ‘Mid-level’ interior illumination
• Mode 2 and Mode 3 charging cables (details above)

Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor – $68,400 before on-road costs

The Long Range Single Motor gains:

• 75kWh usable battery

Performance Pack pictured

Polestar 2 Long Range Dual Motor – $73,400 before on-road costs

The flagship Long Range Dual Motor adds:

• Dual permanent magnet synchronous motors, all-wheel drive

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Options

• Standard paint – no cost: Magnesium
• Metallic paint – $1500: Snow; Thunder; Jupiter; Midnight; Space
• Pilot Lite Pack – $3400: Details above
• Plus Pack – $6000: Details above
• Performance Pack (Long Range Dual Motor only) – $8000: Details above
• Performance OTA upgrade (Long Range Dual Motor only) – $1600: Details above
• 20-inch 5-V spoke black silver alloy wheels – $3400: With Continental PremiumContact 6 tyres (245/40)
• Nappa Zinc leather seats with Light Ash wood trim – $6000: Also adds front ventilation seats

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The Polestar 2 is backed by a five-year, unlimited kilometre vehicle warranty and eight-year/160,000km battery warranty. The Sino-Swedish company promises it can keep at least 70 per cent of its battery health over that period, otherwise battery replacement can be offered for free.

Servicing is required every 24 months/30,000km with five-years of roadside assistance included.

Polestar bundles a five-year/100,000km free servicing plan with all new 2s. Servicing locations and capped price servicing costs are yet-to-be determined, but a Polestar customer support agent told zecar that it’s anticipated to be $300 to $500 per checkup.