Polestar this week showed off its vision for the future: new technology and next-generation vehicles that the Swedish electric vehicle company, owned by China’s Geely Holdings, hopes will boost sales and spur an era of growth.
The inaugural North Star Day event in Los Angeles, designed to convince investors and journalists about its potential for a profitable future, stood in stark contrast to its present. Just a day earlier, the company revised its outlook, cut its 2023 delivery targets, announced new investment from Volvo and Geely and told the market it will still need another $1.3 billion in external financing in debt and equity until it is break cash flows. Even in 2025.
Walking that line between the company’s financial reality and its product aspirations put even more attention on the event itself.
“Polestar Day has, of course, great meaning for us in portraying and highlighting this mix of innovation that is coming together here,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told TechCrunch in an interview during the event.
And it was a mixed bag: The company showed off its full future lineup, including the Polestar 3, 4, 5, Polestar Precept, Polestar Electric Roadster Concept, and Polestar Synergy. He also made a handful of announcements that, at least nominally, brought together his vision for the future and offered investors and journalists rides in the upcoming Polestar 3 and Polestar 4.
Image credits: Polar Star
The focus on upcoming models, ultra-fast charging, integration of automated driving sensors, future vehicle-to-grid technology and manufacturing announcements suggest Polestar is taking an all-of-the-above approach to growth. even when facing headwinds.
The headwinds are considerable. Adoption of electric vehicles has slowed, especially in the luxury market. The electric vehicle industry has been further crippled by high interest rates, tariff pressures to bring production to the United States, economic uncertainty in China and two wars around the world.
Polestar, a small maker of luxury, high-performance electric vehicles, is in a tougher position, even with large-scale investors like Volvo and Geely. The company only has one model, the Polestar 2, in the US market.
With a recent downward revision to global sales for 2023, all eyes are on Polestar 3 and Polestar 4.
Bet on Polestar 3 and Polestar 4
“When we talk about what’s going to happen to this company in the next 18 months,” Ingenlath said, “these products are coming to market, and at the same time we sit back and make sure that in 2025 we are.” , a profitable company whose cash flow does not generate losses.”
The Polestar 3 is scheduled to begin deliveries in the US in early 2024 and the Polestar 4 will enter production soon, with deliveries in 2025.
Ingenlath says the company is counting on Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 to reach its 2025 break-even goals.
“Polestar 3 and 4 are key enablers; they are the core of the business,” he said, underscoring the company’s focus on price over volume.
First trips: Polestar 3 and Polestar 4
Image credits: Abigail Bassett
The company offered attendees the opportunity to ride pre-development versions of its upcoming Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 on short 10-minute trips through Santa Monica Airport in stop-and-go traffic.
The Polestar 3 is the more “luxurious” and larger of the two vehicles, with an SUV-like roofline, ample rear-seat space, and a fully digital cockpit. It’s also the first vehicle the company has built on an entirely new platform. From the back seat, the Polestar 3 is quiet, cavernous and comfortable, with plenty of legroom and headroom. It comes with air suspension that lends itself to enough road feel to feel connected, without heaviness, making it agile and light.
There’s a single vertical infotainment screen in the center of the dashboard and a driver information screen attached to the steering wheel column. While you control most of the vehicle’s functions (such as one-pedal mode and different driving modes), through the main infotainment screen, the headlight and wiper controls are on the stalk and within easy reach. hand.
The Polestar 4 is the line’s coupe SUV with a sloping roofline; Believe it or not, it has no rear window. That untraditional omission allowed designers to give rear passengers more head and legroom, according to the company. The Polestar 4 has a slightly shorter wheelbase than the 3, but from a rear passenger perspective, it doesn’t feel claustrophobic, even without the rear window.
In the Polestar 4, the driver’s digital rearview mirror. The sunroof extends just behind the crowns of the rear passengers’ heads so it doesn’t look like a coffin, although there’s no glass behind the seats. The ambient interior lighting almost makes the lack of a rear window go unnoticed.
The Polestar 4 also has a large central infotainment screen, but it’s oriented horizontally, rather than vertically, and the driver information screen is mounted on the dashboard, rather than on the steering column. There’s no HUD on the Polestar 4, and unlike the 3, it comes with steel spring suspension. That setup makes it feel harsher on bumpy roads and translates undulations and heavy motion sensations to passengers in the rear seats.
The technology and the ride experience weren’t the surprising part. Instead, it was how excited the customers who joined TechCrunch on cars were about the vehicles of the future. A customer from Indiana told us that he had a Polestar 3 on order and during the trip he was so excited by the infotainment screen features that he couldn’t keep his hands off them.
Batteries of the future, V2G and automated driving
Polestar also used its inaugural event to highlight technology partnerships with companies such as Luminar, Mobileye and StoreDot, a battery company that Polestar invested in last year.
Most of these technology partnerships, like its relationship with lidar company Luminar, are not new; The companies had announced a agreement to work together In February of this year and in August 2023, plans were announced to incorporate lidar along with Mobileye Chauffeur technology.
Apparently, the goal was not to make new announcements, but to show what capabilities these next-generation vehicles could have.
For example, the Polestar 4 will have lidar, which will support an advanced driver assistance system that will provide automated driving on the roads. That system, however, is not fully prepared.
During the presentation, Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua, who was not present but had previously recorded his remarks, showed a video of a Polestar 4 using Mobileye technology to navigate a roundabout. While the vehicle was able to enter traffic, merge and exit successfully without driver intervention, it was not the smoothest execution. The video showed the prototype vehicle stopping and starting when entering traffic at the roundabout, as an unsafe driver would do. During his recorded comments, Shashua said the video was recorded last week.
Image credits: Polar Star
Perhaps one of the most intriguing companies highlighted at the event was StoreDotan Israel-based battery company that makes pouch-type batteries with what it calls extremely fast charging or XFC capabilities.
North Star first invested in StoreDot in May 2022 and now aims to incorporate silicon anode battery technology called “0-100 in 5 minutes” into future electric vehicles.
StoreDot CEO and co-founder Doron Myersdorf was on hand at Thursday’s event, demonstrating a small-scale model of the XFC battery technology, charging some cells to 80% in just under eight minutes.
StoreDot has developed the battery cells, while Polestar, a “key investor and collaborator,” has worked alongside the company to develop the battery chassis and liquid cooling system that keeps the fast-charging cells below 40 degrees C, a critical point for efficient charging. . Myersdorf said the technology had been tested through 1,000 fast charging cycles and said there was no more battery degradation than would be found when charging slowly.
“Slow charging and fast charging are the same thing for this technology,” Myersdorf said, “so you could basically get a half-million-mile warranty” on the battery. He also pointed out that the battery doesn’t simply run out after 1000 charges, but will only charge to 80%. Polestar and StoreDot say they will demonstrate the jointly developed battery pack at full scale in a Polestar 5 prototype sometime in 2024.
Polestar also announced vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, plans in Sweden and California. The company has agreed to be part of a coalition of energy distributors and suppliers, home charging providers and university researchers for a pilot project leveraging V2G technology and a fleet of Polestar 3s in and around Gotenberg, Sweden. In California, Polestar announced it will participate in a pre-study to create a roadmap for V2G technology in the state. The project in Sweden will last two years, starting in 2024, and the previous study in California will begin in December and will last one year.
It’s still very early days for this type of technology and there are many obstacles to overcome, from legislative fights to infrastructure. However, if V2G technology works as Polestar hopes, it would make Polestar’s new Virtual Power Plant or VPP usable. Polestar said the cloud-based VPP system would allow Polestar3 owners to return power to the grid when their vehicle is parked, whether at home or in public.
The way to follow
As the electric vehicle industry continues to contract, smaller automakers like Polestar will have to act quickly to stay afloat.
Ingenlath says he is optimistic about Polestar’s future.
“We shouldn’t be too surprised by the EV market,” Ingenlath said, referring to weakening demand for EVs. “I mean, the crucial thing is how prepared are you as a company to go through a valley like that?” he continued. “We will definitely survive.”
