We took a fully charged Polestar 2 out on the highway for our 70-mph range test and ended up slightly exceeding the vehicle's EPA highway rated range.
The Polestar 2's Combines EPA range rating is 233 miles (375 km), but its highway EPA range rating is 222 miles (357 km). It has a 78 kWh battery pack, of which 75 kWh is usable. We finished up with an average consumption of 32.1 kWh per 100 miles (19.9 kWh/100km). That's 3.115 mi/kWh (5.01 km/kWh) and if you multiply that by the 75 kWh that's usable, you come up with 233.6 miles (360 km). We drove a total of 233.4 miles (359.7 km), so we squeezed everything we could out of the battery pack.
I spoke to a Polestar representative after the range test and gave him the statistics and he told me the vehicle probably had less than 1,000 feet left in it when I pulled into the Electrify America charging station. I don't doubt that as I was having trouble maintaining 25 mph at the very end.
So if I just said we drove 233.4 miles, you're probably wondering why the title says the Polestar 2 finished up with 226 miles (364 km)? Allow us to explain.
The Polestar 2 was a model of consistency and returned nearly the same range in each of the four quarters of the range test. In each of the first three legs, we were able to cover 56 miles. In the final 25% of the test, we drove slightly farther and ended the range test at the 226 miles point when the vehicle could no longer safely maintain 70 mph. We did, however, drive an additional 7 miles on secondary roads at low speed.
- 100% to 75%: 56 miles
- 75% to 50%: 56 miles
- 50% to 25%: 56 miles
- 25% to 0%: 58 miles
- Total: 226 miles
Check out our full list of 70-mph range tests
The vehicle was losing power and unable to continue at 70 mph so we pulled off of the highway and drove the rest of the way to the Electrify America charging station on back roads.
More InsideEVs Highway range Tests
As always, we set the tires to the manufacturer's recommended pressure in the morning before driving when they are cold. We also check the speedometer against GPS and in the case of the Polestar, we found the speedometer was 1 mph fast at 70 mph, so we set the cruise control at 71 mph for the range test.
The weather was excellent for range and the wind was mild so it wasn't a factor. We had the air conditioning on at 68 degrees and on fan speed 3.
About our highway range tests:
We always like to mention that these range tests aren't perfect. There are variables out of our control like wind, traffic, topography, and weather. However, we do our best to control what we can. We do these 70 mph range tests to provide another data point for potential customers that are looking for as much information on driving range as they can get. We also understand that comparing our results to EPA ratings isn't "apples to apples" but it's the only standardized range test we can use for comparison. We're not trying to prove the EPA ratings right or wrong.
So check out the video and let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Source: State Of Charge (YouTube)