Polestar showcased innovation and a strong path forward at its inaugural Polestar Day. Held in Los Angeles, California, the event gathered key executives and innovations in front of an audience of customers, investors and press. 
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO, says: “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.”
Polestar was joined at the event by executives from strategic partners including Bcomp, Göteborg Energi, Luminar, Mobileye and StoreDot.
The full range of future models was exhibited together for the first time, including Polestar 3, Polestar 4, Polestar 5, Polestar Precept, the Electric Roadster Concept and Polestar Synergy. Guests were able to test drive the latest MY24 Polestar 2, as well as ride in Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 development prototypes with Polestar engineers and experts. 
Polestar initiates V2G projects and develops Virtual Power Plant to support large-scale energy transition
Polestar is joining stakeholders in the electricity grid sector with a large-scale vehicle-to-grid (V2G) project in Gothenburg, Sweden, funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova and piloting a large fleet of Polestar 3 cars.
Together with 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 and trial tangible use cases that can be scalable and applicable across regions.
At the same time, they are forming a collaboration with the California Energy Commission and the independent, 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.
Bidirectional charging technology allows Polestar 3 cars to not only charge but also discharge energy from their batteries back to the individual home or the electricity grid. To help manage V2G integration, Polestar is developing a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) that links 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 grid demand and battery longevity optimisation. This will allow car owners to both contribute to the energy transition and monetise their EV while it’s parked, without any intervention.
The owner simply plugs in their vehicle and the VPP and smart charging tech will do the rest – optimising battery use for their transport needs and support the grid.
EV batteries have the potential to be useful on a large scale. With V2G solutions, EVs have the potential to become an important flexible energy resource and support electricity grids, beyond already being a means for more sustainable transportation.
“Vehicle-to-grid has the potential to not only benefit individual customers, but whole communities. The average car is parked 90% of the time. With the bi-directional charging capabilities of Polestar 3 and the VPP, we can explore business models and community solutions that can unlock the true potential of V2G and enable owners to support the energy transition when they don’t need their car for driving,” says Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO.
Accelerated electrification of mobility, and industry paired with an expansion of renewable electricity, puts higher demands on the available capacity in electricity grids. Production from variable energy sources, such as wind and solar, is dependent on weather and cannot easily be planned and matched to demand. To avoid extensive and costly investments in grid expansion and reinforcement, there is a need for flexible energy storage to help balance supply and demand[1].
As EV adoption continues to grow, EV batteries will become a useful existing storage solution for both national, regional, and local grids.
“Vehicle to Grid will have an impact on the electrical grid and how our customers can actively participate and contribute to increased stability in the grid. The car will become a natural element and a potential resource for this. V2G will also influence how electricity grid companies plan their grids in the future,” says Peter Söderström, Manager of Innovation & Market Outlook at Vattenfall Eldistribution.
“V2G technologies turn EVs into virtual power plants, making homes and the grid more resilient while putting money into the pockets of drivers. The CEC is excited to have Polestar partner with innovators in California to advance their V2G plans,” says Commissioner Patty Monahan of the California Energy Commission.
The Gothenburg pilot project’s test phase is planned to commence in Gothenburg during the first half of 2024 and run for two years. The pilot will include a large fleet of Polestar 3 cars, aiming to become one of Europe’s largest V2G pilots, featuring essential representatives from national and local energy infrastructure.
The California pre-study begins in December 2023 and runs until October 2024.
Expands manufacturing footprint to South Korea
Confirms the next step in diversifying its manufacturing footprint. Manufacturing of Polestar 4 in Hangzhou Bay, China, will be complemented with manufacturing in Busan, South Korea, expected to start during the second half of 2025.
An agreement has been reached between Polestar, Geely Holding and Renault Korea Motors (RKM), that will bring contract manufacturing of Polestar 4 vehicles for the North American and domestic South Korean markets to RKM’s Busan plant.
Located with direct access to exporting ports, the Busan plant has 23 years of experience in vehicle manufacturing and approximately 2,000 employees. The Busan plant aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030, and to become carbon neutral by 2040, through a combination of energy efficiency improvements and the adoption of renewable energy sources.
Their asset-light approach to development and manufacturing enables it to benefit from the competence, flexibility and scalability of its partners and major shareholders, without needing to invest in its own facilities.
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO, says: “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 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.”
Stéphane Deblaise, CEO of Renault Korea Motors, says: “Polestar 4 will be the first full battery electric vehicle produced in the Busan plant, symbolising Renault Korea Motors renewal and our ambitious vision for the future. We are very proud of this new partnership and grateful to the brand for their trust.
“From a wider perspective, we see further opportunities for Renault Korea Motors in the near future, thanks to our strong shareholders, Renault Group and Geely Group.”
Polestar 4 was first launched at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2023. The SUV coupé is the second SUV in the Polestar line-up and in addition to incorporating design cues first seen on concept cars, it is also the fastest Polestar production car to date. Polestar 4 is positioned between Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 in terms of size and price.
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 safety and the future autonomous driving capabilities of Polestar 4 with the integration of Luminar’s next-generation LiDAR technology with Mobileye’s Chauffeur platform.
Announced in August, Polestar 4 is planned to be the first production car to feature Mobileye Chauffeur, 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.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) uses lasers to create a highly detailed 3D map of the surrounding environment. Luminar’s LiDAR is uniquely engineered from chip-level up and with a higher wavelength, enabling the greatest level of performance and safety capabilities for production cars. When coupled with Mobileye’s Chauffeur platform, the result will be a turnkey, safer and high-performing automated system.
Building on the existing relationship between Luminar and Mobileye, the integration of Luminar LiDAR into Polestar 4 also expands the partnership between Luminar and Polestar which was announced in January 2023.
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO, says: “Polestar 4 comes with the highly advanced Mobileye SuperVision ADAS from the start, and we look forward to expanding that with Mobileye Chauffeur in the future. Being able to add Luminar’s industry-leading LiDAR to the platform’s development increases the strong link between our companies and brings even more world-class technology to Polestar 4.”
Prof. Amnon Shashua, CEO of Mobileye, says: “Combining our base SuperVision with an independent second redundant perception system – consisting of Luminar LiDAR, radars and an imaging radar – enables true redundancy and a level of accuracy that lays the foundation for fully autonomous driving.”
Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar, says: “After collaborating with Mobileye on a solution since 2019, the true fruits of our labour are being realised for the first time by transitioning out of R&D and into a production vehicle with Polestar. Together, we look forward to raising the benchmark in the industry for what a safe and autonomous future can look like.”
Polestar and StoreDot to showcase extreme fast charging technology
Polestar is working with StoreDot to bring their extreme fast charging (XFC) technology to production. Dubbed ‘100-in-5’, it sees 100 miles (160 km) of range charged in just five minutes, can be integrated into battery pack formats that are already available, and does not need to rely on a battery pack design revolution.
At Polestar Day in Los Angeles, StoreDot’s XFC pouch cell charging demonstration was shown alongside prototype battery module that integrates XFC technology. As part of the ongoing advanced engineering project, the two companies plan to demonstrate StoreDot’s XFC technology at full scale in a Polestar 5 prototype in 2024.
Thomas Ingenlath, CEO, says: “StoreDot is making huge strides forward in the development of their extreme fast charging technology and we are a proud investor and partner in its evolution. StoreDot’s pioneering extreme fast charging batteries, combined with our upcoming top-of-the-line electric powertrain, can revolutionise the ownership experience for EV owners with the ability to recharge in minutes.”
Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO, says: “Polestar has been one of our key investors and collaborators as we develop our XFC technology. Next year we’ll show how a full-scale battery module developed by Polestar with this revolutionary technology can be charged. Charging anxiety will soon be a thing of the past.”
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