Dr M gets acquainted with Polestar 2

By CARSIFU | 10 December 2022


Dr Mahathir checking out the Polestar 2 on Friday, accompanied by DRB-Hicom officials. — Photos from facebook.com/TunDrMahathir


PETALING JAYA: Polestar 2 is in Malaysia. Not officially.

DRB-Hicom shipped in the model that was presented for former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's viewing. After giving the electric fastback a once-over, he  declared he was impressed, according to a Facebook post he made on Friday.

He said he liked the minimalist design approach to Polestar's first electric car. And the availability of a frunk won praise from the Proton founder.

Dr Mahathir said he hoped that Proton would be able to introduce an electric car one day as it was the future of mobility.

He said he was informed that the unit before him had a 400km range and that it could get a full charge in under two hours. Home charging to 100% would take around seven hours, he added.

Mahathir_Polestar 2 (2)


Challenges remain, he said, to ensure electric cars are truly green as power from the grid are often driven by polluting fossil fuels. He also pointed out that public charging is no longer a big issue as there are over 1,000 public chargers nationwide, with more to come.

In 2017, Polestar was set up as a new, standalone Swedish premium electric vehicle manufacturer. Founded by Volvo Cars and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Polestar enjoys specific technological and engineering synergies with Volvo Cars and benefits from significant economies of scale as a result. Geely also has a 49.9% stake in Proton.

The Polestar 2 was unveiled in 2019.

Three variants are available with range from 420km to 540km.

The existing 300 kW (408 hp) dual motor setup with a large 78 kWh battery pack, is joined by two front-mounted single motor variants – available either with the same long-range battery and a 170 kW motor, or a smaller, standard-range battery (64 kWh) and a 165 kW motor.

 

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