Our Yearlong-Review Polestar 2 EV Faces a 1,200-Mile Road-Trip Test
Crisscrossing California put our Polestar 2 to the ultimate test.
Bumping along a dirt road, my friend’s lidless coffee launching from its cup, I had to admit that the 2024 Polestar 2 is a city slicker’s car. As dutifully as it has served in MotorTrend’s yearlong review fleet, the fastback EV’s stiff suspension is far better suited for open stretches of highway or curvy mountain passes than a single-lane trail just off the shore of Fallen Leaf Lake, adjacent to California’s famous Lake Tahoe.
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How did we get here? It started with considerable planning. As we noted on an earlier road trip, our Polestar 2’s Google Maps route planning is overly conservative with driving range. The software tends to underestimate the car’s potential driving range and encourages shorter stints with charges up to just 70 percent of the battery’s maximum. During a drive to and from Arizona, when we were unfamiliar with the availability of chargers between Los Angeles and Tucson, we ended up making at least one unnecessary stop. This time, things would have to be different.
The Long Drive to Tahoe
Intent on not making that mistake again, I carefully considered the charging opportunities when charting a course from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe for a multiday backpacking trip. After more than 10,000 miles behind the wheel, I'd become confident in our Polestar 2’s ability to comfortably gobble up about 200 miles of highway driving along most routes if I’d charged the battery to 80 or 90 percent. Doing so leaves a healthy cushion of 10 to 20 percent to make a contingency plan if a charger is having issues.
As usual, I planned to charge at the excellent 10-stall station at Kettleman City, which is right off I-5 in California’s Central Valley. Reaching Polestar’s recommended maximum of 90 percent would guarantee I’d have enough range to get to the Sacramento region, which would then allow me to get to our friend’s place south of Tahoe after just two charges.
As Scottish poet Robert Burns would tell you, “The best-laid plans of mice and men oft' go awry,” and so did my dreams of a streamlined shot across most of California in our long-term EV. When it came time to set off at my customary 6 a.m. departure time, a friend’s last-minute change in travel plans saw him arriving in San Francisco rather than riding along with me for the whole journey. Not one to turn down a buddy in need, I redirected my route out of Kettleman toward SFO. Rather than using the Google Maps recommendation for chargers, which aren’t reliably functional on that route, I picked an Electrify America Station in San Mateo where I could replenish the battery and take a nap before heading to the airport.
Fortunately, my friend’s flight arrived around 3 p.m., so I had plenty of wiggle room to accommodate the extra charge in the itinerary. I needed some spare time, too. The generally reliable 350-kW charger in Kettleman City typically replenishes our Polestar 2’s battery from 10 to 90 percent in just over 45 minutes, but in this instance a charge from 12 to 92 percent took a glacial hour and five minutes. I used the infotainment system's built-in YouTube app to kill the time.
Then, when I arrived at the Electrify America station in San Mateo, all four stalls in the Bank of America parking lot were occupied by the usual smattering of Chevrolet Bolt EVs, a BMW i4, and a Volkswagen ID4. After the Lucid Air waiting in line in front of me secured a spot, I snagged one of the Bolt’s stalls and let the 150-kW charger do its thing. Going from 13 to 88 percent took 45 minutes, so I had some time for coffee, a nap, and some sightseeing. I took the Polestar to SFO’s cell phone lot and snapped some shots of it with the old-school United Airlines building’s retro paint scheme in the background.
The Polestar 2 handled the airport pickup like a champ. Its nimble handling, quick acceleration, and great sightlines helped me navigate through the afternoon traffic with complete confidence. It was a similar story when we braved San Francisco’s downtown congestion as we made our way northeast across the Bay Bridge. One-pedal driving came in handy, easing the frustration of the stop-and-go pattern that kept us from making a quick escape.
Putting the big city behind us, we got the call from the rest of our backpacking party asking if we could make yet another airport pickup, this time in Sacramento. Almost perfectly on our way, scooping yet another passenger was no issue for Polestar 2. Not only did the trunk have the space to swallow our backpacking gear, but we didn’t even need to flip the rear seats down after making the second pickup.
That detail proved important when we made a pit stop at an REI outside of Sacramento to grab some additional camping equipment we had forgotten to buy ahead of time. For the first time during my time with our Polestar, I found a free charger courtesy of Shell and Volta. We were in the store for an hour and 12 minutes, which allowed our EV to charge from 38 to 49 percent. It turned out to be an unnecessary stop; we ended up making our final charge of the day 26 miles later in the town of Auburn at a Motel 6. This 150-kW Level 3 station got us from 35 to 89 percent, in anticipation of getting to our trailhead the following day, after just 38 minutes. I drank a Red Bull; it was 9 p.m. and I had been on the road for 15 hours with another hour to go.
Wrapping up the drive in the dark through some stretches of twisty mountain freeway, we arrived at our friend’s cabin just before 11 p.m. The Polestar 2 performed admirably during the long slog; it carried us in comfort, and the safety systems did a good job helping my tired eyes by calling out cars in our blind spots. With some late-night pre-hike packing still to be done, I felt surprisingly fresh after our 650-mile day.
