Polestar 2 vs. Model 3, can you still choose Tesla without thinking?
In the pure electric vehicle market, Tesla's position is unquestionable. Unless it focuses on the low-end market, no new energy vehicle company can avoid comparison with Tesla. However, Tesla is not an insurmountable mountain. No, here comes a challenger - Polestar
2.
Perhaps "Polestar" is a little unfamiliar to many people. In fact, Polestar used to be a high-performance independent sub-brand like BMW's M-power and Mercedes-Benz's AMG. It was not until Volvo was acquired by Geely that it slowly transformed into Polestar Motors, the high-performance electric vehicle brand owned by Volvo and Geely. Positioned as a mid-sized luxury high-performance coupe, the first version of Polestar
2 is priced at RMB 418,000 and will compete head-on with the Tesla Model 3. So how to choose between these two cars?
Technology comparison - the advantage of historical accumulation
Although Polestar 2 has a Chinese background, it is a real global model like Model
3. Polestar's three main markets are Europe, China and North America. In Europe, Polestar is mainly sold to major electric vehicle markets such as Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. In addition, like Tesla, Polestar has also established a factory in China.
However, in terms of manufacturing technology and quality management, the gap between traditional car companies and emerging forces has emerged. Let’s talk about Tesla first. In fact, Tesla’s overall quality control has been criticized by consumers. Even in the United States, Tesla’s complaint rate has always been high. After Tesla's Shanghai factory was completed and put into production, the quality of the domestically produced Model
3 also failed to improve. Abnormal noises, leaks, and uneven gaps all reflect Tesla's extremely poor assembly process.
Let’s take a look at Polestar 2. Currently, Polestar has two factories in Chengdu and Taizhou, the first in China. Polestar
2 is produced in Taizhou. This factory is invested by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The factory is designed and built in accordance with Volvo standards and is a global manufacturing base with Volvo responsible for daily operations.
The Taizhou factory not only produces Polestar brand products, it is also the home of Lynk & Co products; of course, Polestar's higher positioning is reflected in the manufacturing process, which means better materials and higher precision. Compared with There are already competitors on the market, which is undoubtedly its advantage. For example, in the stamping process, in addition to traditional manual quality inspection, the stamping workshop will regularly conduct blue light inspection on components. By comparing the scanned values ??after irradiation with the specified accuracy, the detection accuracy is more stringent than manual inspection.
Quality control is a system, and the formation of this system needs to be gradually accumulated through day-to-day practice. After all, Tesla did not start trial production of the Model
S at its Fremont factory until 2012. As a layman in car manufacturing, Tesla needed to retrain all assembly workers and teaching robots. There are deficiencies in equipment technology and quality management. Geely-Volvo, which has decades of experience in car manufacturing, has no worries in this regard.
Material comparison - technological simplicity VS environmentally friendly luxury
When you spend 400,00 to choose a pure electric model, you are definitely not just getting a green card. After all, if you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, no one can accept it without a sense of luxury.
However, for pure electric vehicles, they often represent a new era of design concepts. For example, Tesla Model
3, with its rounded shape and grid-less design, Tesla seems to be using a willful way to show its design philosophy.
The Polestar 2, which originated from Northern Europe, seems to be more European rigorous, and the overall design adopts a lot of straight lines and corners. Unlike the Model 3, Polestar
2 adopts semi-sealing treatment. I have to say that the Nordic style of Polestar 2 is in contrast to the new American style of Model 3, but they each have their own merits.
But only when you enter the car can you find the real difference between the two models. The interior design of Model
Model 3 is considered advanced even now, because apart from the steering wheel and a large screen, there is nothing much to talk about. Yes, Model
3 does not have a dashboard. But I have to say that this simple design really enhances the sense of technology. But I personally don’t like the idea of ??almost completely replacing physical buttons with large screens. After all, the convenience of operation during driving has really dropped a lot.
In comparison, Polestar 2 seems much more "traditional". The interior as a whole follows the Nordic Scandinavian style, with black as the main color, focusing on simplicity and practicality.
Polestar
The center console of Polestar 2 uses a variety of fabrics. The top is a soft slush material, the middle is a hard material wrapped in fabric, and there is a wood grain veneer below. Different material combinations enhance the interior. In terms of creating a sense of luxury, the editor thinks it does a better job than Model
3.
In addition, compared to Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2 uses more recyclable and natural materials. For example, the seats are made of environmentally friendly fabric-Weave, which is used in professional diving suits.
Tech high-tech material is durable, waterproof and dustproof, and easy to clean. It also reduces the weight of the entire vehicle by 7.5 kilograms, meeting the lightweight requirement.
Power comparison - Polestar is approaching Tesla, but the torque is slightly better.
Of course, some people buy pure electric cars because they like violent straight-line acceleration. There is no doubt that the current three-electric technology benchmark for pure electric models is Tesla, so in this section we will take a look at the performance comparison between Polestar
2 and Model 3.
As the first pure electric car in the Polestar family, Polestar 2 has many differences from the Polestar 1 equipped with a plug-in hybrid system in terms of power. Motor four-wheel drive pure electric drive system (each motor can provide a maximum output power of 150 kW and a maximum output torque of 330 Nm), with a combined maximum power of 300 kW (408 horsepower) and a peak torque of 660 N·m, 0-100km/ h acceleration time is 4.7 seconds.
In terms of battery life, Polestar
2’s power comes from a 71kWh battery pack composed of 324 batteries, with an NEDC cruising range of 450km. The battery pack cell is CATL’s square-shell ternary lithium, and the battery pack is enclosed in the chassis structure.
Corresponding to Polestar 2 is the Model 3 Performance high-performance version, the domestic version of Model 3
The front and rear motor powers of the Performance high-performance all-wheel drive version are 137kW and 202kW respectively (approximately 186Ps and 275Ps), the 0-100km/h acceleration time is 3.4 seconds.
Compared with the 2019 imported Model 3 Performance high-performance all-wheel drive version, the domestic model has a cruising range of 635km under NEDC conditions, an increase of 40km.
Although the high-performance version of Model 3 will be stronger in terms of straight-line acceleration, Polestar 2 can provide a maximum traction of 1,500kg with its greater torque. Tesla Model
3 The maximum towing capacity is 910kg, which is still far behind Polestar 2. In addition to its excellent traction performance, Polestar
2 also provides abundant storage space. The storage space in the trunk reaches 405L, and it also has a hatchback tailgate design. In addition, the car is also designed with a front trunk with a capacity of 35L, and more storage space can even be expanded through a roof rack. Overall, the practicality is better than Model
3.
According to the latest data, Polestar 2 has received good response in the Nordic market, with sales in Norway and Sweden exceeding Model 3 in August. Polestar 2
The number of new car registrations in Norway and Sweden in August was 504 and 284 respectively, while the Tesla Model 3 registrations in the same month were 264 and 263 respectively.
But after all, the Nordic region is Polestar’s hometown, so the brand recognition is naturally higher. When it comes to the Chinese market, this situation has been reversed 180°. Although Tesla, which has occupied the mid-to-high-end pure electric market, has a lot of negative issues, overall it is still a benchmark in its class.
But in terms of overall product strength, Tesla is currently not as good as Polestar in terms of overall craftsmanship and car-building concepts, except for its absolute performance in straight-line acceleration and pretty good intelligent systems. . In other words, Polestar
2 is a true new energy vehicle, while Tesla is more like a smart electric car toy. By the time traditional car companies really put their efforts into the new energy field, Tesla's spring may be over.