The latest data from the electric-car maker Polestar shows its new crossover vehicle beats a standard-range Tesla Model Y in terms of range—an impressive data point that highlights the caveats investors and car buyers should understand about EV technology.
The Environmental Protection Agency rated the single-electric-motor version of the new Polestar 2 crossover vehicle at 270 miles per charge. A standard-range Tesla (ticker: TSLA) Model Y gets about 244 miles per charge, so the Polestar beats the Tesla.
In the Polestar 2’s favor is that it has a bigger battery pack, at 78 kilowatt hours, while the standard-range Model Y comes with a 50 kilowatt-hour battery pack.
Now for the caveats.
Adjusting for size, the Polestar 2 gets about 3.5 miles per kilowatt hour of battery-pack capacity, while the Tesla gets 4.9 miles. An extended-range Model Y comes with a bigger battery pack, of about 75 kilowatt hours, and gets about 330 miles of per charge range.
The Model Y also has two motors and gets about 350 horsepower. The Polestar 2 in question has one motor, with about 230 horsepower. A two-motor Polestar 2 gets an estimated 250 miles per charge and offers an estimated 408 horsepower. More power uses, well, more power. Sports cars powered by gasoline also get worse mileage than economy cars.
Both cars are roughly the same size. Heavier or larger cars, of course, also require more energy to go the same distance.
With a market share of 70% of EVs sold in the U.S., Tesla is the vehicle maker newer entrants are trying to beat. The specifications on its cars are the de facto standard, and Polestar is doing pretty well relative to that bar.
“We are pleased to announce the longest range of any Polestar yet,” said Gregor Hembrough, head of Polestar in North America, in a company news release. “Alongside continual range improvements, we continue to offer new conveniences for our customers free of charge via OTA software downloads.”
OTA is short for over the air. And software updates can also improve range.
EV range isn’t all about batteries. Battery management can help too, just as a driver of an internal-combustion car can improve their mileage if they don’t floor the accelerator at every stoplight. EVs can use software to manage things like available power.
Polestar isn’t publicly traded yet, but it is going to be. The company is merging with the special-purpose acquisition company Gores Guggenheim (GGPI). Gores stock was down 0.2% in early trading Wednesday. The S&P 500 was flat, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped 0.1%.
Gores stock is at $11.30, valuing Polestar at about $24 billion, based on the 2.1 billion shares that will be outstanding when the merger is completed.
Polestar plans to launch one new EV a year in coming years. The Polestar 3 is due in 2022, while the 4 is due in 2023. And the company has plans for the Polestar 5 in 2024.
Corrections & Amplifications: A standard-range Model Y can go 244 miles on a single charge. An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited that figure as the number for an extended-range Model Y. An extended-range Model Y has about 330 miles of range.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
