► New electric Polestar 5 due 2024
► Taycan rival with 872bhp/664lb ft
► 800v tech, extreme fast charging
Polestar has revealed that its upcoming four-door GT, the Polestar 5, is capable of charging from 10-80% in just 10 minutes.
That charging speed was achieved during a test of battery supplier StoreDot’s so-called extreme fast charging technology. Similar tests have been conducted in lab conditions, but Polestar claims this was first test carried out with an actual vehicle, in this case a prototype 5.
The car used was fitted with a 77kWh battery featuring what Polestar describes as ‘silicon dominant’ cells. They have similar energy density to existing nickel manganese cobalt batteries, but don’t require extra cooling, StoreDot claims. Perhaps more significantly, the rate of charge actually speeded up during the test, from 310kW at 10% to 370kW at 80%. Polestar suggested that charge could add 200 miles of range to a mid-size EV in little more time than it takes to fill a fuel tank.
The Polestar 5 (pictured below alongside the 6 convertible) was unveiled in production-spec form in November 2023 at the massive Polestar day event in Low Angeles. It sat among Polestar’s entire roster of current and future production cars at the event, where the company announced a treasure trove of updates on its plans for the future.
Storedot has been hard at work developing the new battery chemistries, including solid state cells. The battery pack under the floor of the Polestar 5 feature’s StoreDot’s pouch cell design, which is claimed can give 100 miles of range with just five-minutes recharging from 50-80% – an assertion backed up by its performance in testing.
After the test, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said: “Time is one of life’s greatest luxuries. With this new technology, on longer journeys when drivers stop they’ll be able to spend less time charging and be back on the road faster than before. In fact, that stop time will be akin to what they experience with a petrol car today.”
The Polestar 5 made its public debut in camo’d form being slung up the hill at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
‘We love showing our latest prototypes to the public at Goodwood. With production now starting in the first quarter of 2024, it’s time for Polestar 3 to take its first-ever run up the famous Hill,’ Ingenlath said during the Festival. ‘The SUV for the electric age looks fantastic and will be an exceptional car to own. The latest Polestar 5 verification prototype is here, too. Developed in the UK, Goodwood is like home turf for our electric four-door GT.’
Where will the Polestar 5 fit in the range?
With new models launching annually, by the end 2024 the Polestar electric car range will look something like this:
Polestar 5: the lowdown
The Polestar 5, due in showrooms later in 2024, closely follows the template set by the Precept concept car of 2020. It’s a four-door grand tourer that’s a Scandi alternative to the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-Tron GT.
An aluminium intensive architecture underpins the 5. It’s the first fruits of Polestar’s new R&D base in the UK at the MIRA research facility in the Midlands, where a lightweight bonded platform is being developed to power top-end models. It’s the same technology deployed by the likes of Aston Martin plus inhouse Geely siblings Lotus and LEVC (the London taxi maker). That explains why Polestar has based its second engineering facility in the UK – to tap into that low-volume, high-tech expertise already existing nearby in Coventry.
Whereas the 2, 3 and 4 models use Volvo and Geely platforms, the 5 and further low-volume spin-offs will be based around the exceptionally stiff structure developed by a team led by Pete Allen, head of Polestar UK R&D and the engineering brains behind the Mercedes-McLaren SLR. He said: ‘The platform combines low-volume performance car attributes with modern technological advances to bring lightweight, high-rigidity sports car chassis technology into mass production.’
The bonded and riveted aluminium architecture is designed to be super-flexible, allowing a family of spin-offs to be deployed from the same hardware – including the 6 roadster.
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What’ll the production Polestar 5 look like?
The 2024 Polestar 5 looks very similar to the 2020 Precept concept car (pictured below). Head of design Maximillian Missoni told CAR magazine: ‘Polestars should have control and precision, but also emotion.’
Read more about the Polestar Precept concept here
It goes without a conventional grille, instead having a so-called SmartZone which houses all the safety sensors and driver assistance tech. But more noticeable is that, like the Polestar 3, the 5 doesn’t nave a conventional back window. Instead, it has a huge sweep of glass from the trailing edge of the bonnet to just behind the back seats. Rearward vision is provided by cameras.
The car seen at Goodwood rolled on giant 21-inch alloy wheels that give a purposeful stance, house brakes big enough to haul off the speed promised by 872bhp and a provide large contact patch for grippy handling.
No word yet on performance figures, but with an electric motor at each axle and a stout 664lb ft of combined torque, it’s surely going to be nipping at the heels of supercars. Silently…
Polestar: everything you need to know