Did Polestar Range Confuse Kilometers & Miles?

March 27th, 2018 by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

In our article about the Polestar 1 at Geneva, we referenced the odd all-electric range of 150 km (NEDC).

“Polestar is a PHEV and claims an all-electric range of 150km NEDC. This would be the first time the NEDC numbers are lower than the EPA numbers. Or the engineers have boldly succeeded were no others have gone before. Make a sleek, lightweight sport car with a 34kWh battery and a range of less than 100 miles.”

Now back from the show, these numbers are not just odd, they look impossible. This is 93.2 mi (NEDC), and normally the NEDC value is between 115% and 160% of the EPA value.

To compare this with other modern cars.

Model Efficiency Battery Range EPA Range 34 kWh EPA Range 34 kWh NEDC Hyundai Ioniq EV 25 kWh/100 mi 28kWh 124 miles 150 miles 336 km Chevrolet Bolt EV 28 kWh/100 mi 60kWh 238 miles 135 miles 302 km Tesla Model S 75D 33 kWh/100 mi 75kWh 259 miles 117 miles 262 km

For the conversion from “Range 34kWh EPA” to “Range km NEDC 34kWh,” the formula is:

EPA range times 1.6 (miles to km) times 1.4 (EPA to NEDC).



But it is strange to mention NEDC for a new car in Europe. NEDC is discontinued and succeeded by WLTP. The EPA to WLTP is a lot closer. We don’t have a lot of experience, but it looks like 105% to 110%.

A believable range for the Polestar is 150 miles WLTP, which would be the same efficiency as the Chevrolet Bolt.

If there was a slight communication and translation issue between the technical people in Sweden and China and the marketing department responsible for the display in Geneva, that could explain a 150 mi WLTP getting displayed as 150 km NEDC.

We have asked Polestar to comment on these numbers. If we hear back from them, we will update this article.











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