The EV True Believer

For Hans Pehrson, Polestar’s head of Research and Development, this industry-wide trend is a welcome change, one that he and a small number of other engineers have been working towards for years. Pehrson could see the wide-ranging and multi-faceted applications of electric vehicles decades before the rest of the industry, and has been consistently pushing for EV normalisation. Unfortunately, the industry at large could not or would not understand the direction Pehrson wanted to take.

As the head of R&D for one of the most progressive EV brands in the world, Pehrson is finally in a position to affect the change that he’s been tirelessly championing for years. From Polestar’s perspective, there’s no better person to have at the R&D helm. From Pehrson’s perspective, there’s no better place to be. So what sets Polestar apart from the others?

“It’s a company fully focused on producing EV cars, but it also has access to a long history of automotive production, which is quite rare”, says Pehrson. “A ‘pure electric’ company which is focused on doing things the right way, which can also lean on the massive knowledge that Volvo has, is the perfect place to develop EV cars.”

Pehrson’s passion for EV has fuelled his work for decades, from his days as a hybrid/EV systems line manager working to develop electric propulsion systems (EPS), to his work with the London EV Company (LEVC, then known as the London Taxi Company) creating all-electric taxis. The C30 Electric, Volvo’s first fully electric car, was one of Pehrson’s creations and one that he still drives daily. It also netted him a Volvo Technology Award from former CEO Stefan Jacoby, an acknowledgement of the vehicle’s unique mix of technology and design.

Now, Pehrson is going all in, finally in the right place to fully realise his ideas, with a focus for his energy and enthusiasm: the Polestar 2. The first car from Polestar to be fully electric, it serves as the vanguard for all Polestar cars to come. Polestar is going all electric and never looking back.

This approach is an affirmation of Pehrson’s opinion that a change needs to happen. “We cannot continue the way that we do,” he claims. “I know why I go to work. We, as citizens of the planet, need to replace all cars.” One of the forces that drives Pehrson is this need to see an improvement in the way we manufacture and use vehicles, and it’s one of the reasons why the industry’s sudden shift towards electrification doesn’t feel like vindication for him, at least not yet.