EZZ

Thats pretty good. I was on the Ioniq forums that said the opposite...where they have to drive a bit before the 30 min restarts again. I've never charged longer than 25 minutes so 30 min should be plentiful (unless you own a BZ4X)

EZZ

https://electrek.co/2022/05/19/tesla...mojave-desert/

That 100 stall charger is actually tied with the Harris Ranch expansion. I wonder if EA is growing as fast as the Tesla network.

AMIRZA786

I actually found sort of a bug in my Polestar. I was taking my father for his dialysis, and I got a message "Key not detected". Car wouldn't go into gear. Tried several times getting in and out of the car, checked the fob to make sure it's working etc. I was just about to give up and borrow my brother's car when I saw my father had left the back door slightly open. Closed the door and everything was working again! Polestar says it's not a bug, vehicle is disabled for safety if a door is left open, but it's at the very least not categorized properly. "Door left open" message or insistent beeping would be better. But at least nothing broke lol

AMIRZA786

It's network is growing fast in California, nowhere near as fast as Tesla. They usually add 4 to 8 superchargers at a time while Tesla build parking lots full of chargers. Tesla has the numbers to justify it. On my way to SoCal, I passed at least 10 truckloads full of Tesla's, I didn't see any other brand of cars at all

AMIRZA786

A funny story from yesterday. My dad who is 88 (or is it 89?) years old came out to see my Polestar yesterday. He doesn't know much about electric cars, his only experience with one was when I was 5 or 6 years old (1972) when he bought me a battery operated Pop car, about the size or a little bigger than a Big Wheel (remember those??). It had a small electric motor and a lead acid battery about half the size of a car battery. It drove no more than 4 miles per hour, and it barely had the power to just make it up our driveway. You could drive it for 2 hours, and had to charge it for 4 or 5 hours. Anyway, he was a bit confused about it and trying to wrap it around his head. I even opened the frunk to show him...look, no motor! He was bewildered how I was able to drive it all the way from San Jose, 390 miles away. He couldn't picture something powered by a battery being able to drive that distance, and at any speed that would be even viable. I had to explain to him how the technology has changed, how the batteries are not the same batteries as yesterday, and how the motors actually produce the same or more power than gasoline powered motors. He continued to be a bit confused, but he's 88 years old, there are more important things on his mind

AMIRZA786

So far no visible signs of rock chips, which the I5 is famous for due to all the trucks. Lots of bugs though, they are especially active in the summer driving through the Central Valley



I was going to have my brothers neighbor who does mobile detailing wash it, but I'm leaving back for NorCal on Sunday and it's just going to get all dirty again. All in all, I'm extremely happy with this vehicle, and I'm seriously considering buying out the lease in 3 years. The terms of the lease are really good and I would end up paying less than $20k for the buyout.

On another note I want to make a correction from an earlier post. The Polestar battery pack does not support full 350 kW charging (although you can use 350 kW chargers) and supports up to 150 kW fast charging. That's not an issue because I can go from 20 percent to 80 percent in less than 30 minutes on a 150 kW Fast Charger. EA told me that they recommend I use the 350kW chargers when traveling because I will get 3 miles more per minute over the 150 kW fast chargers and use the 150 kW Fast chargers when doing city driving

FatherTo1

Thanks for sharing your travels in the Polestar 2, @AMIRZA786 . Does the 350kW charger really only add three more miles a minute over the 150kW charger? Oh wait, I understand now. I forgot about the part where the PS2 can’t accept full 350kW. Makes sense now. I have seen a couple PS2 in our area. It is a good looking car. Surprised that I see more of the Mach-e around town. I know the Mach-e is popular but it just doesn’t do it for me, exterior nor interior, and the whole UI and naming convention for different modes, such as “unbridled”. Ugh, give me a break. Sorry, got off track there. I haven’t seen many Kia/Hyundai EVs yet.

At first I thought it was so great to see chargers installed at our local Raley’s but the reality is those spots are rarely used. I mean, why would you when you can charge at home for cheaper. Although I’d like to see more chargers everywhere, it doesn’t make sense to charge somewhere for only 20-30 minutes unless it’s a fast DC charger. L2 charging speed doesn’t really make sense when running errands.

AMIRZA786

You are welcome. I'm guessing it just has to do with the higher output. Adding 3 extra miles per minute might not be a big deal, but when you are driving long distances, every extra mile counts. I'm here in Eastvale (Riverside County) staying with my brother, and today after dropping my father off for his dialysis I headed for an EA charger in Corona in a Walmart parking lot. I actually ran into my first EA charger that was down...there were 4 but one was offline. There was a women next to me who had a Mustang Mach-E, up close I think it's a very nice looking car, but you know what they say about looks being subjective . She was finishing up charging as I pulled in, so I took her spot. A few minutes later a Hyundai Ioniq 5 showed up (blue) and then a Kia EV6. Since the only empty charger was offline, they both left for another charging station which is a few miles away. I'm guessing they have less charging stations here because Riverside county you can kind of think of...big pickup trucks. Let's just say their biggest employer is Walmart and their most consumed product was once made by Walter White, God rest his soul

Yes, most charging is done at home and most people only charge when traveling or going long distances. In fact I charged only to 80 percent, and as I write this my Polestar is plugged in at my brother house

AMIRZA786

Finally returned home from SoCal, some final thoughts after driving more than 800 miles in my Polestar 2. Well my trip home was just as easy as my trip there. Not much difference from than when I take my ICE cars except 1) I stopped at a charging station instead of a gas station 2) the total cost of the trip was well under $50, 3) a way better driving experience.

Today being Sunday, it was a busy travel day, but I had no issues with finding and using super chargers. Promising honesty and full disclosure, there was one Super charger (350 kW) out of 4 in Bakersfield that was acting up, but I just moved to the next one. I called EA customer service to report it, and they answered right away, and told me they would have a tech out to look at it. Their customer service is amazing, no auto attendant hell, you get someone on the phone in less than 30 seconds.

Today I ran into a lot of different EV'S...3 Rivian's, 2 Ioniq 5's, another Polestar, and several Chevy Bolt's. One of the Ioniq 5 owners drove from Canada with his family and was heading to LA. He told me he was getting over 300 miles on a charge, said it was the best car he ever owned. But Bolt owners seem to be the most enthusiastic EV owners, the most hardcore, at least the ones I've met.

I've tried to dig to try and find any negatives when it comes to transitioning fully to EV'S, but the positives way out weight the negatives. Do I wish I had 50 more miles of range? Sure, but it's usually fully charged every morning, and for longer trips 15 minutes at a Fast charger adds 200 miles. Taking this 800 miles trip, there was no additional burdon on me, I made the same amount of stops as I usually do, and it took pretty much the same time as every trip I've made over the years. As far as range anxiety, I had none because Google maps shows you how much battery you will have at the end of your destination, and will never allow you to travel somewhere (or warn you) if you are heading to a destination where there are no chargers

EZZ

Congrats on the trip...i bet it was a pleasure to take the Polestar 2 for those long drives. Its funny that the Bolt drivers are the most enthusiastic as those cars have the weakest charging abilities compared to new cars. I haven't had range anxiety for years...i think after my first month in the EV, I realized how easy it was to find chargers and never worried about it since. On my long road trips, I actually have the browser up when I drive because it has Waze on the large screen showing all the cop sightings I bet your Google maps does that naturally? Can you actually get Waze on the Android interface?

I bet you avoided all the 350kw chargers this time

AMIRZA786

It definitely was fun, especially with all that instant torque and almost air like ride with zero engine and transmission NVH. As far as Bolt owners, I met one today that had a newer one, she couldn't stop raving about it. Also remember Google acquired Waze, so you also get speed trap alerts. Only saw one Highway patrol the whole trip.

I actually used a 350 kW charger in Bakersfield, and a 150 kW at Harris ranch.

I see why Tesla is building those 100 charging stations at Harris ranch. All the Tesla chargers were full and there were lots of Tesla's queued up waiting for chargers to become available. They were blocking the way, I had to go around a bunch of them. There are so many Tesla's on the road, I can't even count them

EZZ

I saw a black Polestar 2 today while driving around...brand new. Its a really sharp looking car in real life. I think the pictures don't do it justice. If the backseat was slightly bigger, I would have considered it. Tesla's are the new Camcord in California but at least Red Performance models are still relatively rare

FatherTo1

Plus Tesla needs to keep building out the Supercharger network to accommodate increased customers, as well as their plan to fully open up the network to non-Teslas at some point.

Glad your trip went well both directions. We will be traveling from Sacramento to LA for a week soon. If Harris Ranch is full then the expanded Kettleman Supercharger isn’t too far away and has its own Tesla lounge with clean bathrooms.

We were out on a walk around the neighborhood and thought I saw a Polestar 2 from afar but as we approached it turned out to be an S60 plug-in hybrid. That was surprising!

I am amused by all the happy Bolt owners — not in an insulting way but am genuinely happy that they’re happy! It just shows that EVs can work for many folks and still cost less than the average new car.

I admittedly still get a little range anxiety whenever we plan long trips with the Y. There are Superchargers aplenty but I still get the nagging feeling of being stranded before we even drive a foot. It takes a few extra minutes for me to look up Superchargers nearby our destination and then I’m good. I also have a ChargePoint account and PlugShare as backups. Our Model Y was built without CCS suppprt, due to parts shortage at the time. If I can get the charging circuit board retroactively replaced with CCS suppprt then I’ll be golden between Supercharging, EA, and everything in between.

AMIRZA786

My younger brother mentioned the back seats are not comfortable, he said that they are too straight. I bought it as my commute car, so not a big deal. I might replace the family car with a Model Y in the next couple of years.

I think I saw an S Plaid, it was black and really cool looking. The reason I think it's a Plaid is it looked really sporty, and he was driving fast on the 60 freeway near the 71 in the Pomona area. An Audi A8 tried to keep up and failed miserably lol

FatherTo1

In case anyone is contemplating a used Model 3, the 2018 Model 3 also has uncomfortable backseats due to the seat back being too upright for my liking. A coworker has a late-2019 Model 3 and the rear bench has thicker seat cushions as well as better angled seat back.

I was surprised to see a refreshed Model S parked outside on one of our walks around the neighborhood the other day. Not a Plaid but it had the landscape screen and different fog lights. It actually is the third refresh S I’ve seen driving in our area and we're not in a particularly affluent area. Have also seen Ferraris, McLaren, a couple Huracans, the new NSX, and a Bentley sighting too. Some good taste in cars.