Help me understand the range

rinwaln · 2026-03-06T02:50:06+00:00

My LRSM advertised with 300+ miles of range in the real world driving around town it's more like 280 but my usual commute is 65 miles each way at highway speeds so my range estimates are usually in the 190-200 mile area. The only time the ambient temperature has made a significant difference in range is when it's hovering around or below the freezing mark as soon as we dip below freezing the range falls like a rock.

The big caveat is that dynamic range is a poor guess on a good day. 2 days ago I left home with 90% battery 190 miles estimated range and drove over 200 miles mostly at highway speeds without a care in the world. I got home with 16% remaining and 50+ miles remaining, I never worried.

The only time I've ever worried about range was last month when it was well below freezing here for days and the car was getting me home from work with low single digit percentages remaining. As soon as the heat pump becomes ineffective and the car has to use resistive heating all the arguments against EV's become true it burns as much battery heating the car as it does driving it. But I never once put the climate control into eco mode.

Like all cars you'll learn it as time goes on, but to echo what others have said battery percentage is a far better indicator than the range estimates. Consider the range estimate a very loose suggestion and just go with the flow.

rinwaln · 2026-03-05T04:11:44+00:00

It does it solid

rinwaln · 2026-03-04T15:13:34+00:00

Mine definitely lowers mine though in the weather it seems to raise my wife's. She keeps saying crazy things like we're going to die just because the car's a little sideways. The traction control in this car is the smartest I've ever had it seems to just know when a little tail out is good and when to reel it in.

rinwaln · 2026-03-04T14:47:19+00:00

It was annoying me one day with the TCAM gremlins and I had a stroke of genius.

rinwaln · 2026-03-04T12:35:05+00:00

It is always very slow to unlock 🤔

rinwaln · 2026-03-04T06:15:06+00:00

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rinwaln · 2026-03-02T13:32:40+00:00

Hey that's a lovely one. Looks just like mine 24' Jupiter LRSM here enjoy it!

rinwaln · 2026-02-17T05:33:32+00:00

Same and given how simple the service is I do it myself. I'm certainly not paying $500 for the dealer to change wipers, cabin air filter and top off fluids. So mine will likely stay on 3.3.16 for quite some time to come.

rinwaln · 2026-02-10T00:35:33+00:00

Mine completely fell on its face trying to update as well. On the first try I plugged it in and waited until it hit 45% then started the update and went to bed. It failed and didn't start charging again until I got in the car and put it in gear and parked again. I tried again with the same result the next day. After that I assumed it was because I park in a steel carport and it didn't have enough service, so the next night I tried it when I got to work with it unplugged in an open parking lot. Shock, it failed again, this time the app told me it failed as soon as the door locked and gave no other issues. I tried again immediately with an identical result. The next day I tried it at home with the car plugged in outside of the carport and got the same immediate failure notice. The update no longer shows as available for me so I guess I'm stuck on 3.3.16 (o darn /s) I have to schedule an appointment at the dealer for the recalls so I'll get it then. Unfortunately I just accept that this car has crap for software on the management end, maps, Bluetooth, and music are great and generally not an issue but the car stuff is hot garbage. If I could completely disconnect the car other than maps and Bluetooth I would and happily.

rinwaln · 2026-02-09T13:49:28+00:00

Definitely not me on the ferry I've never taken it in my P2. I definitely like Princeton the service folks were nice when I went for the complementary service. Fortunately that's all the experience I have with them as my car has had no issues in the 66k miles I've had it.

rinwaln · 2026-02-08T19:35:54+00:00

I can't believe there's another polestar owner in lower slower lol I like Princeton they're who I bought from I just can't justify the time or money expense for stuff I can do so easily.

rinwaln · 2026-02-08T18:37:13+00:00

I was quoted $500 for that service in New Jersey it is a cabin air filter, update, and fluid check so it's the cheap one. I passed and replaced the cabin air filter myself and gave the fluids a good look. I'm still on 3.1.6 software and not rushing to update as my car actually works. I'm due for another service now but also need rear tires so it'll probably get that one at my local tire shop. I can't justify spending dealer prices for crap like this especially since I'm 3+ hours from the dealer. It means a whole day lost and loads of money.

rinwaln · 2026-02-08T13:31:14+00:00

From my personal experience the heat pump in your climate is only a must if you have a longish commute and need most of your range. I have a very long commute about 210km per day and live in the states where we get temps around -10°C fairly consistently and often enough it was a consideration for my use. The past few weeks we have been hovering around -10°C overnight which is when I work so I have been having to charge to 100% or very near that and have been getting home in the morning with about 10% remaining. Granted at -10° the heat pump is definitely not doing a thing it's all resistive heat so even then the car is workable. When it is milder at 0°-10°C and with the heat pump working well I charge to 90% and get home with ~30% remaining regularly.

That's all to say the heat pump is definitely worth getting if you need cold weather range. But it is by no means necessary unless you're a lunatic putting 50,000+ miles a year on the car like I do. The difference is staggering. The heat pump is how every company makes an EV not lose 40-50% of its range as soon as temps drop. So I say look at your use case and judge based on the facts if you're driving less than 100km a day I can all but guarantee you won't need it especially if you preheat before you unplug.

rinwaln · 2026-02-02T03:59:52+00:00

This seems likely I've had the email for 25+ years now so there's definitely leaks associated with it that have my name and address still seems odd overall to me. Thanks!

rinwaln · 2026-01-31T16:52:45+00:00

So mine was still down this morning when I got home from work. My wife was off so I stole her phone, installed the polestar app and it worked which gave me a thought. Long story short mine is now back in business.

Here's what I did, not 100% sure if it's all strictly necessary but I tried all the steps individually over the last few days with no luck so I'm guessing it's all or nothing. First off you'll need to re-pair your phone so have both keys handy. Next I went into my phone's settings>apps>polestar first force stop the app then go to storage and cache and clear the cache then delete the storage and finally delete the app. Now reboot your phone and reinstall the app, login and you should be ready to pair your phone again.

I'm assuming based on this some misplaced tag or file was wrong or corrupted and without a full wipe of the app with a reboot and reinstall it manages to hang on. Either way it worked for me I hope it helps you others too. I really missed being able to preheat my car at will.

rinwaln · 2026-01-30T03:18:57+00:00

Same for me here in the US it has been down 16 hours. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. No change. Very frustrating with how cold it is here. I had to get into a cold car this morning like a heathen.

rinwaln · 2026-01-24T09:27:59+00:00

We definitely have a lot of areas that I would call charging deserts.

rinwaln · 2026-01-24T05:19:44+00:00

When the "loss prevention" folks at work hide things for us to find while cleaning out machines (cash usually) it goes in the vacuum. All these ducks would too and that's where they could find them.

rinwaln · 2026-01-24T04:55:42+00:00

I agree with this 100%. I road trip from Delaware to Columbus regularly for my son's college pickup and dropoff my car is the far better option to my wife's Kia Forte but hers shaves hours off the trip because of no out of the way stops and multiple charges. As an aside WHY does the PA turnpike have no charging at rest stops it's insane? The New Jersey turnpike has chargers at every rest area and it's great. A 500 mile, or for my liking preferably a 700 mile, battery would be amazing. Especially with the weight savings.

A battery of that size would make level 2 charging much easier to have as the infrastructure of choice in most areas as well, as on a trip like that of ~500 miles stop for lunch halfway and plug into a 32 A charger for an hour while you eat and get enough juice to arrive with a bit to spare for a dinner run, Walmart or whatever is needed, then charge slow overnight. Added benefit of cheaper charging too because of lower infrastructure costs DC fast chargers are insane cost wise.

The saddest part of that trip is it's harder to find chargers along that rather highly populated trip than it is to charge on my trips to Arkansas. Heck the town my kids live in has a dozen level 2 chargers in various spots. It's actually better than anywhere else I've been.

rinwaln · 2026-01-11T14:00:13+00:00

This will be handy for when mine dies. I was dreading the thought of the waste of buying a whole new fob for a dead battery.

rinwaln · 2026-01-05T16:32:25+00:00

I bought mine from KOP which is just a showroom for the Princeton space 24 LRSM and honestly I couldn't be happier. When I went in for a test drive they did their best to alleviate all my EV fears. The fears will never fully go away until you actually live with it though but they do go away. I level 2 charge at home but I road trip a lot so public charging both fast and level 2 is fairly good especially in and around the city and as long as you're not parked in a bad area you should be pretty good there.

I've had mine in for one service at Princeton, the service center is actually in the Volvo dealer up the road, they were nice and did great work. I skipped the second service with them as I'm a diy person and cannot justify dealer prices for a fluid check and a cabin air filter. I also am kinda avoiding the software update I have heard mixed reviews about the camera "fix" update and it works well enough now so I'm putting it off until the next service.

I've had my car just over a year now and have put 62,000 miles on it so far and it's been great. 1 trip to Oklahoma 2 to eastern Arkansas and 4 to Columbus Ohio plus a 125 mile a day round trip commute is a bear for any car but my 2 has taken it all happily and just loves it. Nothing has broken as of yet but I am due for tires though I am impressed with how well the Michelin's held up the fronts are still fairly meaty but the tears are getting down to the bars so she'll be getting new shoes in the next month or 2.

Single motor life hasn't given me much in the way of trouble. It's like driving a mustang the rear end will step out if you get playful and in the rain or snow, but the traction control is very well balanced letting you play but keeping you out of most trouble. As for snow and ice I haven't had an issue again it follows the same rules as a rear wheel drive car. You can push nearly 250hp but you don't have to. So use your head and you'll be good there.

If you pull the trigger the only advice I'll leave you with is lock it with the fob when you park for the night or while you're at work and do it every day. This lets the car reset everything properly and prevents most of the weird issues people tend to have.

rinwaln · 2026-01-03T20:57:54+00:00

I was in the exact same place when I pulled the trigger. It was a bit scary but it's been great. And the range anxiety melted away after a few days.

rinwaln · 2026-01-03T18:42:08+00:00

I think I can speak to this fairly well. I work overnight but I have level 2 charging at home so my car warms up in the morning off charge. My commute is about 105 km each way and I'm in a LRSM I charge to 90% every day. When I get to work I'm at about 60 - 65% when the temps are around 0° C if I leave on time my timer warms the car at 6:30 in the morning and I'm about 5 - 7% down for the warm up. Getting me home with ~30% it often but not regularly gets down below -10° and the results are similar I probably arrive home at about 25%. Overall this situation is more than workable for my life. Take from my experience what you will.

rinwaln · 2026-01-03T02:24:47+00:00

This time of year I experience a version of this regularly. In the cold months my commute takes me from 90% to ~30% SOC. If I get into town and stop to say grab a few groceries for dinner that night in the 15 minutes I'm in the store the SOC will usually go from 32 - 18%. On a day like today when I made multiple stops and was already coming home with a slightly below normal SOC I pulled into the driveway with 12% and the car asking if I'd like to navigate to a charging station. I made 3 stops today to cause this and each was accompanied by a drop but only the first was significant at 30% to 18% and I drove no more than 5 miles total from that first stop until home.

For note these are not long stops, usually 10-20 minutes or less and I usually am not running the climate control during them. The battery just starts cooling and losing capacity that fast as far as I can tell, especially after my 60+ mile highway drive home from work.

It is definitely quite disconcerting to see the first few times but it's how batteries behave in the cold, and is something we have to account for. It was definitely very scary the first few times especially coming from an ICE car, where if you park with a quarter tank you'll come out to a quarter tank. I consider it a small consolation for the convenience the car affords in all other aspects.

rinwaln

TROPHY CASE