Above photo by Paul Braren

Successful EV Showcase with Hotel Tours

Thanks to everyone who made this a successful event, with numerous EVs, including Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, Ford, Kia, Chevy, Polestar, and others.

The Westport Police brought their Tesla Model Y patrol car that went into service January of this year.

Tours of the hotel were given. This is the first net-zero hotel in the country, LEED Certified Platinum, Passive House Certified. The hotel has no fossil fuel connection. It is powered by solar, augmented with battery storage. Air-source high efficiency heat pumps provide the heating and cooling. The lighting is high efficiency Power over Ethernet. The elevators have regenerative braking. The kitchen uses induction. The envelope is so tight that if you are in a guest room, about one-tenth of a from I-95, it is totally quiet.

There are over 1000 solar panels on the hotel roof and the solar canopies. There is a bank of Tesla V3 Superchargers and, under the canopy, 12 level 2 chargers with J-1772 connectors. There is already in place infrastructure to install another 12. The level 2 chargers are part of the EV Connect network, though they can also be activated with a ChargePoint account.

This event was jointly produced by the EV Club of CT and the CT Tesla Owners Club. We thank the Tesla Club for its partnership.

Polestar Test Drive Event

A picture-perfect Indian summer day set the scene for an EV Club event sponsored by Manhattan Motors, the regional dealer for the new Polestar brand. Polestar is Volvo’s racing brand but has now been spun off as a standalone brand selling high-end EVs.

Polestar vehicles are manufactured by Geely, the parent company of Volvo. There are two Polestar vehicles, the Polestar 1, a plug-in hybrid, and the Polestar 2, a battery-electric vehicle with 233 miles of range and a 0 to 60 MPH sprint in under 5 seconds.

The Polestar 2 starts at about $60,000 with a performance version that sneaks past $70,000. The Polestar 1 starts at $155,000 and there are a few interior options that can add another $5000.

Both of the Polestar models have all-wheel drive. Delivery of these vehicles will begin within a month.

The Polestar distribution model is different than a traditional automobile company and different from Tesla. It sells through dealerships but only has 4 licensed dealerships in the country, 2 in the San Francisco metro area, 1 in Los Angeles, and one in New York City. The company has a “concierge”-style service model and the vehicle is delivered to the consumer’s residence. Unlike with Tesla, they can deliver a vehicle to a CT address because they are a dealership, meaning that Manhattan Motors buys the vehicles from Polestar.  For servicing, Polestar’s sister company is brought into the process. Volvo dealers will be able to service these vehicles. The concierge model extends to service. The car is retrieved from and returned to the customer, and a loaner is provided.

Polestar advises that there will be a subsequent version of the Polestar 2 with a smaller battery pack and without all-wheel drive at a lower price point. No ETA at this time.