No range anxiety here – Polestar sets a new world record

In a sign of just how quickly the world of EV batteries is evolving, Polestar have set a new Guiness Book of World Record for the longest journey travelled by an electric SUV on a single charge.

It’s a common refrain from anti-EV proponents that you can’t get very far in an EV, often based on outdated and cherry-picked examples. Polestar have just blown that out of the water by achieving a remarkable figure of over 900km on a single charge in real-world conditions.

The attempt was made on UK public roads in various conditions including rain, in an unmodified Polestar 3 Long Range single motor model, averaging 12.1 kWh/100 km. Zero changes were made to the vehicle including standard wheels and tyres.

During the attempt the vehicle achieved it’s WLTP rated figure of 706 km with 20% left on the battery. With recent controversy surrounding the accuracy of claimed range vs actual it was interesting that this mark was met with plenty of juice left in the tank.

Drivers operated the Polestar in 3 hour stints and took almost 13 hours (12 hours 57 minutes) to complete the task, finishing the trip at 935.44 km (581.3 miles)

The test drivers also channelled their inner Kramer and pushed the car and extra 12.8km after the gauge read 0% and still had enough to reach the charger on site

Matt Galvin, Polestar UK Managing Director said: “While the drivers pushed the Polestar 3 to the boundaries of its range capability, it goes to show how battery range has improved exponentially over the past few years…the adage that ‘EVs can’t go far’ has been very much consigned to the history books.”

With achievements like these and battery technology improving all the time, hopefully we can put to bed range anxiety as a reason to avoid transitioning to an EV. I know this won’t please the petrolheads but at least one piece of misinformation may be left out of the anti-EV keyboard warrior kitbag. But somehow I still think we have a way to go till they embrace EV’s as an alternate vehicle choice