Polestar 2 hit with safety recall

EV start-up Polestar, a Volvo subsidiary, has been forced to recall almost all of its Polestar 2 electric cars due to issues with its High Voltage Coolant Heater and its power inverter.

Polestar was Volvo’s performance brand – like AMG for Mercedes-Benz, or RS for Audi – but it was recently relaunched as something entirely different, an EV marque for the Swedish-born car-maker.

It had only recently started delivering the Polestar 2, an exciting looking electric vehicle that seemed, in form and function, like a direct competitor for Tesla’s globe-conquering Model 3.

Unfortunately, just weeks after its initial rollout the company has been forced to recall almost all of the cars it has sold and delivered so far – and we’re talking thousands, not hundreds.

And not just one recall, but two. The first relates to the iHigh Voltage Coolant Heater (HVCH, which heats both the cabin and the high voltage battery (in cold weather). 

Apparently there are faulty parts on board and some 3150 Polestar 2s are effected.

The other recall involves faulty inverters  that need to be replaced. These inverters transform stored energy from the batteries into the kind of power used by the electric motors – so pretty vital, then. Polestar says this recall effects 4586 customer vehicles.

The recalls are also expected to slow down the company’s rollout of the Polestar 2. It is taking the chance to use the service campaign to upgrade all of its vehicles so that in future they will be able to receive over-the-air software updates, just like its major competitor’s cars.

Unfortunately, that would not have helped in this case, as the recall effects hardware components.