How Polestar engineers EVs that can handle brutal winters

Polestar provided flights from Los Angeles to Lulea and accommodation so Ars could visit Polestar's winter testing site. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. LULEA, Sweden—Staring out the window of a puddle jumper descending from Stockholm into Lulea, I spy frozen seawater for the first time in my life. Not nearly as much as I expected, though, for the middle of February at the northern end of Sweden. I've flown here to drift electric Polestars on an icy lake called Stor-Skabram, near the small outpost of Jokkmokk, fully above the Arctic Circle. Yet the balmy weather serves as a constant reminder of the climate change that inspires much of the narrative around the electric vehicle industry. EVs on ice An opportunity to get somebody else's cars sideways as much as possible on ice and snow is a particularly enjoyable way to spend a day, if you like driving cars. More importantly, automotive manufacturers rely on this kind of winter testing to fine-tune traction and stability-co ... Read full article.