Polestar is working through a few kinks with its 2 sedan lately, and this recall for faulty inverters represents the second large recall for the new Swedish electric vehicle in as many months. Last time, a software bug could cause the vehicle to lose power and stop driving. This time, the faulty inverters could cause the same issue, but for a different reason. There’s also a “service campaign” involving the cabin (and battery) heater.
The inverter is a critical component in EVs, transforming the direct current stored in the 78-kWh battery pack into alternating current that’s utilized by the car’s two electric motors, which are good for a total system output of 408 hp and 487 lb-ft of torque. Polestar states 4,586 vehicles with this issue have been delivered and will be recalled.
The service campaign will address the 2’s high-voltage coolant heater, too, which provides heat to the battery pack and also to the cabin. Polestar notes that early-run 2s used faulty parts in this component, and those will need to be replaced as well. This issue affects 3,150 delivered vehicles.
We should note that neither this recall, nor the one that happened a few weeks ago, affect United States Polestar owners for the simple reason that there aren’t any yet: no Polestar 2s have been delivered to customers in the U.S., Canada, or Switzerland at the time of this writing. While that means the cars are late to arrive (deliveries were originally expected in Summer, but obviously, that’s slipped), it also means Polestar has an opportunity to fix the issues before cars hit North America (and Switzerland).
There’s a silver lining, of sorts, for current 2 owners, as well. Polestar states it will upgrade all cars recalled with over-the-air (OTA) update capability. Polestar notes the first OTA update will be released in early 2021 and will include some nice convenience features that were not available at launch, such as a “phone-as-a-key” functionality. It’s also worth noting that Polestar states OTA updates would have been able to fix the previous, software-related issue the 2 was recalled for.
