Polestar locks performance update behind a paywall

Polestar charges $1,195 to unlock 34 extra horsepower from the existing hardware of the Polestar 2 Long range Dual Motor.

Background

Polestar's vehicles include over-the-air (OTA) software updates. While having full control of the software and being able to send updates can benefit customers in many ways, it enables the manufacturer to software-lock certain features and hardware that are present and otherwise functional in the car.

This is the case with the Performance Software Update, an over-the-air software update that increases the car's horsepower by 34, and reduces the 0-60 MPH speed by 0.3 seconds.

It's also important to note that the purchase price also includes some physical items , specifically door stickers, a badge for the front grille and emissions stickers in certain regions, however these are obviously negligible compared to the price of the upgrade, and besides the emissions stickers, are completely decorative.

How it works

The update is a one time purchase of $1,195, exclusively for Long range Dual Motor Polestar 2 cars. The vehicle's hardware is capable of producing the higher power, as no physical modifications are required for the extra performance.

Below is a chart showing the differences between a standard Long range Dual Motor car and one with the performance update installed .

Vehicle	Power (Hp)	Torque (Nm)	0-60 Mph
Standard	421	546	4.3 seconds
Update Installed	455	546	4.0 seconds

Polestar's response

Polestar has not made any public statements regarding the anti-consumer nature of the update, however it's also important to note that even though a similar update was promised for the Polestar 3, to be released in "mid-2025" , no such update has been released yet. Whether this is because of technical difficulties pushing back the release date or the company trying to distance itself from this service model, is unclear.