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Polestar 3 all-electric SUV unveiling: 379-mile WLTP range, 517 horsepower, 111 kWh battery

Credit: Polestar

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Polestar has unveiled its all-electric SUV, named the Polestar 3, aiming to enter a highly-competitive market and outpoint potential competitors with comparable offerings, including Tesla, Ford, Rivian, and others. Electric vehicle offerings are becoming more plentiful, and Polestar is attempting to capture a considerable portion of the market by offering a quality design, comparative performance, and a competitive range rating.

Polestar launched the Polestar 3 on Wednesday at an unveiling event held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Owned by Geely Motors and Volvo, Polestar has offered the Polestar 2 for nearly two years, with the 4, 5, and 6 vehicles all currently under development. The automaker has shared the Polestar 3 concept images on several occasions, but this is the first time people are seeing the launch of the vehicle directly from the company in a live setting.

“Polestar 3 reimagines the SUV through premium electric performance and innovative, sustainable technology. Changing the automotive landscape while keeping the environment a priority,” Polestar describes the vehicle on its website.

Built in the United States for U.S. Customers

There’s been a lot of talk about electric vehicles and production inside the United States as the Biden Administration has launched several large bills to incentivize not only domestic EV production but also the purchase of EVs by consumers. However, Polestar committed long ago to building the Polestar 3 in the United States, committing to the strategy in June 2021.

“We will build in America for Americans,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said last year. “Polestar 3 is planned to be launched in 2022 as a premium electric performance SUV that will define the look of SUVs in the electric age. It will also be the first Polestar vehicle to be built in America.”

The Polestar 3 will be built at the Volvo Cars plant in Charleson, South Carolina, and is intended to be one of the most climate-responsible cars ever built.

“Polestar 3 is a powerful electric SUV that appeals to the senses with a distinct, Scandinavian design and excellent driving dynamics,” Ingenlath, said while reaffirming Polestar’s plans to build the car in the U.S. “It takes our manufacturing footprint to the next level, bringing Polestar production to the United States. We are proud and excited to expand our portfolio as we continue our rapid growth.”

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Next-Gen EV Architecture crafted by Volvo

The Polestar 3 has been Volvo’s introduction to the development of EV architecture. Polestar said the Polestar 3’s new, next-generation architecture has been designed from scratch for full electrification. Supported by Google’s Android Automotive OS infotainment system and featuring high-end, safety-focused autonomous driving features, Polestar intends to launch state-of-the-art and completely unique EV tech, starting with the Polestar 3 in specific.

Focusing on safety and ADAS tech in the Polestar 3

Polestar 3 offers five radar modules, five external cameras, and twelve ultrasonic sensors, enabling advanced safety features. The SmartZone and front aero wing continuously collect information through forward-facing sensors, a heated radar module, and camera. Polestar now says that this is a “signature” of the company’s design.

In the cabin, Polestar has two closed-loop driver monitoring cameras that will track the driver’s eyes to emphasize safer driving. “The cameras monitor the driver’s eyes and can trigger warning messages, sounds and even an emergency stop function when detecting a distracted, drowsy or disconnected driver,” Polestar said.

111 kWh battery pack, 379-mile WLTP-rated range, heat pump

Polestar 3 will pack a 111 kWh battery pack offering a generous but preliminary range rating of 379 miles rated by the WLTP. Expect this number to be lower when the EPA tests the vehicle, which has not happened quite yet, according to the agency’s Vehicle Database.

Polestar’s 111 kWh battery pack features prismatic cells housed in a protective aluminum case, reinforced by boron steel and liquid cooling. Polestar also made a heat pump standard on the Polestar 3, helping with efficiency and range degradation, especially in colder climates.

Polestar 3 Order Availability, optional Pilot Pack with LiDAR from Luminar

Polestar said the Polestar 3 will be available for order today. Polestar 3 orders with an optional Pilot Pack with LiDAR from Luminar will be available from Q2 2023. This package adds a supplemental control unit from NVIDIA, three more cameras, four ultrasonic sensors, and cleaning for both front and rear-view cameras. “This enables enhanced 3D scanning of the car’s surroundings in greater detail and helps prepare the car for autonomous driving,” Polestar said.

Production to begin in China, Q4 2023 Deliveries

Initial production will start at Volvo’s facility in Chengdu, China, in an incremental ramp-up phase, Polestar said, which is set to begin in mid-2023. Its launch price is €89,990 ($87,110). The first deliveries will take place in Q4 2023.

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Volvo’s Ridgeville, South Carolina facility will build the vehicle to supply North American and other markets. Production will switch from China to the United States, and initial deliveries of units produced in South Carolina will begin in mid-2024.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.7 early review: FSD saved me from an accident

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Credit: Teslarati

Tesla released Full Self-Driving version 14.3.7 yesterday, and after about 90 miles of testing today, it is evident there are some definite fixes from version 14.3.6, which I wrote about last week and called a regression.

Within the first 40 minutes of my drive on v14.3.7, it saved me from getting into an accident with an unaware Dodge Charger driver, and some of the things Tesla seemed to miss in v14.3.6 were definitely improved. All in all, the release so far has some really great performance, and I’m looking forward to testing it further.

For now, here’s everything I noticed with v14.3.7:

Overall Improvement

Just generally speaking from a ride perspective, this was a really great experience. A lot of the hesitancy I experienced on v14.3.6 was gone. There were no instances of brake-stabbing, wheel-jerking, or any uncertain or unconfident movements. It was void of anything that I felt made it timid with v14.3.6.

The one thing I do hope to see down the road is a smaller need to adjust Speed Profiles so often. Because Tesla calls FSD “Supervised,” I’m okay with needing to hit the scroll wheel a few times a drive.

However, I hope that things can be incrementally improved upon with speed. Sometimes it’s too fast; other times it’s too slow. It’s a difficult thing to hone in and refine, but I hope it eventually gets there.

I didn’t notice any significant left lane camping or any behaviors that were completely out of line. I am hopeful that this opinion does not change, but after driving a few days with this version and putting it in a variety of different situations, you are exposed to more behaviors, some of which are not necessarily what I’d prefer.

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The big things to notice, at least in my experience thus far, are that the major issues with previous versions — meaning the braking stabbing and wheel jerking — simply weren’t there. That’s enough to already consider this progress compared to .6.

Manual Signal Override is More Responsive

On .6, I had quite a few issues with FSD ignoring my manually input turn signals. If Tesla wants to call it “Supervised,” then the car should not ignore any input the driver gives. If I touch the accelerator on FSD, the car speeds up.

The car did a great job of obeying my turn signals when I wanted it to change lanes, which is welcome.

Parking Lot Performance

Before .6, I traditionally took over in nearly every parking lot my car entered, because I knew it would not park somewhere that I wanted, and usually, it was just a tad too timid in this setting.

The one bright spot of .6 was how well it handled parking lots. This continued with v14.3.7:

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I’m always really happy to see progress at all, but once parking preferences come to FSD, as long as this performance is still around, that could potentially be the biggest improvement I’ve seen in FSD in the year I’ve been using it personally on a daily basis.

Full Self-Driving Averts Disaster

A Dodge Charger changed into my lane without checking if I was there, running me off the road. FSD made the initial avoidance maneuver; I grabbed the wheel out of instinct, looked in my side mirror to ensure I had nobody following closely behind, hit the brake, and straightened the car back up to avoid a curb:

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There have been quite a few responses to this video stating that I should never have grabbed the wheel. To be honest, I really wish I had not done so, because I do believe FSD would have avoided any sort of collision with anything, including the car or the curb.

However, this was the first time I had ever been this close to being hit while using FSD. My natural reaction was to take over. I think if I had had something like this happen before, my reaction might have been different.

Hitting the brake avoided hitting the curb, while FSD swerved to avoid the car. My concern after the car was clear of my front end was the curb. All in all, I’m really happy with how things turned out, and I think anyone could be a critic of how I handled it. I only had a split second to really make a decision, and thankfully, any damage was avoided.

It is clear FSD managed to avoid the car coming down before I was able to. I truly credit FSD for avoiding the collision.

What Needs to Improve

Better Recognition of Potholes, Uneven Roads, Sharp Changes in Roadway/Bumps

On Friday, my Fianceè and I were in the car, and FSD was driving us. We crossed over a roadway that has a traffic light, and FSD was traveling at 40 MPH on Standard, 5 MPH over the speed limit. Everything was more than reasonable.

However, the road we were crossing at the light has a major bump both as you start and finish crossing it. Without a speed reduction, your car can go airborne. The Tesla did just this on Friday on v14.3.6; it was an uncomfortable bounce that pretty much confirmed I would not ever let FSD go over again unless we were sitting at that intersection when there is a red light.

I even tried scrolling down into Sloth quickly, but I ended up just taking over:

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A few people have said it remains related to the vision-based approach and its difficulty comprehending 3D. This is a huge issue because this can cause serious damage at certain speeds.

Navigation

Nothing new here. I still turn off “Online Routing” quite frequently to get the car to take logical routes from time to time.

Auto Wipers

Auto Wipers are just plain bad. I really hope Tesla just uses a rain sensor. I thought they had improved at one point, but I still get dry wipes, Speed 4 on a drizzle, and Speed 2 on a steady rain. In reality, these should be switched.

You can watch our full review of Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.7 below:

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s biggest test yet arrives this week and it’s not a rocket launch

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SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.

The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.

Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.

SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites

Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.

The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.

As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo

SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.

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SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.

The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.

The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.

Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.

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Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.

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