Polestar has delivered nearly 1,000 Polestar 4s, but had a tough 2023
Polestar posted its 2023 delivery numbers and, as expected, it’s a mixed bag for the luxury performance EV brand. With the company only meaningfully selling a single vehicle model — its Polestar 2 sedan — deliveries totaled 54,600 cars for 2023. And in Q4 of the year, the pace of deliveries slowed substantially, down to 12,800 cars (annualizing to a rate of 51,200).
Polestar missed even its own revised delivery guidance, issued in November 2023, by over 5,000 cars — a margin of around 10%. Given the relatively high price of the Polestar 2 and the lower overall demand for sedans compared to crossovers and SUVs, it’s not exactly surprising to see the company struggling for growth. On the profit side, Polestar anticipates its previously revised gross margin of 2% will end up being 0%, or break even, for the year.
The Polestar 3, the company’s mid-size luxury SUV, has yet to enter production. In the US, that car will start around $84,000 when it goes on sale this summer. Meanwhile, the company’s first CUV, the Polestar 4, has arrived in China, with 880 units delivered before 2023 ended. When that car starts deliveries the US and Europe (in the next few months), it will be priced at $60,000 and €60,000, respectively.
Suffice it to say, Polestar will have a lot of opportunity to gain ground in 2024.
Electrek’s take
Polestar is in a weird spot. The Polestar 2 sedan launched at a time when competition in the luxury BEV sedan space was relatively limited. While it does feel like a well-put together vehicle, it never compared favorably on price to the wildly popular Tesla Model 3. It’s fair to say that the electric sedan space is utterly cornered by Tesla in the US and Europe (Tesla just launched the “Highland” update to the Model 3 in America, too). Without pricing the Polestar 2 as a severe loss leader, I can’t imagine it would ever become a breakout success, even with significant updates.
With the Polestar 3 and 4, there’s a real chance for the company to regain that momentum. While neither will compare favorably to offerings from Tesla (or even Kia) on a pure value basis, there’s plainly demand for electric crossovers at a variety of price points. Traditional European luxury OEMs like Audi, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar-Land Rover, and BMW (Mercedes being perhaps the exception) have broadly struggled to offer compelling electric crossovers to date.
But with the outlook for global economic conditions still murky in 2024, the future of any luxury carmaker is tough to assess right now. Relying on China, for example, is becoming ever more difficult as domestic EV brands push harder and harder to outprice the competition. As mainstream EV manufacturers focus on delivering improvements to core competencies (range, charging, and cost), consumer knowledge of electric vehicles grows (and thus, fickleness of buyers), and interest rates remain high, it’s certainly not getting any easier out there.
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On today’s sunny side up episode of Quick Charge, we take a look at the latest from the world of solar power, and discuss Congressional Republicans’ plans to limit your energy independence by eliminating a critical tax credit for homeowners nearly ten years early. (!)
We’ve also got a quick review of a massive solar farm powering 200,000 homes in Indiana and the biggest solar project East of the Mississippi – both part of a record 98% of all new power generation and grid capacity introduced in 2025 coming from wind and solar. Those are jobs, those are lower utility rates, those are energy independence … so why are Congressional Republicans working to make that more expensive?
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If you want to read that EnergySage report on the state of the home solar industry, including news about battery energy storage system and V2H/V2G prices and financing trends, you can check it out for yourself, below, then let us know what you think in the comments.
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If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives along Masonic Avenue on April 11, 2022 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Alphabet’s Waymo unit has received approval to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service to more parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose.
In March, the company submitted a request to the California Public Utilities Commission to gain approval for its latest passenger safety plan, a key step in gaining permission to operate driverless vehicles across a broader area. On Monday, the proposed expansion was approved, allowing for Waymo’s driverless coverage to extend from San Francisco down through the Peninsula.
“We’re very excited to share that the CPUC has approved our application to operate our fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing service in the South Bay and nearly all of San Jose!” the company wrote in a post on X on Monday. “While this won’t change our operations in the near-term, we’re looking forward to bringing the benefits of Waymo One to more of the Bay Area in the future.”
The $5 billion Empire Wind is back in business. The Trump administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has lifted its stop-work order for Empire Wind, a major offshore wind project off the coast of New York led by Empire Offshore Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Equinor. Construction is now allowed to resume.
Equinor CEO Anders Opedal welcomed the news, saying the restart reinforces Equinor’s commitment to delivering clean energy while supporting local economies and saving thousands of jobs. He also credited a wide coalition of officials for helping get the project back on track, including Trump, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and congressional leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Dan Goldman. Opedal also thanked the Norwegian prime minister and the minister of finance for raising the issue with the US administration.
Governor Hochul said in a statement that “countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials” had taken place.
Neither the BOEM nor the Department of the Interior has issued a comment.
The Trump administration halted construction of the 54-turbine Empire Wind on April 16, but discussions between Equinor, regulators, and leaders at the federal, state, and city levels led to a reversal. That means Empire Wind can now push ahead with its goal of powering 500,000 New York homes with offshore wind energy.
“This project delivers on the energy ambitions shared by the US and New York by providing a vital new source of power to the region,” said Molly Morris, president of Equinor Wind US. She added that Empire Wind is boosting supply chain investments across the country, with activity in New York, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and South Carolina.
Equinor plans to reassess the project’s financials in the second quarter. The goal is still to install turbines offshore in 2025 and hit full commercial operation by 2027. The company says it will work with suppliers and regulators to minimize any delays from the month-long pause.
Empire Wind was first awarded its offshore lease in 2017 after a competitive federal process. It received its final construction green light in early 2024 following an extensive environmental review. Construction kicked off shortly after, and the project is now over 30% complete.
The US is a major market for Equinor. The Norwegian energy giant says it has invested around $60 billion in US energy projects since the early 2000s, more recently in low-carbon solutions, critical minerals, and renewables. Empire Wind is one of its flagship projects in the US.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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