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The Polestar 3 has been updated for 2026 and now features 800-volt electrical architecture allowing a DC charging rate of up to 350 kW; the EV retains its long range, performance, and spacious crossover body style.
The Polestar 3 crossover was originally launched in late 2022, offering concept car looks, a spacious interior, lots of performance, and a long driving range. The EV has been updated for 2026, with a new 800-volt electrical architecture, delivering a maximum DC charging rate of 350 kW (up from 250 kW of the previous model).
The Polestar 3 is a 5-seat E-segment electric SUV built on the SPA2 platform developed by Volvo for the EX90 (both companies are owned by Chinese company Geely). It has concept car looks, especially with the huge 22-inch wheels on our test car, along with styling details such as front and rear aero wings and rear aero blades. The air duct, or ‘aero wing’, at the front of the bonnet, attaches air to the bonnet, increasing aerodynamic efficiency and extending range. The rear aero wing increases downforce and reduces turbulence, aiding handling and energy efficiency.
The Polestar 3 measures 4,900mm in length, which means lots of space inside, with huge rear legroom, and a 484-litre boot with a large space under the boot floor, as well as a 32-litre front storage compartment (‘frunk’) under the bonnet.
The interior is minimalistic, with virtually all controls on a centre touchscreen. As a further example of minimalism, and as per Volkswagen, there are only two buttons for the electric windows on the driver’s door panel; you have to press a third button to switch the buttons to operate the rear windows (so fewer buttons result in more button-pressing).
You don’t even get a key with any buttons – just a key card. The idea is that you walk towards the car and it unlocks, and you walk away and it locks. This happened most of the time…
There’s a new in-house developed rear motor offering a substantial increase in power for all versions, now up to 670bhp in the Performance variant. The front motor now features automatic disconnect functionality when not needed, improving efficiency and range.
Dual Motor and Performance models feature a 107 kWh (106 kWh usable capacity) lithium-ion battery. Rear-wheel drive variants have a 92 kWh battery.
The new Polestar 3 has an upgraded core computer with more than eight times greater processing power, enabling faster, more intelligent management of active safety systems, battery performance, and sensor data.
The Polestar 3 Dual Motor has a huge towing capacity of 2,200 kg.
The Polestar 3 is big (4,900mm long and 2,120mm wide) and heavy (almost 2,600 kg). However Polestar has been working on ways to try to make the car feel as though it’s more agile than the laws of physics dictate. One item of technology that helps with this is dual chamber active air suspension, standard on Dual Motor and Performance versions, which provides automatic ride height adjustment to optimise aerodynamics, and uses multiple sensors to detect car, road, and driver input 500 times a second. As well as offering standard and firm suspension feel settings, there’s also an option for ‘nimble’.
The steering (which has three settings) feels sharp, particularly in firm mode – helped by updated anti-roll bars and software changes. The handling has more rear bias than before, due to the new rear motor producing more power.
Although the Polestar 3 is heavy, it has lots of performance to try to outweigh the weight: 544 hp of power, 910 Nm of torque, a maximum speed of 140 mph, and a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds.
Even with all this technology, the Polestar 3 still feels big and heavy to drive, but less so than it should. One thing that makes a difference is the option to select Sport mode, which also switches off the ESC (Electronic Stability Control). If you do this, the car does seem to feel a bit more agile. There’s also an option to select Performance rather than Range (for Power Delivery), and you can adjust the level of brake regeneration (rather than having steering wheel-mounted paddles to do this).
So there are a number of settings that you can play with, but they’re all buried in the touchscreen. If you want to change these settings when you’re driving, you have to press the Car button, then the Settings button, then the Drive button, then the various buttons that you want to adjust – that’s a lot of button-pressing (which is ironic because there are no buttons in the cabin).
Other controls in the touchscreen menus and sub-menus include adjustment of the position of the steering wheel and the door mirrors – you have to initiate these changes via the touchscreen, and if you don’t do this quickly – which isn’t easy if you’re driving – the controls disappear. Adjustment is done by a combination of using the touchscreen and buttons on the steering wheel (the four buttons on each of the left and right steering wheel spokes have no markings to tell you what they’re for). The steering wheel doesn’t come out very far, and it doesn’t go particularly low.
One feature that you’ll want to switch off is the lane departure warning system, because otherwise it can forcefully intervene in the steering. Some driving controls reset when you re-start the car, so you’ll need to set them again.
If you can finally manage to get the settings you want, once you’re underway, the Polestar 3 delivers good ride comfort under most conditions, but ultimately the huge 22-inch wheels and low profile tyres mean that you’ll feel potholes and poor road surfaces. The air suspension can also provide as much as 250mm of ground clearance for off-road use. In fact Polestar says that the 3 has ‘true off-roading capability’, which may be true of the car, but isn’t the case if fitted with road tyres, as per our test car. However our last Polestar 3 test car arrived with standard road tyres during a week of snow, and it coped better than expected with slippery surfaces. This is presumably thanks to its torque vectoring, which controls how much power the electric motors send to each individual wheel more precisely than traditional mechanical systems, with the aim of assisting grip levels.
The Polestar 3 is also very quiet – something that’s no doubt helped by acoustic laminated glass in the side windows, and the flush side profile, which creates a completely flat surface that Polestar says ‘helps keep the airflow attached to the body’, reducing turbulence and wind noise.
The 2026 Polestar 3 Dual Motor has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 394 miles. After a week on test, the real-world range was averaging 300 miles. WLTP efficiency is 2.7-3.3 miles per kWh.
The big change for the 2026 Polestar 3 is the move to 800-volt electrical architecture. This results in faster DC rapid charging – an increase from 250 kW to 350 kW for the Dual Motor and Performance variants. This translates to a 10% to 80% DC charge taking just 22 minutes at 350 kW chargers – over 25% faster than before. The rear-wheel drive Polestar 3 with the smaller 92 kWh battery has a slightly slower maximum DC charging rate of 310 kW (which is still very fast).
New Breathe Charge battery software continuously monitors the battery’s condition in real time and automatically adjusts charging speed. This allows for faster charging while also protecting and preserving long-term battery health.
The on-board 11 kW AC charger should enable a 0% to 100% charge in 8 hours. The Polestar 3 has a heat pump as standard.
The 2026 Polestar 3 is available in three trim levels: Rear Motor (£69,990), Dual Motor (£77,990) and Performance (£91,990). Air suspension remains standard on Dual motor and Performance versions.
Our Dual Motor test car came in the standard colour of Magnesium with options of HD LED headlights (£1,600) and 22-inch V-spoke black polished forged alloy wheels (£2,000), with Pilot Pack, Plus Pack and Prime Pack all included (the optional Prime Pack includes Pilot Pack, Plus Pack, Climate Pack and Privacy glass on rear windows). The Bowers & Wilkins audio system, with headrest speakers and active road noise cancellation, is now offered both as a single option and as part of the Plus Pack.
The Polestar 3 has concept car looks, rapid performance, all-wheel drive grip, and lots of space. The main change for 2026 is the move to an 800-volt electrical architecture, which means that the ultra-rapid charging rate increases from 250 kW to 350 kW. The official WLTP electric driving range is also impressive, at 394 miles, although our real-world range didn’t come close to this. There are a number of driving controls that you can adjust, but these are all buried in the touchscreen, and although some of these can improve the driving experience, the Polestar 3 remains a large (5-metre long) and heavy (2.5 tonne+) crossover. There’s also the issue of the price – it can hardly be described as an affordable EV. The Polestar 3 is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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