Tun M hopes Proton can learn from the Polestar 2.
Polestar is the all-electric sibling of the popular Volvo, a company owned by Geely, which is a Chinese automaker who is a partner to our very own first automotive brand in Malaysia, Proton.
Now, Polestar has revealed the Polestar 2 electric sedan to ex Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Tun M), here’s what he had to say.
Tun M posted on Facebook speaking of his experience with the Polestar 2 and roughly translated, he said, “ Earlier this morning, DRB-Hicom introduced me to an electric vehicle (EV) called the Polestar 2. It is a car built by Geely, the business partner of Proton.”
“I have been informed that the car (Polestar 2) can travel up to 400km on a single charge. One charge is sufficient to use this car like any normal (petrol) car. As for recharging, it takes less than 2 hours to get 100 percent power. If it is charged at home, it would take roughly 7 hours.”
“It is not too difficult to charge now since there are over 1,000 charging stations across the country to conveniently charge your EV anywhere. In many countries, the government incentivises EV buyers. I gather vehicles like this are chosen to decrease pollution.” He added.
Tun M continued, “However we must remember that although the car does not pollute the air, the electricity supply from the power plant does. EVs are not yet completely pollution free. In the end, we might have to just use hydrogen vehicles and even that may have untested problems for us to solve.”
Tun M also said, “In the meantime, EVs are still the best choice to keep our cities clean. In my opinion, this car is very sophisticated from a design standpoint. The car (Polestar 2) does not come with a big engine, instead the bonnet is used as storage.”
“The design elements are clean and futuristic, and all functions and settings can be controlled by a tablet. Gone are the days of switches and knobs on the dashboard like in regular (petrol) cars. I hope Proton can develop a project similar to this car (Polestar 2) so the company may release their own EV in the future.” He concluded.
Well, Tun M still believes in Proton but after all these years and countless millions of ringgit in bank loans for “R&D into electric vehicles,” I am starting to doubt whether Proton will ever make their own EV, but perhaps I could be wrong and I hope I am. Maybe Proton will release their own EV similar to the Polestar 2 soon.
