Tag Archives: polestar

The Polestar Cladrus Concept runs partially on solar power, making it the company’s cleanest car yet

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Borrowing from the LightYear One EV’s framework, the Polestar Cladrus concept car comes with transparent solar panels built into its roof, which feed energy to the car’s graphene-based battery and body panel. If that wasn’t cutting-edge enough, the car’s also been envisioned with level 5 autonomy, thanks to the presence of a Waymo-esque sensor hub on the front of the roof.

Designer: Harshul Verma

The Cladrus embodies everything Polestar stands for. It’s cutting-edge, runs on an electrical grid, puts drivers in the lap of luxury, and boasts of a Scandinavian design language that gives the car its signature clean aesthetic. The car also details out the partnership agreement between Polestar and Waymo by delivering something that looks rather palpable.

The name Cladrus comes from the mythical Greek bird Caladrius, known for its healing and regenerative powers. The name in the context of the car is a hat-tip to Polestar’s global mission of championing sustainability by recycling parts of its automobiles. The company’s recent car, the Precept, was hailed for creating a recycling system for aluminum, and also for also using 100% recycled plastic to weave the yarn used inside the car’s interiors. Cladrus, even though a concept, champions that attitude too by hinting at the use of recycled metals and plastics in the entire car.

The entire automobile, from front to back and top to bottom, is an absolute visual treat to look at. Designer Harshul Verma used simple, edgy forms to create the car’s delicate balance and dynamic volumes. The Cladrus comes with a sprawling sun-roof that goes from front all the way to the back. Given that there’s no traditional driver or cockpit, transparency and visibility weren’t a pressing issue. Instead, the car provides a panoramic roof that illuminates the interiors, and ditches the windows (and even doors) altogether to create a sense of privacy.

How does one enter a car without doors? Well, the entire roof pops open from the back, creating a ramp that leads right into the Cladrus’ spacious interiors. The Cladrus comfortably seats 4, and can fit as many as 5 passengers within. A sofa and two armchairs create a wonderful luxurious in-car experience – an experience that’s only further heightened by the Cladrus’ wood-panel flooring.

Verma posits that his concept hopes to redefine EVs. Not only does the Polestar Cladrus run (at least supplementally) on solar power, but the power is supplied to graphene-based batteries instead of the traditional lithium-ion ones. Since graphene can be used as a supercapacitor, the solar panels end up being much more efficient, and Verma mentions that graphene enables the solar panels to directly power the car, instead of routing it through the battery. Any extra energy that isn’t immediately used by the car gets stored in its battery, allowing Cladrus to run at night too. The designer doesn’t mention if there’s an ability to charge the car traditionally, but considering Polestar comes from Sweden which sees a dramatic decrease in solar energy during the winters, one would expect the concept car to have some sort of failsafe!

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Meet the Polestar Adaptor, a roadster concept designed with Level 5 autonomy

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Although the Polestar Adaptor’s autonomous skills may seem like its most impressive detail, that distinction actually goes to the cockpit, which designer Yi-Wei Chiu created in the shape of Polestar’s own logo!

The Adaptor follows Polestar’s firmly rooted design language of classic Scandinavian minimalism (the company’s Swedish, remember?) with a touch of edgy futurism. The car’s envisioned in white (as are most Polestar automobiles), and has the same headlights as the Precept. Unlike the Precept, however, the Adaptor is a slick, floor-hugging roadster with no top. And it seats just two people, who can access the car’s cabin using a rather unseen door style, but more on that later.

Designer: Yi-Wei Chiu

Designer Yi-Wei Chen began the project as a way of exploring a human’s journey toward autonomous cars. The first step was to design an automobile that inspires trust. A car that looks capable yet equally thrilling, inviting you for the ride. Chen designed the Adaptor to be the kind of car that people would enjoy to drive, or even ride in. The lack of a top means feeling the wind on your hair, and the low-slung body allows you to hit higher speeds while maintaining great downforce.

Chen also speaks about how the Polestar Adaptor would gather data for its level 5 autonomy. There’s a focus on privacy, stating that all the information the car collects is owned by the owners of the car. The driver can use this to train their car’s AI while being certain that any data the Adaptor collects won’t be monetized or infringed upon.

What’s perhaps the most interesting detail is the Adaptor’s cabin. The car is relatively slab-shaped and has doors that are located horizontally on the top rather than on the sides of the car. Its interiors (if you can call them that) are a modern take on the sidecar, with an elongated cockpit for the driver, and a more enclosed cabin for the shotgun rider. When observed from the top, the cabin looks almost ‘star-shaped’, like a reinterpretation of Polestar’s own logo. The elongated cabin for the driver comes with a steering wheel, and should they choose, will also support level 5 autonomy so the driver and passenger can both enjoy the thrill of the journey!

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Darth Vader helmet inspired Polestar hatchback has a cheeky dark side

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Polestar happens to attract a lot of attention from automotive concept designers who want a starting point to kick off their passion for crafting blueprints of future electric vehicles. And why not, EVs like Polestar 1 are loaded with upbeat technology and attractive design one could crave in a modern four-wheeler. The Volvo-owned Swedish automotive brand follows a pure and clean design language, but what if the more aggressive, dark side of a Polestar is explored?

This Polestar H03 Hatchback concept reimagines the four-wheelers’ current success mantra with a sharper stance which I absolutely love. A hatchback designed for 2030 gives us a peek into the logical evolution we could very well witness. That balance of asymmetric and geometric shape displays the bold detour Polestar could be in stall for within a decade’s time.

Designer: Anay Kshirsagar

Not making a complete shift to a new look, the designer of this concept maintains the same sharp aesthetics. The front has the peculiar Stormtrooper helmet shape which is indeed a very nostalgic choice to make. Also, the aggressive side panels are reminiscent of the Darth Vader helmet which will without doubt please Star Wars fans.

Wheel rims carry the same sci-fi inspiration, bringing the element of boxy character to the hatchback which oozes with feature lines to convey speed and aggression. The texture of H03 hints towards its lightweight carbon fiber make, and the scratches and imperfections on closer inspection showcase the chaos of the dark side. The designer likes to put this as Duality Concept, and that’s pretty obvious with the contrasting dual-sided paint job – white on one side and black on the other. It’s not every day you come across an EV that you actually want to take for a spin on the freeway.

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Polestar Passion-Sharer car concept can display any sky in its cramped cabin

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There are plenty of visions and concepts of self-driving cars in the distant future. Some of them retain the conventional seating arrangement inside, just without the steering wheel and with plenty of touch screens. Others turn all seats inward, inviting conversations and social connections while the robot inside the car safely takes you to your destination. There might be times, however, when you just want to sit back and relax, enjoying the skies while coasting the future’s highways. In that future, you might not even have to be limited to your own location and gaze upon the starry skies of Tokyo on your way to work in New York.

Designer: Xiqiao Wang

The majority of futuristic car concepts seem to be content with decking the dashboard and windows with screens, some of them interactive even. These utilize almost all visible sides of the car’s interior to maximize the number of things people can see and touch. Strangely enough, all these visions leave out the roof of the cabin plain and boring, almost like they were stuck in the 2000s, a limitation that this Passion-Sharer self-driving car wants to break free from.

Although mostly inspired by Polestar’s Precept in terms of the basic aesthetic, this concept almost takes the language to the extreme and squashes the car almost to a box. The Passion-Sharer has sharper lines and edges than a typical car, and its lowered cabin makes you wonder if there’s even space for human passengers.

The secret is that the seats are actually reclined so far back that they’re almost horizontal, an angle that is more associated with sleeping rather than riding a car. This odd position is all for the purpose of having a clear view of the tinted roof that acts as the only literal window to the outside world. Most of the time, however, the Passion-Sharer’s passengers will be viewing someone else’s sky, or at least that’s the idea.

The “sky screen,” as it is called, can display real-time views of another Passion-Sharer owner’s sky, which would make it feel like they’re sharing the same sky. That does require that there are other car owners in transit during that time, though it’s entirely possible to simply have recorded footage for convenience. Of course, that touch screen interface can be used for other purposes, and it might be the only interface available in this car anyway.

To some extent, this Polestar-inspired Passion-Sharer carries a lot more safety risks than other self-driving car concepts. Given the inclined seats and lack of other direct controls, it would be almost impossible for humans to intervene in case of an emergency. It is a concept that requires autonomous driving technologies to be perfected before people can peacefully enjoy a serene sky without minding the heavy traffic in front of them.

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The Polestar O2 EV and its autonomous drone will fundamentally change the meaning of ‘driving’

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The wind in your hair, a cinematic birds-eye shot of you in the car, ‘Can We Skip To The Good Part’ playing in the background, millions of likes on TikTok. That’s pretty much the core design brief of Polestar’s new electric vehicle, the O2, which comes with its own autonomous drone that can film you as you drive down an empty highway.

The prime objective of a car, for as long as cars have existed, has been to get you safely and speedily from point A. to B. One could argue that my previous sentence may be a bit of an oversimplification, although even something as niche as a racing car does just that – takes you from A to B while keeping the rider safe. Sure, there are a few outliers, some cars are designed to put you in the lap of luxury, other cars are status symbols, some cars/automobiles have more niche functions (tractors, steamrollers, etc.), and some concept cars exist only to showcase a company’s innovative spirit… however, almost every commonplace car’s main objective has been transportation… up until now.

The Polestar O2 capitalizes on a rising trend that’s been set by self-driving cars. Sure, the O2 isn’t a self-driving concept, but just the way self-driving cars have redefined what sitting inside an automobile means (you’re not a passenger anymore – you’re a traveler in a moving room), the O2 has shifted the focus from driving to ‘enjoying driving’. The Polestar O2, announced just today, isn’t your average EV… it’s an EV that wants you to be in the driver’s seat as well as the director’s seat. The car comes with a companion drone stashed in its boot that deploys on command, filming you from flattering angles so that you’re quite literally the star of your own Fast and Furious film. Is it sensible? It may be too soon to say. Is it intriguing? Overwhelmingly.

Designer: Polestar

The O2 is quite like Polestar’s Precept from back in 2020. It’s clearly announced as a concept car with no foreseeable future of being manufactured. The Volvo-owned company does, however, want to use this opportunity to drum up excitement for EVs and bring a new dimension of thrill to riding a car (Ford launched a gasoline-scented perfume to that very end last year). Having a drone following you around as you drive has its own appeal – it’s a wonderful cinematographic tool that really brings a new meaning to a car’s ‘performance’, while at the same time providing a nifty new trick for people who want to see what a videogame-style ‘third-person view’ would actually look like while driving.

The car sports Polestar’s signature edgy-yet-friendly language (automotive brutalism, if you will) and is based on a bespoke aluminum platform that’s adapted from the one developed for the upcoming Polestar 5 automobile. There’s really no word on what the car’s specs are, understandable given its conceptual nature, however, Polestar’s retained its old practice of focusing on sustainability with the O2. The car’s seats are made from a fabric woven using recycled polyester, and different grades of aluminum used throughout the chassis are meticulously labeled to make them easier to segregate during recycling.

Now onto the car’s standout feature – that autonomous cameraman that sits in its boot. The rear of the O2 houses a ‘cinematic’ drone developed in collaboration with Hoco Flow that can be deployed even while the car’s in motion. This aforementioned drone can follow your car at speeds of up to 56mph and has multiple flight modes to choose from, including a certain ‘atmospheric’ mode that’s perfect for when you’ve got the top down and a scenic open road ahead. Footage recorded on the drone can then be viewed and edited on the O2’s massive infotainment display, unlocking an incredibly exciting new realm of possibilities for passionate drivers, content creators, and even influencers. Cinematic Carpool Karaoke a la Polestar O2? Well, I’d certainly love to see that happen…

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Polestar’s emergency vehicle uses autonomous drone technology to respond to catastrophe

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Polestar Duo is an itinerant vehicle that merges autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to provide emergency relief.

In the age of COVID-19, one thing’s for certain—the need for autonomous, mobile emergency services is more urgent than ever before. When faced with unprecedented crises, dwindling resources make it hard to respond with tact. Considering the modern world’s technological advantage, innovative task forces and emergency services should be made readily available to help prevent catastrophe.

Designer: Marcelo Aguiar

Marcelo Aguiar, Chief Automotive Designer at electric car startup UNITI Sweden, recently devised a concept for a vehicle that blends autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to create an accessible means to respond to any disaster.

Designed for the Polestar Design Competition, Aguiar’s Polestar Duo appears like a multifunctional shipping container that travels via drone technology.

Aguiar conceptualizes Polestar Duo to be flexible, adaptable, and itinerant, to be able to “perform in a variety of scenarios adopting different functions: it can work as a rescue vehicle, be used as pop-up structure or temporary accommodation, provide support in humanitarian crisis situations, be a mobile off-grid home to enable a more itinerant lifestyle.”

Equipped with a wind turbine, the Polestar Duo operates from a pair of back-driven propellers with wings that swivel to the optimal position considering the given day’s weather and wind conditions. Before taking flight, Polestar Duo’s wings unfold by rotating along their axes.

The integrated drone technology carries Polestar Duo’s Pod, which functions as the hybrid modular building, by attaching the Pod’s roof to the drone’s base. In difficult access scenarios, Polestar Duo deploys high-strength tethers that suspend the Pod from the drone’s base.

Merging today’s appeal to sustainable design with autonomous technology, the vehicle’s overall carbon footprint remains low due to the use of recycled and lightweight building materials, re-adaptability, and local power generation. Aguiar goes on to explain that, “this reduces the load on available resources while building, and becoming, a versatile infrastructure to support societal progress.”

Twin wings unfold at Polestar Duo’s axes to take flight. 

When idle, Polestar Duo’s wings fold up.

Polestar Duo is comprised of two main parts: the drone and the folding quadcopter.

The Pod attaches to the drone’s base for secure transportation.

In difficult access scenarios, the Pod suspends from the drone’s quadcopter via high-strength tethers. 

Outside of emergency services, Polestar Duo can be used as temporary living accommodations. 

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This futuristic Polestar automotive design is the solution to every modern nomad’s wanderlust!

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Polestar is a futuristic, luxury travel concept designed out of the modern nomad’s need for unrestricted traveling and socializing.

While COVID-19 is still making its rounds, from the pandemic, we’ve learned that time spent in nature and connecting with other humans are priorities of everyday life. Holed up in our tiny apartments, all we want is to kick down the door and run to the nearest lakeshore or mountaintop.

With travel restrictions making it near impossible to come and go as we please, designers have worked on solutions for autonomous travel. 21-year-old designer Kang Sik Park conceptualized an aerial automobile that can also float on water to bring groups of people to faraway places where they can take in nature and enjoy a futuristic concept of vacation.

Dubbed Polestar, Kang Sik Park envisioned their futuristic automobile dressed in an optic white aluminum-like facade, which is accented with strips of sleek black metal for a refined touch. Symmetrical on all sides, the exterior of Polestar is used to represent connectivity and the coming together of humans for a shared interest.

Hover blades slide out from the vehicle’s roof to lift Polestar off the ground into the air. Additionally, Park equipped Polestar with progressive technology such as GPS and facial recognition to help modernize the airborne vehicle.

Inside, the same sleek look is maintained and can transform into a warmer, golden-hour-soaked ambiance to appeal to each user’s changing tastes. The Polestar is outfitted with contemporary amenities that are sure to please the modern traveler, such as rotating lounge chairs, food and drink services, as well as panoramic windows to provide plenty of views of the natural world.

Designer: Kang Sik Park

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This Polestar-inspired aircraft mobility design features a built-in greenhouse to resolve deforestation issues!

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The Polestar Forest Air Mobility concept is an aircraft concept from Pan Ziheng that has its own greenhouse to work in an environmental solution for modern deforestation issues while bridging a human need for mobility with today’s COVID-19 health and safety concerns.

Social distancing is one of the many ‘new normals’ we’ve incorporated into our daily lives as a result of the pandemic. But while coffee lines enforce the six-foot rule, aircraft and public transportation services are now back to programmed scheduling, stuffing each vehicle wall-to-wall with passengers. To strike a balance between the natural need for mobility and travel with today’s health and social distancing concerns, Pan Ziheng developed a futuristic Forest Air Mobility concept that also attempts to tie in environmental solutions for modern deforestation issues.

Pan Ziheng’s Forest Air Mobility concept envisions separate capsules for two individual passengers aboard the aircraft. Each personal cabin is stationed far enough away from one another so that the aircraft’s passengers do not cross paths. Pan Ziheng felt inspired to conceptualize their Forest Air Mobility concept design after recognizing the parallels between humans comprising a society and trees forming a forest. Describing their concept design in their own words, Pan Ziheng says, “Just like trees, human beings need to live together to be a functional society just like forests. However, at the same time, we need our personal space. [My] forest concept wants to provide a solution to this problem: public air transportation where we can travel together yet can still have a personal space.”

Conceptualized around a forest called Polestar Forest, Pan Ziheng ideated that their aircraft would host a greenhouse that grows saplings to be planted in the Polestar Forest, enlarging its forested acreage and providing timber resources for the larger Polestar community. The carbon dioxide captured by the aircraft’s battery would filter through a carbon transfer tube to feed the plants inside the aircraft’s built-in greenhouse and store any excess. In time, the Polestar Forest would stand as an emblem for the Polestar community, representing core sustainable values.

Designer: Pan Ziheng

Each passenger’s vessel is kept at a safe distance from one another to ensure responsible social distancing between aircraft personnel.

A carbon dioxide transfer tube stores and converts carbon dioxide to feed the plant life inside the greenhouse. The vertical rise of the Polestar Forest Air Mobility Concept is futuristic in and of itself.

The Polestar ‘Trambus’ concept is a road/rail hybrid designed to make public transport modular

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Just like a train adds extra carriages when it’s running on high-capacity, the Polestar Trambus can expand in length to allow more passengers during an exceptionally busy day.

The idea for the Trambus comes from Seoul-based transportation design student Junghyun Kim, who developed the design as an entry into the 2021 Polestar Design Contest. Instead of putting more buses on the road during rush hour, Kim envisioned a modular bus system that could just allow you to expand a single existing bus by joining more buses to it, creating a road-rail hybrid that allowed you to transport people in an organized manner.

The buses operate autonomously, which makes them perfect for creating a modular system. The Trambus operates either as independent buses that house 25 passengers or as an interconnected set of 2 or 3 buses with a capacity of 50 or 75 passengers respectively. Each module is connected to another using a flexible bellow-shaped channel – quite like the one found on trains, although it’s unclear if passengers can move between carriages. The carriages are designed to be different on the insides too, with seated layouts for regular customers, table-layouts for long commutes or first-class customers, and empty carriages for people on wheelchairs or commuters with bicycles.

Designer: Junghyun Kim

This flying Polestar RV is a lounge cabin designed to meet their futuristic outdoor camping needs!

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eVTOLsare the future of airborne mobility as the commutable land spaces get more constricted due to the rising number of vehicles on the road. While most startups and big corporations design eVTOLs focusing on passenger movement, seasoned automotive designer Marcelo Aguiar goes a step beyond the rationale – mustering up a concept recreational vehicle of the future that’s not just about transporting people. It is more about socializing with close ones while heading to the next destination in utmost comfort.

Marcelo calls his concept of a flying RV as the Polestar Air.V – obviously inspired by the Polestar’s inherent design language. The boxy exterior is certainly proof of that. According to the designer, the concept has a protective shell encapsulating the airy cabin that lets natural light inside from the “front, sides, and skylight that completes the silhouette.” The futuristic RV is more or less an aerial lounge cabin powered by four technologically advanced micro-reactors, like that of a smaller quadcopter. How the aerodynamics will affect the edgy skeletal of the flying vehicle is a question for another day, but I believe it could use more of the Polestar’s sleek design. While on the ground stationary – the flying RV retracts the wings for a very minimalistic forest cabin-like character.

On the inside, Polestar Air.V has a lounge section, kitchen, small bedroom, washroom, and a balcony access area. A control station with two pilot seats inspired by the Eames Lounge Chair is used to steer the flying RV. In flight mode, the chairs (at an elevated position) face the window having control panels, and as soon as it is time to land on the ground, the chairs swivel around the base to meet the lounge area. Marcelo’s RV flying vehicle concept is immaculate and instills a sense of excitement for flying vehicles’ future in totality.

Designer: Marcelo Aguiar