The Polestar 3 Gets Huge Upgrades: 800V Architecture, Faster Charging, New Computer

• The Polestar 3 is ditching the aging 400-volt battery technology in favor of a faster 800-volt pack.
• Thanks to the new battery, Polestar’s flagship electric SUV slashes the 10-80% charge time by nearly ten minutes, compared to the outgoing model.
• The rear motor also gets a power boost, but–oddly enough–the battery capacity has been reduced for all trims.

The Polestar 3 electric SUV is getting a big technical makeover for the 2026 model year. Similar to its platform buddy, the Volvo EX90, the 2026 Polestar 3 is ditching the 400-volt traction battery in favor of a more modern 800-volt pack that allows for much higher charging speeds and shorter charging times. A more powerful rear electric motor and a faster processor for the car’s brain are also part of the update.

The outgoing model was fitted with a 111-kilowatt-hour pack irrespective of trim level. The 400V battery could accept up to 250 kilowatts of power from a powerful enough DC fast charger, resulting in a 10-80% top-up in 30 minutes.

The refreshed Polestar 3’s batteries come in two flavors, both supplied by China’s CATL. The entry-level trim, which has been renamed from Long range Single Motor to Single motor, has a 92 kWh battery that can accept up to 310 kW. The rest of the lineup has also been renamed for better clarity, with the Long range Dual motor trim now being known simply as the Dual motor, while the Long range Dual motor with Performance pack is just called Performance.

Both dual-motor versions are powered by a new 106 kWh battery that has a peak charging power of 350 kW, 100 kW more than its predecessor, allowing for a 10-80% session in 22 minutes, according to Polestar.

These are solid improvements over the previous model, but as you may have noticed, the battery capacity has been downgraded across the board. Despite this, the entry-level single-motor version is the only one that has a noticeably shorter driving range compared to the previous model with the larger battery, while the top trim actually has a longer range.

According to the Swedish automaker, the Polestar 3 Rear motor can go up to 375 miles (604 kilometers) on a full charge on the WLTP cycle. That’s 63 miles (102 km) less than before.

Meanwhile, the new Dual motor version is WLTP-rated for 394 miles (635 km), a 0.6-mile (1 km) decrease over the previous model. The Performance is good for 368 miles (593 km) on the same test cycle, which is an increase of 16 miles (26 km) over the pre-facelift version. The EPA figures have yet to be published, but we expect similar differences to the WLTP cycle.

That’s not all, though. The 2026 Polestar 3 also gets a big power bump thanks to a new in-house developed permanent magnet synchronous rear motor that’s paired with an asynchronous front motor on some versions. The base trim now has 333 horsepower (245 kW) and 354 pound-feet (480 Newton-meters) of torque, helping the electric SUV sprint from zero to 60 miles per hour in 6.3 seconds. That’s a healthy upgrade from the previous model’s 299 hp, 361 lb-ft and 7.5 seconds.

Moving up the ladder, the Dual motor version now makes 544 hp (400 kW) and 546 lb-ft (740 Nm) of torque, for a zero to 60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. This means that power went up by 55 hp, but torque decreased by 74 lb-ft. The sprint time was also reduced by 0.3 seconds.

The most powerful trim, the Performance, now makes a rather impressive 680 hp (500 kW) and 641 lb-ft (870 Nm), leading to a 0-to-60 sprint in 3.8 seconds. Compared to its predecessor, it has 163 more horsepower and 30 pound-feet less torque, while the sprint from a standstill is 0.7 seconds faster.

To boost efficiency, the front motor now has an automatic disconnect function that leaves just the rear motor to chug along when there’s no need for full power on the dual-motor versions. This means that the Polestar 3 is more rear-biased than before, which–combined with updated anti-roll bars and a reprogrammed steering–should result in a more engaging drive.

Topping it all off is a new computer that makes everything faster and more reliable. The 2026 Polestar 3 gets the Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processor that’s capable of 254 trillion operations per second (TOPS)–a huge leap forward compared to the Xavier unit that was bundled with the outgoing model, which was capable of 30 TOPS.

If you’re already a Polestar 3 owner, all of this sounds like you should have waited a little to get a much better car, but there’s a silver lining. Polestar is offering a free processor upgrade to owners who have already bought its flagship SUV, just like Volvo is doing with the troubled EX90.

A few minor changes have been made to the look of the Polestar 3, as well as the optional extras tree. The air suspension is standard on the Performance but optional on the Dual motor. There’s a new Climate pack that includes heated rear seats, steering wheel and front wiper blades. Furthermore, a new Prime pack bundles the Pilot, Plus and Climate packs in combination with rear privacy glass. Meanwhile, the Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system with headrest speakers and active road noise cancellation can be had as a single option or as part of the Plus pack.

There’s a new Storm dark grey exterior color that replaces the outgoing Thunder, and the text graphics on the front doors are slightly different. Inside, almost everything stays the same. Inside, the seatbelt design helps differentiate the three trims, with solid black for the base Rear motor, black with Swedish gold stripe for the Dual motor, and full Swedish gold for the Performance version.  Moreover, the environmentally friendly MicroTech upholstery in Charcoal and repurposed aluminum details, which were previously offered as an optional extra, are now part of the standard kit.

The revised Polestar 3 will go on sale first in the United Kingdom, with other markets to follow at a later date. As a reminder, the flagship electric SUV is assembled in China and the United States, with the latter serving the North American market.