The Polestar 3 is one of my favorite EVs on sale right now, and one of my favorite new car designs period, but if I were some who bought a 2025 model year (the first one), I'd be more than a little ticked off. That's because like its Volvo EX90 sibling, the 2026 Polestar 3 is getting major upgrades in the form of more power, faster charging, and a much more powerful computer, the last of which will at least be given to current Polestar 3 owners as a free upgrade.
CEO Michael Lohscheller says "the upgrades are so extensive, it's like an entirely new car." I'm not so sure about that, but its SPA2 platform moving from a 400-volt architecture to an 800-volt setup is a big deal, and these updates do sound very enticing. For now the 800-volt 2026 Polestar 3 is only launching in Europe, with a Polestar spokesperson telling us that U.S. availability will be announced at a later date, as the 2025 model year 3 is still on sale, and still being built in Ridgeville, California. With the $7,500 tax credit dead, Polestar might be waiting to see what ridiculous economic decision Trump makes next before revealing U.S.-spec details and figuring out how much it'll cost. I wouldn't be surprised if the company offers its own incentives like it did earlier this year.
Polestar
The current 400-volt Polestar 3 can DC fast-charge at up to 250 kW, which isn't bad, but upgrading to the 800-volt architecture bumps the SUV's capability to 350 kW on dual-motor cars and 320 kW for single-motor models. Charging from 10% to 80% will now take just 22 minutes, down by 8 precious minutes. There are also new battery packs from CATL, a 92-kWh pack for RWD models and a 106-kWh pack for AWD ones, both slightly down from the 111-kWh battery in the existing 3. Polestar says the updated 3 is up to 6% more efficient, but only the top-end dual-motor Performance model sees a range improvement in the European WLTP cycle, going from 352 miles to 368 miles. The standard dual-motor will do 394 miles, down by about half a mile, while the rear-drive single-motor car is WLTP-rated for 375 miles, down from 439 currently.
Every 2026 Polestar 3 has a new, more powerful in-house-developed permanent magnet synchronous rear motor, and the available asynchronous front motor now has an automatic disconnect function. Polestar says there's even more of a rear bias to the power delivery now, and updated anti-roll bars and extensive steering software refinement should make it more direct and engaging to drive — and it's already great. Every version of the 3 now has more horsepower but less torque, and acceleration times are quicker across the board. The updated rear-drive single-motor 3 makes 333 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque, compared to 299 hp and 361 lb-ft before, and it'll hit 60 mph in a brisk 6.3 seconds, a nice drop from the 7.5 seconds of the current model. The dual-motor car gets a 55-hp boost to 544 hp, with torque decreasing by 74 lb-ft to 546 lb-ft, and its 4.5-second 0-to-60-mph time is three-tenths quicker. Then there's the dual-motor Performance, which now has 680 hp, 642 lb-ft and a 3.8-second 0-60 time, versus the 2025 model's 517 hp, 671 lb-ft and 4.5 seconds.
Polestar
As with the EX90, the updated Polestar 3 gets a dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processor that increases processing power from 30 to 254 trillion operations per second. That's a lot. Polestar says it "enables faster, more intelligent management of active safety systems, battery performance, and sensor data." This hardware will be offered as a complimentary upgrade to all existing Polestar 3 owners, with the retrofits to start in the beginning of 2026. It should unlock more active-safety and convenience features and improvements to all sorts of other aspects of the infotainment system.
Active air suspension is now optional on the dual-motor 3 and standard on the Performance. There's been some reshuffling of what comes in the different options packages, plus the addition of a Prime package that bundles together basically everything you can get. The Bowers & Wilkins sound system is now available with headrest speakers and active road noise cancelation, and the standard upholstery option is now MicroTech in Charcoal with repurposed aluminum trim. The only design changes are a new dark grey metallic paint called Storm, updated door text graphics with a larger font, and a badge on the nose to denote the Performance model.
The 2026 Polestar 3 will first go on sale in the UK because of high demand and the outgoing model year being sold out there, with other European countries to follow. We'll probably learn about U.S.-specific details in the new year.
