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How Pirelli, Brembo, and Ohlins Contributed to the Polestar 2 BST Edition 270's Success

Polestar 2 is relatively a great success story. Born during a global health crisis and coming from a company that did not build EVs beforehand, the brand’s 100,000th model was recently manufactured and sent to its owner in Ireland. So, what’s up with the BST edition 270? Let’s find out.
Polestar BST edition 270 7 photos
Photo: Polestar
Polestar 2 BST Edition 270Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 Brake CalipersPolestar 2 BST Edition 270 Pirelli TiresPolestar 2 BST Edition 270 GrillePolestar 2 BST Edition 270Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 Dampers
Polestar’s owner Geely has high hopes for the brand. Headquartered in Sweden like its parent Volvo, but with the factory situated in China, the automaker began its journey with a limited-edition two-door plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that had an unusually big price tag for something coming from, let’s be honest, Volvo. But the vehicle impressed many with its dynamics, complicated, yet plenty powerful powertrain, and really good looks.

Polestar 2 came as a natural successor and member of the marque’s lineup, but this one was a battery-electric vehicle (BEV). The zero-tailpipe emission coupe-styled crossover that almost resembles the exterior design of a shooting brake recently passed the 100,000 production mark. As Polestar readies itself to introduce the facelift of this vehicle, customers and fans get to learn how the “best in the business” created the BST edition 270, which is now gradually reaching customers.

All the parties involved in enhancing the Polestar 2 apart from Brembo (the car used Akebono brakes) saw their work put to the test at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the all-electric crossover pushed boundaries and managed to impress those attending. It did such a good job that the Experimental got turned into a limited-edition vehicle this year.

Extracting all the potential

But when the time came, Polestar gathered around Pirelli, Brembo, and Ohlins to create the production version of the prototype. As you may have already known or anticipated, Brembo dealt with the brakes, Ohlins with the suspension, and Pirelli with the tires.

Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 Dampers
Photo: Polestar
Available in three interesting exterior color finishes (Snow, Thunder, and Thunder with a satin wrap), the special edition of the Polestar 2 comes with no improved power figures. It includes the same 469 hp (476 ps / 350 kW) and 502 lb-ft (680 Nm) of torque. However, the overall dynamics of the car were amplified through specific upgrades.

Now, we could argue that a slight upgrade for the motors would have been more than welcomed, but maybe that’s reserved for the facelift. Who knows what Polestar has in store for its customers, right? After all, it’s a company led by a designer. This combo may bring us more interesting BEVs as time goes by.

Until then, let’s look at how the Swedish company got help from Pirelli to make sure the BST edition 270 sticks to the road. Then, we’ll find out how Ohlins and Brembo impacted the development.

Moving forward together

The Italian tire manufacturer worked with Polestar to develop a special version of the P Zero Elect with the POL markings on the sidewall. Even though we do not know how the tire compound changed, the brand says the P Zero Elect has been categorized as the best in Europe when it comes to wet braking. Apart from this success, the tire is also designed to handle the torque figures, provides reduced rolling resistance, which can prolong the battery pack’s life, and road noise is kept at a minimum with the noise canceling system developed in-house.

Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 Pirelli Tires
Photo: Polestar
One of Pirelli’s research and development engineers, Mauro Alpegiani, says Polestar’s team was one of the best partners they had. That’s mostly thanks to the carmaker’s openness to trying out different things in search of the best possible product.

Ohlins provides the dampers for the Polestar 2 Performance and, sure enough, for the BST edition 270. Their products can impact the performance of a car and are important, so the mutual understanding between the two brands is slowly building a relationship that could birth awesome new developments in the future. For now, Ohlins’ engineers are glad to be a part of the Polestar story. They’re also happy about finding like-minded people who are interested in pursuing passionate projects.

Last, but not least, Brembo executive Uwe Hein says the collaboration for the braking system with Polestar opened the journey toward the personalization of their products for EV necessities. For the Polestar 2, the company created smaller calipers and disks that don’t require as much raw material as the ones meant for internal combustion engine cars. They also paid attention to design, which is why the calipers used on this crossover are finished in a shade of gold.
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About the author: Florin Amariei
Florin Amariei profile photo

Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one.
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