Polestar 4 vs Volvo ES90

The Volvo ES90 costs £7,570 more than the Polestar 4. For that premium it adds 150 kW faster peak rapid charging, 45 kW more power and lower energy use, 158 versus 178 Wh/km. The Polestar 4 is not just cheaper - it also offers 106 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Volvo ES90 comes out ahead overall.

The Polestar 4 is £7,570 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Polestar 4 comes out roughly £7,490 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 277 miles for the Polestar 4 and 286 miles for the Volvo ES90 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 30 minutes in the Polestar 4 and 22 in the Volvo ES90, so the Volvo ES90 loses less time at each stop.

The Volvo ES90 is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 66 mm narrower than the Polestar 4. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 458 mm of total clearance for the Volvo ES90 and about 392 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 4. The Polestar 4 also turns in a 0.4 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Polestar 4 and 84% for the Volvo ES90. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.