Polestar’s stunning O2 concept is an electric roadster

The electric car has a long way to go before it can cover all the bases in the automotive industry. There are plenty of automotive niches yet to be blessed with batteries, but you can buy a few electric sedans, a handful of electric crossovers, and even an electric pickup truck.

Volkswagen's ID.Buzz will check that box when it goes on sale next year, although there are no electric minivans. Electric convertibles are hard to find. The originalTesla Roadster was the EV that proved you could combine a bunch of laptop cells to power a car, but it went out of production almost a decade ago.

The convertible market is a small one, and as startups and established automakers build out their battery-electric product portfolios, they are starting with models that will sell in volume and make them some money. Polestar has a new concept car called the O 2 that they think could be a droptop.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said that the Polestar O 2 is the hero car for the brand. We have the talent and technology to design and engineer this. It looks incredible, and being able to lower the roof and not hear an engine makes for a great sensation.

The Precept is a sleek four-door EV that Polestar built in 2020. There is a muscular attitude towards the cars wheel arches below the door. The vehicles are similar with the same interpretation of the headlights. ducts channel air around and over the wheels and the sides, and the rear lights double as drag-reducing air blades, are some of those shapes.

The head designer of Polestar said that the car is a meeting point between technology and art, between precision and sculpture, with a determined but not aggressive stance.

The Polestar 5 is a new flagship four-door due to arrive in 2024. It uses the same bonded aluminum construction, which should guarantee a very rigid body, a great benefit to a car's dynamics.

One interesting industry trend has been a greater acceptance of recycled or post-consumer materials. The soft components in the interior are made from recycled polyester in a variety of different forms. It is good for weight saving and keeps waste low, and it also means the interior is more easily recycled.

The different grades of aluminum used in the car's construction are labeled for easier recycling, so high-grade metal can stay high-grade.

There is a bit of imagination at play. The O 2 has a small drone that can fly around and film you as you drive, an idea we first saw on Rinspeed's.

There is no word on whether the O 2 will be a real production model. The Polestar 3 is an electric performance SUV that will be released later this year, and the Polestar 4 is a smaller electric SUV that will arrive in 2023. We might see a Polestar 6 in 2025.