The carbon-fibre body of the Polestar 1 has been crash-tested by Volvo Car Group to assess the strength of the body in a real crash situation.
As Polestar 1 continues its development path, the Volvo Car Group has crash-tested the thing to determine the strength of the carbon-fibre body in a real crash situation.
“We were really excited about this crash test. The first crash test of Polestar 1 has been about exploring the unknown,” said Thomas Ingenlath, Chief Executive Officer at Polestar.
“This was a crucial proof point in the development of Polestar 1; we had to know that the ideas and calculations that have gone into building this car were right – and they were.”
The Polestar 1 verification prototype, part of the first Polestar 1 build series, was propelled into a stationary barrier at 56 km/h (at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden), simulating a frontal collision.
While a steel car body bends to work with crumple zones and dissipate energy during a collision, carbon-fibre cracks and shatters. According to Volvo, “Most of the energy was absorbed by the car’s crash structure, with the remaining energy mitigated by the carbon fibre body panels into the body structure which remained rigid and did not show signs of bending or misalignment after the crash”
