Magnatude
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We bought a Polestar 2 dual motor (4wd) this year, specifically for skiing and distance driving. We live in Christchurch, NZ, which is around 114km (71 miles) from Mt Hutt, and a bit closer to Porters and the club fields. We also have a place in Queenstown, which is a short half-hour (or less) drive to either Coronet Peak or the Remarkables, plus around an hour to Cardrona, and an hour and a half to Treble Cone. In an ICE car it's just under 6 hours' drive to Queenstown from Christchurch, but you can add an hour or 2 to that for an EV. Ours (which was a 1-year-old used vehicle) has a 380km range (at 100% charge, which is actually not recommended on a regular basis -- Polestar advise 90% max charge, which for our car is currently 340km).
The Christchurch to Queenstown trip is 482km (300mi) but there are 2 passes, so the hills take their toll. You can get away with one charge (usually at Twizel), but there won't be much charge left on arrival, if you need to make a trip to the shops etc. And if the Twizel charger -- there's generally only one in each of the small towns -- is busy, your options start reducing fast. So I generally stop before then, ideally Fairlie, or Tekapo, and instead aim for another one at Omarama, to get me through the Lindis Pass safely.
The dogs are stoked about the new car -- they are well walked while the car is charging, and I enjoy strolling around some of our small rural towns, which I'd never previously done. So yeah, it does take you back to the old days of travel in some ways, but I feel like I'm adapting to that quite happily. There has been a noticeable uptake of EVs here since our previous government brought in a subsidy to buy them, so there has been a recent squeeze on the public fast chargers, although the network is expanding, I think.
In terms of 4wd capability, we've had no issues getting up Mt Hutt (which can be challenging if it's snowed), and the Polestar got a bit more of a testing on the Mt Cheeseman road, which is somewhat more gravelly and rutted, given that it's run by volunteers with more limited machinery resources. We haven't had to put chains on it yet, though we will do for sure, and they will need to go on the back wheels due to clearance issues. Regarding clearance underneath, I don't think it has as much as our old Subaru Outback, but looks like a bit more than the Subaru Legacy. I'd hesitate to drive it up the Mt Olympus road, but it should be fine for the other clubbies.
If I lived in Salt Lake City, or Banff, or many other US or Canadian ski towns, it would be a great car. For Christchurch NZ, it works, just. It's not an SUV, and only barely a hatchback. There's not a lot of storage room, and it wouldn't work that well for a family packing for a holiday with skis. We didn't put on roof racks this year because of the drag/reduction in range, but will look at getting something easily removable next year. We can get in 4 or 5 pairs of skis up to 180cm by pushing down a rear seat, but that means 4 people maximum and the front seat passenger better have short legs.
The locality of charging stations varies -- in some towns they can be in Warehouse (NZ Walmart equivalent, I guess) parking lots, or they can be in nice parklike or lakeside settings (Fairlie, Tekapo, Wanaka), and increasingly gas stations are now installing them, though not in many rural locations in the South Island ... yet.
The Christchurch to Queenstown trip is 482km (300mi) but there are 2 passes, so the hills take their toll. You can get away with one charge (usually at Twizel), but there won't be much charge left on arrival, if you need to make a trip to the shops etc. And if the Twizel charger -- there's generally only one in each of the small towns -- is busy, your options start reducing fast. So I generally stop before then, ideally Fairlie, or Tekapo, and instead aim for another one at Omarama, to get me through the Lindis Pass safely.
The dogs are stoked about the new car -- they are well walked while the car is charging, and I enjoy strolling around some of our small rural towns, which I'd never previously done. So yeah, it does take you back to the old days of travel in some ways, but I feel like I'm adapting to that quite happily. There has been a noticeable uptake of EVs here since our previous government brought in a subsidy to buy them, so there has been a recent squeeze on the public fast chargers, although the network is expanding, I think.
In terms of 4wd capability, we've had no issues getting up Mt Hutt (which can be challenging if it's snowed), and the Polestar got a bit more of a testing on the Mt Cheeseman road, which is somewhat more gravelly and rutted, given that it's run by volunteers with more limited machinery resources. We haven't had to put chains on it yet, though we will do for sure, and they will need to go on the back wheels due to clearance issues. Regarding clearance underneath, I don't think it has as much as our old Subaru Outback, but looks like a bit more than the Subaru Legacy. I'd hesitate to drive it up the Mt Olympus road, but it should be fine for the other clubbies.
If I lived in Salt Lake City, or Banff, or many other US or Canadian ski towns, it would be a great car. For Christchurch NZ, it works, just. It's not an SUV, and only barely a hatchback. There's not a lot of storage room, and it wouldn't work that well for a family packing for a holiday with skis. We didn't put on roof racks this year because of the drag/reduction in range, but will look at getting something easily removable next year. We can get in 4 or 5 pairs of skis up to 180cm by pushing down a rear seat, but that means 4 people maximum and the front seat passenger better have short legs.
The locality of charging stations varies -- in some towns they can be in Warehouse (NZ Walmart equivalent, I guess) parking lots, or they can be in nice parklike or lakeside settings (Fairlie, Tekapo, Wanaka), and increasingly gas stations are now installing them, though not in many rural locations in the South Island ... yet.
With everything going on, Tesla didn't even make our list of candidates. 
