Milford in a Polestar – an electric journey

A majestic, inquisitive and endangered kea sits atop a brand-new Polestar 2, starting to scratch and gnaw at the rubber seals around the panoramic (and expensive) glass roof.

I should shoo it away, but it makes for a fantastic photo – a highlight of what becomes an incredible day at Milford Sound. 

The kea's famously strong, car-destroying beak fails to get much purchase on the Swedish-engineered electric vehicle and it soon moves on to an easier target, ripping the windscreen rubber from a Jucy campervan.

I have a week with the Polestar 2 around Queenstown and Milford Sound thanks to the benevolence of car rental and leasing firm Sixt. Both Sixt and Polestar are part of the extensive Giltrap empire.

Poser. A curious kea looks for things to destroy.

Setting out from Te Anau, we have 80% charge, which should give us about 340 kilometres. My calculation is that this should be no issue given we have less than 200km to travel. It turns out I am really bad at EV maths.

I initially drive like a man possessed, powering in and out of corners, attacking the straights like a drag queen returning serve at a homophobe. The Polestar is a lot of fun wherever you drive it, but the open roads and tight corners of the Te Anau-to-Milford road allow it to shine. 

We climb from 420m altitude at Lake Te Anau to 850m to get through the Homer Tunnel. As we ascend, the battery descends. But I'm not worried. We're getting to see snow and jaw-dropping scenery. 

While we're waiting to get through the tunnel, the keas show up. Around us, in this perfect, protected environment, are ageing campervans, diesel utes and egregious SUVs. A little bit of range anxiety is a small price to pay to protect this awesome environment.

As we exit the tunnel, the battery is on 41%, but the regenerative braking means the steep run back to sea level adds 3% to the storage. We now appear to be in the land that time forgot, and I forget about battery issues. 

Arriving at Milford, we have 39% battery, which seems like possibly enough to get back, but not particularly comfortably. The info centre tells me Milford Lodge has a charger, so I figure there’s nothing to worry about. We can stop for a coffee after our boat ride.

Milford Lodge does not have a charger. Things are going to get tense around here. Electricity at Milford is all hydro-powered, driven by a feed that is taken from the Lady Bowen waterfall. 

For three hours, we are spirited away by sea to one of the most stunning landscapes on the planet. Mitre Peak and other seafront mountains tower above us while dolphins swim alongside the boat. We see seals, penguins and thousands of fish at an underwater observatory.

The magical dolphins are a key attraction at Milford Sound. (Image: Matt Martel)

The dolphins spend at least 45 minutes surfing with the boat and I nearly catch pneumonia videoing them. Well worth it. 

It’s a day we won’t forget. My teen daughter says to me, "You’ve taken me to Europe but never fricken brought me here. You are terrible parents." 

This is all made slightly sweeter by the fact I messed up the dates for the ticket purchase and Southern Discoveries were lovely about it and just gave us the next available boat.

The journey came with a massive packed lunch and access to their underwater observatory. 

Because we are at Milford during a veritable drought (it had not rained for five days), there is no tannin-filled freshwater snowmelt in the fjord, so the view underwater is unmatched.

We spend a mesmerising 30 minutes watching thousands of fish, black corals and other creatures swim past.

But eventually, we need to return to land to see whether we can get back to Te Anau. I am confident we’ll make it.

Anxiety grows

By the time we climb the 850m back to Homer Tunnel, we are down to 24% battery and I am in deep conservation mode. The heater is turned off, the regenerative braking is set to maximum and I limit our speed to 80kmh. The teenager is anxious and unhappy.

I really don't think we'll make it – but the worst-case scenario is to fall at the mercy of a local farmer and plug the car into a wall socket for 45 minutes. No huge harm. 

But the Polestar comes through strongly. Arriving at the ChargeNet station in Te Anau, we have 8% charge left. Nothing to worry about. 

To be clear, this was all entirely my fault. If I had been even slightly organised, I would have had the car charged to 90% or even 100% before setting out and would have had plenty of range. If charged to full, we would have had 28% left when we got back. 

As I said to the teenager, it was an adventure rather than a disaster, so stop complaining and eat your pizza.

The Polestar will charge in about 30 minutes on a 150kW charger, but we’re stuck with 50kW chargers in the Deep South, which take several hours. On the bright side, every small town seems to have one. 

At most places we stay, it is easy enough to throw an extension cord out the window and charge overnight, which gives about 50% charge.

Local reaction

Outside Queenstown, no one really gives our Polestar a second look, except in Lumsden, where a local sparky tells me I have the first electric car he has ever seen charging at the Four Square. 

In wealthier Queenstown, I not only see the odd other Polestar and Tesla, but people constantly ask about our car, including the owner of a double-cab ute who looks like he is going to start a fight but is actually looking to buy one. The times, they sure are a-changing.

The Polestar 2 will accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 7.4 seconds, and that is more than fast enough. It also has plenty of power for overtaking and avoiding tractors, slow-moving truck-and-trailer units, and the occasional deer.

When the kind folk at Sixt offered me the car for a week I was delighted but did wonder how it would stack up as a family-holiday vehicle. I need not have worried; as long as you look after an electric car, it will look after you just fine. 

Our trip also reinforced for me that the Polestar 2 is a great car, and should be in the consideration set with the Kia EV6 and Tesla Model 3 if you are looking for a sub-$80k, rebate-eligible EV.