In this episode of Behind the EV Wheel, host Rob Greenlee takes viewers on a walk‑through of the EV retail spaces at Bellevue Square Mall in Washington. He begins by noting the newly announced color options for the Tesla Cybertruck, interpreting the change as a response to criticism of its original silver, “garbage‑can” look. Greenlee then tours the Polestar showroom, detailing the design, interior features, battery capacities, range, performance figures, and pricing of the Polestar 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and the Polestar 3 SUV, while expressing personal admiration for the brand’s aesthetics and technology. The segment continues at the Tesla showroom, where he showcases the Model X with its gull‑wing doors, the Model Y (including a lease offer), and reiterates the Cybertruck’s new paint options, highlighting its utility features such as power‑tool capability and a rear screen. Interwoven throughout the vehicle tour, Greenlee provides a commentary on the ongoing public dispute between Elon Musk and the Trump administration over federal budget policy, suggesting Musk’s fiscal‑responsibility stance may be driving his reactions to the administration’s spending plans. He connects this political tension to Tesla’s volatile stock price, his own status as a Tesla shareholder, and broader concerns about federal debt, potential inflation, and a looming recession. The video concludes with Greenlee reflecting on the contrast between Tesla’s minimalist interior design and Polestar’s more button‑heavy cockpit, reaffirming his enthusiasm for EVs and encouraging viewers to stay tuned for more content.
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Yeah, I'm at Bellevue Square in Washington State and I'm about to go into the, the mall here and visit a couple of EV retail locations. And I wanted to thank you for joining me here on Behind the EV Wheel and for another episode. But I wanted to also mention before I get in and show you the the Polestar vehicles, as well as kind of the newer versions of the Tesla cars. I did notice in the mall, because I'm, I'm recording this after I went in the mall, but I did notice that the Cybertruck looks like it's now got different colors on it. So I didn't realize that the Cybertruck was going to be made available with various colors. The model that I'm showing you on the showroom there had a kind of like a, like a flat kind of bluish color, and you'll see that in the video here. And, and I think it's a smart idea. I think increasing numbers of Cybertruck owners prefer their vehicle to not be that, that silver color, but to be like a more typical truck color or vehicle color. And I think it also makes the car seem like, like more of a regular vehicle because a lot of people have criticized the Cybertruck for being a little bit of a— looks like a garbage can of sorts in its coloration and its, its, its design. And I think it's really addressing a key criticism of the Cybertruck. So I was excited to see that, and you'll see that in the video a little bit later. And so I wanted to also mention a little bit about what's going on, I think, with Elon Musk and Tesla. I'm certainly not in the inside, in the know about what's going on. All I can see is what's going on the outside, and I noticed that the stock share price is off dramatically. Since this rift has been seen between Donald Trump and the Trump administration and Elon Musk over the federal budget and this new big beautiful bill. And so I do think that Elon is taking a position. I think Elon believes in fiscal responsibility, and I do believe that the federal government is out of control in its spending. And I think that could be at the heart of what this dispute is all about, is Elon's whole reason for being part of Doge was to address government spending and to make government more efficient. There could be a lot of stuff that's going on behind the scenes as well on this, and I have seen a lot of commentary here recently about this topic and wanting to think that Elon is a bad dude now, or he's playing a game, or all this kind of stuff. And I think they're, as I know about Elon, I've been following him since 2012, he's a very principled guy. He does things because he believes they're the right thing to do. And so that could be what this is all about. I think our federal government is obviously out of control when it comes to spending, and there's so much lobbying and so much special interest that's involved in kind of corrupting the federal government to do things in ways that are not in the best interest of the American people. And it just may be overwhelming for the Trump administration to push forward with massive changes to the infrastructure and the spending and things like that. And I think most politicians are in favor of tax cuts, so I think that part of it was easy to get through. But I think most big bills like this have a bunch of what they call pork, where the special interests of each individual legislator wants to bring back to their locality spending, you know, spending into projects that benefit their constituents and are seen as a positive thing, like that representative, you know, brought home the bacon to their district or their area or their state. This applies to the Senate too. So we may be seeing a bill that triggered Elon because a lot of his work in Doge really didn't translate into much government spending reduction, because a lot of the spending that he was trying to address is spending that's allocated by Congress. They are the ones that have governing authority over the federal budget. And if there's so much special interest pressure that's going on, that, that could have created a situation where It was impossible for Donald Trump to get his tax cuts done and follow through with the promises that he made on the campaign in a spending bill that, or a tax cut bill that couldn't get done without these concessions. And what this means is, is that the federal debt, or the interest on the federal debt, is going to go up. And especially if Trump is successful in getting the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates, that could trigger a reemergence of inflation again. So, but it would free up money and it would free up people's ability to fund new investments in the country. So we may have to just accept that we're coming into what could be another inflationary period, which could trigger a recession. It does appear that we're in another round of layoffs that are happening in all sorts of companies across the, the U.S. right now. Anyway, I didn't want to make this episode too much about politics or what's happening with the Trump administration, but there is a connection with Tesla. I'm a Tesla shareholder. And I do care about what happens to Tesla and what, what's going to, you know, result in the future for that company and what their influence on the world is looking like. It's pretty significant, and so following it is an important thing to do. So that's why I wanted to, to hop out and take a look at the Tesla dealership, and I was excited to see the Cybertruck with colors now. So I don't know if that's breaking news, it probably isn't, but it's the first time I had seen it and I follow things pretty closely. And so, and then I also went to Polestar. I think you'll be impressed by the Polestar cars because I was certainly impressed with them and I really don't hear much about them. So it was great to get in their showroom and, and see some of their vehicles. So I hope you stay with me and watch the, the whole episode here. It'll be a little bit longer than my normal Behind the Wheel because I'm, I'm doing some time here at the beginning, and then later on I will have a few minutes in each of the, the showroom areas in the Bellevue Square Mall in the Seattle, Washington area. So thanks for watching, and just keep, keep watching and you'll see more of me talk about EVs and keep watching. So we'll be back, you know, I'll be back with more later on, on the EVs. So let's get into it. So let's go see the EVs. It's Polestar. Polestar in Bellevue. Another electric car. So this is behind the wheel. Thank you for joining me again. Another It's a Polestar 3. I guess there's a Polestar 4 that's out. Let's get inside and see what this Polestar is all about. It's very cool. They got a, a vertical-oriented screen in this car and then a screen that's right in front of the steering wheel. That's pretty awesome. I kind of wish my Tesla Model 3 had a screen like this on it. It would make it a little easier than always having to look off to the, off to the right. You can see, yeah, it's just the same kind of thing. I could easily see it, the orientation of this, swip to or switch to more of a landscape mode, but it's interesting. Let's see, let's look at some of the, the settings here. So I wonder if you can touch various parts of the screen here and you can control, looks like the air conditioning right here. It's a beautiful car. You know, after having a Tesla, it just feels like all these knobs and how they have the, the switcher here, which is definitely more visible compared to most cars, and Tesla included, about the functional aspects of the, of these control units on the side of the steering wheel.. And I don't quite understand. I guess it's all based on just having a card key, kind of like a Tesla. And I'm not quite sure what that is there on the dashboard. I don't know if— is it a fan or a speaker? And if you look at the, the back seat, I like the gold seat belt. I think it helps it stand out, but it's an accent that really looks nice in the car. It's a fairly inexpensive kind of look and feel that the car has, or something that other car makers I don't think I've seen have had the idea is to create the seat belt as a different color as a way to stand out. I think it's a terrific idea. I'm not sure what this is. Is this like a cell phone thing? Cell phone place? A charging unit for just one cell phone though. But I do like the screen being oriented vertically like that. So, and then the, the door seems nice. So it's a Polestar. Okay, 111 kWh battery. It's actually a pretty good-sized battery. I kind of wonder what the what the mileage range is on this. This is our engineer. So it looks like there's a camera right here in the front. Interesting. It's a, it's a beautiful car. I think it's interesting that they would put the battery size on the side of the car as a label. It's beautiful. Here's another model. This is a Polestar 2. It's a little darker. It's a nice, nice shade of blue. It's very similar on the inside. Looks like it has a full console, a little bit of a different design. Oh. Okay, here's the configuration on the car. Polestar 2, looks like. Looks like we have a little bit of a reflection that's getting in the way of me being able to get a good camera view of this, but it looks like it's got 254 miles of range. Is a, which is a decent number even though I think it's a little on the low side for a Polestar 2. Looks like 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, charging time 28 minutes. I wonder if that's on a Supercharger. And then it looks like we have a Polestar 1. That looks like an interesting car. And then Polestar 6, 300+ mile range, 884 horsepower, 800-volt, 0 to 60 in 3.1 seconds. And I have to say, they're, they're very attractive cars. And Polestar 4 looks like it's 300-mile range, 0 to 60 in 3.7. That's, that's a little closer to what a Model 3 would be. And then the Polestar 3, it looks like a little bit more of an SUV type of design, 350-mile range. It's actually really good. And Polestar 2. I like the colors that, that the car has. Looks like the— these are the, the prices. So the Polestar 4 looks like has an $83,000 price price tag. So I wonder if— okay, so you got Polestar 4, 3, 2, 1. They got them, they got them numbered. So that's awesome. I think they're very attractive cars. I think they're doing an amazing job. That's a, that's a cool looking car, the Polestar 6. You have to— all right, well, I just wanted to come in and give you a quick view of a Polestar, which I have not been exposed to before. So I think they're, they're beautiful cars. They're alternative beautiful cars. I'm at a Tesla retail location. Bellevue Square, and you can see we have Optimus robot lockup here. So you see Model X here. Has on display. It's a, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful car, Model X. This is the brand new version, which is, which is beautiful. I love the gullwing doors, and it's tall enough for, for me to stand in here. And I thought this was interesting too, the, the new Uh, Cybertruck looks like it comes in colors now, so I think that was a smart move by Tesla to maybe offer it in different colors versus the, the silver that the, the truck had prior. So you— the interior and the back seat And, uh, yeah, I think it's terrific that they're now offering this as a painted version. This with the back gate open, it's terrific. And you got all sorts of capabilities to, to do different things. You can even power power tools, or you can charge other other things from, from the back bed. So very utilitarian. And the glass, glass top. You got a screen in the back. And then there's the, the Model Y, $399 a month to, to lease. It's actually pretty good deal, I think. The white seats. Yeah, this is an awesome car for the money. If you can get into one of these for $399, it's a pretty good deal, I must say. I might, I might want to do that at some point myself. Sell my Model 3 and get into a Model Y that's got a lot more headroom and a lot more space inside. I'm a big guy at 6'8". And then here is a— looks like another Model Y sitting in here. You can see with the, with the back down, you could sleep in here. You can, you can make it a tent. It's pretty awesome. There you go. That's the experience in the Tesla. Talk about clean. If you contrast that with the Polestar, very, very busy. As you think about it, compared to a Tesla, the Pulsar had too many knobs and buttons and things like that. And I guess I've kind of gotten used to the simplicity of the Tesla. So, well, thanks for watching Behind the Wheel. This is Rob Greenlee. It was great to have you. Watching the channel again, and I'm giving you an update about what's going on with Tesla from Bellevue, Washington, in Bellevue Square Mall. So thank you so much for watching. Bye-bye.
