My answer to Polestar Connected Services Plus subscription

I recently bought a Polestar 2 - my very first EV! 

This car is such a massive upgrade from my previous tiny car, and technology wise it felt like proper 21st century! 

Polestar 2 has Android Automotive built in - meaning native Android OS, Google Maps navigation, YouTube music, you name it. 

The car itself has built in internet connectivity, it works through a built in eSim and LTE modem placed on the roof antenna. 

The LTE service, for the time being, is free from Polestar, despite the car being 4+ years old, but there are chatters that this free service is coming to an end soon, and it will cost in the region of 10 EUR a month. 

I think 10 EUR isn't too bad, considering it offers roaming across most of Europe, so one fee for you to drive all across everywhere. 

However, me being a nerd, I think we can do better, for less!
If you're looking to do the same, you're in the right place, do read on.

Polestar Connected Services Plus vs Connected Services (standard)

In the simplest term, the Plus service that Polestar offers, allows your car to connect to the wider Internet through the built in LTE service, beyond just talking to Polestar's servers.

Without paying for Plus, you will still be able to:

• Control the car through the Polestar app
• Do Over-the-air updates
• Use Polestar SOS emergency
• Use Apple CarPlay / Android Auto (doesn't really involve internet through the car)

However, additional "smart" that comes with the car will require wider proper internet connectivity for them to work, such as but not limited to: 

• Google Maps - specifically live updates like traffic information
• Music streaming (YouTube music, Spotify, Streaming Radio, etc)
• Install apps through Google Play store
• ABRP mapper
• Electroverse app

These features really enhanced my experience with the Polestar 2, and for them to work you have the following options.

Connectivity Options

• Pay for Polestar Connected Services Plus
• Ongoing 10 EUR a month
• Already built-in, no additional requirements
• Performance depends on phone network chosen by Polestar roaming partners (provided by German T-Mobile ConnectedDrive, think they roam with EE in the UK)

• Use Bluetooth tethering
• No ongoing cost
• Requires your phone to be paired and connected to the car
• Max 1 to 2 Mbps due to Bluetooth limitation
• Also depends on phone signal, being in the cabin likely quite poor due to all the shielding

• Use dedicated 4G/5G Wifi Access Point
• One off hardware cost and installation effort
• Ongoing cost for data
• Freedom to choose network provider, potentially better performance than T-Mobile roaming
• Share Wifi connection with multiple devices

And I know there are some criteria based on practical limitations / nice-to-haves:

• The car's centre display computer is too slow to consume anything more than ~15Mbps
• Low latency seemed to help improve the experience quite significantly (e.g., skipping songs and less buffering, faster Google Maps results)
• Nice if me and my passengers can all share the WiFi connection

Based on these requirements, I have decided to go with a dedicated 4G Wifi Access point (Mikrotik LtAP mini LTE kit).

In terms of installation, I selected to stick the Access Point to the plastic housing of the rear stop light above the hatch, using 3M Dual Lock Reclosable Fastener. 

To provide power, I used a thin gauge (0.3mm^s) dual core cable. 
Electrically speaking only a 12V supply is needed, anywhere on the chassis could be used as a ground return path, but since I was running one wire already, having a dual core cable is less uncertainty. 

Installation

The dual core cable was tapped into the cabin fuse box with the help of Micro fuse taps. 

You will need to pull the carpet back a lot to access the fuse box, and underneath the foam block, there is an pre-existing grounding point. I used that to provide ground to my new tap. 

I want my Access Point to come on only when the car is switched on, any empty position between fuse 80 to 87 could be used for this purpose. 

The wire is then run alongside the side / bottom of the car, just underneath the trim pieces, then back up behind the rear passenger doors, up the side, then through the existing cable trunk cover into the top of the rear boot trim piece. 

The Access Point is then stuck into place using the 3M tape, I placed it under the stop light trim piece. 
The piece seemed strong enough to hold up my access point. 

Setup

The configuration of the Access Point itself is well documented by Mikrotik, I'm not well versed enough to give tutorial on this subject, so I will not dive into details on this specific access point. 

Once the car is turned on (butt touches the drivers seat), 12V is supplied to the Access Point, and it starts the boot process. 

Generally speaking, the WiFi signal becomes visible after 30 seconds or so, and it may take another minute or two for the LTE connection to establish.

On the car, I have WiFi always turned on, and it is set to connect to the WiFi network provided by the Access Point. 
From my experience, the car is pretty good at connecting to the Access Point once the LTE connectivity becomes available on the Access Point. 

Do note that the tablet reports an internal NAT'd IP address when viewing WiFi network details. 
Not sure what sort of technical restrictions it was, but at least internet connectivity works through this setup. 

Obviously you can connect additional devices like your phone to the same Access Point, but it is limited to 2.4GHz 802.11n speed, so you might get better experience just using 5G from your own phone.