Cake's all-new Makka, the "ultimate convenience machine," has gotten even more convenient in a collaboration with Polestar. The two Swedish electric-mobility marques team on what could be the perfect everyday zero-emissions commuter tandem. Using a purpose-built hitch rack, the Makka not only catches a ride on back of the Polestar 2 sedan, it charges along the way. Complete the highway leg with the Polestar 2 and have a fully charged Cake Makka ready for navigating the last mile of tight urban streets and alleys.
Cake and Polestar have both been keeping busy lately, and some of that business has been done together. In addition to putting together a cargo-pushing urban electric sled, the two present a one-two punch for all-electric daily commuting. There's no mention of fellow Swedish brand and vehicle rack specialist Thule being part of the collaboration, but the two companies have prepared a stand-up hitch rack as a purpose-built way for the Polestar 2 to carry the modular Makka scooter.
The interesting part is not so much that the Makka hitches up to the Polestar 2, but that the scooter charges directly off the car battery while on the move, using the accompanying "umbilical cord" connection. Charging the scooter off the car battery won't always be necessary or practical, but it's a nice option to have given that Cake's 1.5-kWh lithium battery is a fraction the size of Polestar's 78-kWh pack. Redistributing power from car to scooter could certainly be useful in situations in which a rider runs down the Makka's 31+ miles (50+ km) of range.
Polestar and Cake imagine drivers commuting to the edge of the city in the Polestar 2, parking the car, pulling off the Makka and finishing the commute on two wheels, thereby avoiding the hassles of commuting through city traffic in a car and paying more expensive downtown parking prices. The two companies also see such a combination supporting future car-free cities, providing a viable alternative that helps to decongest city centers by encouraging lighter, smaller mobility.
"Instead of wasting time in a car queue, struggling to find a parking spot or squashing up in a crowded subway train, we together with the team at Polestar want to make the future of mobility flexible, accessible and emission-free – while aiming to create cities for people, not for cars that pollute," explains Cake CEO and founder Stefan Ytterborn.
Although Polestar does mention the possibility of off-road Makka adventures, the Polestar 2's finite 249 miles (400 km) of EPA-estimated range seem better-suited for more defined everyday commutes. Charging a bike from a car is only valuable insofar as the driver remains well within the four-wheeler's driving range, easier to do on a daily home-work commute than an open-ended dirt-bike road trip.
In recognition of the collaboration, the companies will offer the "Makka Polestar Edition by Cake." Oddly, there's no mention of the special edition scooter being packaged with a hitch rack setup so owners can use it to drive and charge as described above, but it can charge off a Polestar vehicle. The Polestar Edition also gets upgrades like an Öhlins rear damper, slim LED headlight design, Polestar matte snow white frame, black detailing and special badging. The US$4,200 model will launch initially in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK ahead of a broader launch in additional markets.
