Cdnfireman
Active VIP Member
You’re not supposed to apply logic, you’re supposed to feel guilty for having a gas powered ATV. Then sell it and go buy the electric one, regardless of whether it’s useful or not.
Polaris goes electric
- Thread starter RXN
- Start date
You’re not supposed to apply logic, you’re supposed to feel guilty for having a gas powered ATV. Then sell it and go buy the electric one, regardless of whether it’s useful or not.
jhurkot
Active VIP Member
You realize that you don’t have to buy an electric side by side if you don’t want to, right?
There are history books with stories about the old timers that built, operated and maintained steam locomotives. When the first Diesels started showing up in the 20's and 30's they said they could never outperform the steam engine and laughed at them. At the time, the evolution of steam was at it's peak in power, efficiency and design. The early diesels were slow, underpowered, unreliable, leaking oil/glycol and couldn't start in cold temps. They actually believed they could never be replaced. Don't be nieve that it's just about a feel good green agenda. It's more then that. There are real world practical advantages to electic tranportation over gas/diesel. Don't become one of those old guys with their head in the sand! lol
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Your future power source when random camping will be a hydrogen fuel cell the size of a current Honda 3000 generator.
snopro
Active VIP Member
For that very reason I think thats why us old dogs don't like the new tricks. A new age will come but I know for one I'm tired of the younger generation with purple hair and green only agenda telling us we need to change immediately when they themselves drive beater cars and spend hours on their I phones being the hypocrites they are. If they want us to go full on green then show us the way by example. I don't see it happening though.
Cdnfireman
Active VIP Member
There’s some truth to what you’re saying, but remember for every successful advance in technology there’s lots of failures too....gas turbine cars, rotary engines, ultrasonic carburetors, gyro planes etc, etc.....newer isn’t necessarily better.....the technology of electric motors for automotive and sport machines has huge potential and will eventually be the norm, but only when a reliable, affordable, quickly and easily refueled/recharged energy system is developed. Current battery technology is too limiting, heavy, expensive, and an environmental disaster in the making. Every manufacturer makes lots of claims about range and quick recharge times, but once you dig into the facts and apply the technology in the real world it’s a different story. There’s a huge difference between a $85K Tesla cruising down the street and a $15K Polaris ranger with mud tires pulling hard through 2 feet of muskeg. I’m not against new technology, I just want the proponents to be honest about it and quit trying to guilt trip everyone that doesn’t agree with their visions.
jhurkot
Active VIP Member
Do you know anyone that has used cordless power tools and switched back to corded + generator?
JayT
Active VIP Member
That's not apples to apples. Cords are a nightmare to deal with compared to cordless. There is no cord attached to the current sxs line up. There are certain battery operated tools out there that just don't cut it compared to gas powered. One that sticks out in my mind is the Milwaukee cutoff saw. All that being said, i love my battery operated tools and would never go back. Most battery operated tools have gotten so good i would take them over corded almost every time. Still need a generator running all day to charge batteries though
I have 2 of the polaris ranger EV for on our job sites. Really like them for jump in and go. -20 just hop in and go. No warm up no hard starting issues. Have to really watch the water levels in your battery’s though these are not a zero maintenance machine. Overall very happy with them but I would never go into the back country without a generator in the box. Side note is they are the best machine on the market if you like hunting gophers.
jhurkot
Active VIP Member
Interesting. I searched high and low looking for a used RangerEV and they do not exist. The batteries are definitely old tech but I would love to buy a used one with bad batteries and upgrade it to Lithium Ion (check out https://www.electricmotorsport.com). Guess I'll have to wait until December.
jhurkot
Active VIP Member
I know it’s not a direct comparison, I’m just saying that once something goes electric, it’s rare for it to go backwards again.
rsaint
Active VIP Member
I can't wait till the electric generator comes out.
LennyR
Active VIP Member
Maybe we’ll see a windmill at every dry camp spot with a bunch of atv’s plugged in all night . They are a cool tool for sure but one issue I struggle with is the fallacy that exists regarding the mining and production of the battery materials. The raping and abuse of the land and the horrible abuse of the people involved , all in the name of saving Mother Earth and being more woke , while shoving this part under the rug like it doesn’t happen , sticks in my craw.
The lithium battery option from polaris was around $8000 per machine. Couldn’t justify that at the time. Have already replaced one set of batteries on one unit. Still cheaper than running a gas engine but was hoping for more battery life.
MK4TDI
Active VIP Member
Welders, a cordless grinder can't keep up with the demand. But that's about the only one I cam think of.
MK4TDI
Active VIP Member
I havent seen one in person yet..... I might give one a go, be interesting to know how long you could continue recharging its batteries from itself.
174mcx
Active VIP Member
IMO
Depends on the application.. I don't think anyone would want an electric ranger for a camping trip type application. A farm application yes, thats a better application, ranger is probably plugged in all winter anyway to keep the block heater going. You mentioned welders and grinders, most all welders doing tie-ins ( welding pipe in a excavation) use cordless anymore, no cords to drag into the ditch, however welding in a shop or above ground they use corded because they have a power source handy.
Depends on the application.. I don't think anyone would want an electric ranger for a camping trip type application. A farm application yes, thats a better application, ranger is probably plugged in all winter anyway to keep the block heater going. You mentioned welders and grinders, most all welders doing tie-ins ( welding pipe in a excavation) use cordless anymore, no cords to drag into the ditch, however welding in a shop or above ground they use corded because they have a power source handy.
LennyR
Active VIP Member
jhurkot
Active VIP Member
Did you care about battery material mining for laptop batteries? Smart phone batteries? Or is it just EV that you have a problem with? Also, if you know about a way to make a physical product with zero environmental impact, I'd like to know about it.
LennyR
Active VIP Member
Yes I did care . Then there’s this :
It would seem electric vehicles are taking over. And that has huge implications for a related industry: lithium mining and production.
Lithium-ion batteries are what power today’s electric cars and trucks and EV giant Tesla (ticker: TSLA) is planning for 3 terawatt-hours of battery-making capacity to supply its vehicles by 2030. That is an increase of more than 50 times today’s available supply.
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