"Patriot electron"

[rtx moose]

The "PATRIOT ELECTRON"Is the name of the new electric polaris snowmobile engine coming 2023-24..yamaha is not the only one going electric!!

 

[74Nitro]

I really don't see electric sleds becoming mainstream for a long time aside from niche uses like ski hills, kids sleds, close to home utility use etc.
Snowmobiles get poor fuel mileage compared to other vehicles for a reason. The have a huge amount of drag.
In addition, battery performance drops substantially in cold temps, obviously the only temps sleds are operated in.
In order to get acceptable range, more battery would be needed which adds weight.
And we all know how critical the sled world is when it comes to adding weight.

 

[STAIN]

Might be the start of something.
Remember when Cat came out with the "Yellowstone Special" after they banned 2 strokes in the Yellowstone park?
We didn't think those where very impressive either, and they weren't. But it started the 4 stroke movement.
I realize it is not the same situation completely with gas being the main fuel source vs. electrocity but I can see it being the ground floor for bigger things.

 

[bleedyamaha]

Crazy. Maybe we can get a solar panel decal for our helmet and plug it in and charge on the go!

 

[allyammies]

Cant wait until your 80 miles or so away from were you are staying and asking the guy or gal behind the bar if you can plug in to make it home LOL

 

[twyztid]

Might be the start of something.
Remember when Cat came out with the "Yellowstone Special" after they banned 2 strokes in the Yellowstone park?
We didn't think those where very impressive either, and they weren't. But it started the 4 stroke movement.
I realize it is not the same situation completely with gas being the main fuel source vs. electrocity but I can see it being the ground floor for bigger things.

"electrocity"
That's awesome... because an electric sled WOULD be an electric atrocity.

 

[SumpBuster]

High voltage. Wet environment! Nice...but other than a pipe dream, where is all the elctricity going to come from to power homes, businesses, super chargers, when they are shutting down real power producing facilities? Earth doesnt have enough surface area for windmills or solar. Nuke plants like super, old reliable Palo Verde made 3 gigawatts on a small footprint. Maybe Ill just join the Amish and ride my buggy! lol

 

[earthling]

High voltage. Wet environment! Nice...but other than a pipe dream, where is all the elctricity going to come from to power homes, businesses, super chargers, when they are shutting down real power producing facilities? Earth doesnt have enough surface area for windmills or solar. Nuke plants like super, old reliable Palo Verde made 3 gigawatts on a small footprint. Maybe Ill just join the Amish and ride my buggy! lol

Water has a high dielectric constant, unless your snow contains a lot of minerals, it will be an extremely poor conductor.

Where is your imagination? There is something like 173,000 TW of power hitting the earth continuously from our friend the sun.
People live in houses, most houses have more than enough roof space to host 20-30 or more solar panels. More than enough to keep your house powered and tesla charged. As far as wind goes, there is more than enough surface area. There is a lot happening in nuclear as well. Canada has 19 CANDU nuclear reactors and a new light water reactor (GE/Hitachi) being built as we speak. Germany (as an example) has targeted 80% of power from renewables by 2030, if every country did that we would be well on our way. But will your buggy take a tune... short answer, yes it will, just feed that one horsepower motivator some high sugar content race feed and off you go.

 

[SumpBuster]

Water has a high dielectric constant, unless your snow contains a lot of minerals, it will be an extremely poor conductor.

Where is your imagination? There is something like 173,000 TW of power hitting the earth continuously from our friend the sun.
People live in houses, most houses have more than enough roof space to host 20-30 or more solar panels. More than enough to keep your house powered and tesla charged. As far as wind goes, there is more than enough surface area. There is a lot happening in nuclear as well. Canada has 19 CANDU nuclear reactors and a new light water reactor (GE/Hitachi) being built as we speak. Germany (as an example) has targeted 80% of power from renewables by 2030, if every country did that we would be well on our way. But will your buggy take a tune... short answer, yes it will, just feed that one horsepower motivator some high sugar content race feed and off you go.

No problem! Here in NY, you have to send the power back to national grid, if you want to stay on the grid. They buy it wholesale, but charge you retail!! Closest neighbor has half a field of solar. We tried to get solar in a nice sunny field..no dice. Too far from big power lines.
I spent 40 years building nuclear, coal fired, gas fired steam and gas turbines, and generators, and in the end, wind and solar. I have a good idea of what works and what doesnt, reliably. Maybe someday, but someday isnt here yet. Lots of cloudy days,and many times no wind! And windmills are extremely failure prone. My son also works for generous electric and rapid protoypes of next gen windmills are more powerful but its still on the proverbial drawing boards.
But I will say my modified cushman 3 wheeled battery cart was a blast! While the charge lasted!

 

[earthling]

No problem! Here in NY, you have to send the power back to national grid, if you want to stay on the grid. They buy it wholesale, but charge you retail!! Closest neighbor has half a field of solar. We tried to get solar in a nice sunny field..no dice. Too far from big power lines.
I spent 40 years building nuclear, coal fired, gas fired steam and gas turbines, and generators, and in the end, wind and solar. I have a good idea of what works and what doesnt, reliably. Maybe someday, but someday isnt here yet. Lots of cloudy days,and many times no wind! And windmills are extremely failure prone. My son also works for generous electric and rapid protoypes of next gen windmills are more powerful but its still on the proverbial drawing boards.
But I will say my modified cushman 3 wheeled battery cart was a blast! While the charge lasted!

Small world, I spent the first part of my career building large scale alternate power systems, primarily mobile/remote, some oil rigs, and some large stand alone facilities, I then moved into Cats power boat division which was way more fun. In Canada you get the fun privilege of not being able to disconnect from the grid once you are on it (In Ontario anyhow) plus you pay delivery charges for the power you do use. A $200.00 usage bill is accompanied by $150.00 in delivery fees.. My neighbor has about 100 panels on his cattle barn roof and basically runs his farm off of it. That consists of house, a half dozen large structures, barns, small outbuildings plus all the automation equipment for the livestock. It works pretty well for him. He does have his cloudy days but the panel array still produces a lot of power even during foggy conditions. The worst efficiency I have seen was 10-15% during pretty thick cloud cover but typically when it is just pure overcast he sees about 20-40% efficiency, and during foggy days from 30-60%, but once the fog burns off, he is back to full power. He oversized his system and its all microinverters so no shading problems or snow problems. The buyback program here in Canada was at a premium to normal electricity costs so there was a big incentive to put in solar. Now we just have net metering which gives you a credit for everything you push back to the grid, but you aren't forced to do that, you can always just offset locally and not send any power back. snowmobile, snowmobile, polaris electron (on topic)..

 

[SumpBuster]

Its all related to the sled as for now it doesnt seem plausible for long distance rural riders. Who knows, in time maybe the pizza stop will have quick chargers while you eat!
But while I respect Polaris, I think Id trust a yammy powerplant of any kind first!

 

[STAIN]

"electrocity"
That's awesome.

Been watching old Trailer Park Boys clips and the Rickyisms are creeeping back into my vocabulary........

 

[Kascade]

Where did this "earth doesn't have enough room for enough solar panels or wind turbines" line come from? It is wrong, by an exponential amount. This isn't even debatable. It's simple math. If you want to oppose the electrification of transportation, that's fine, but at least don't base it on completely, 100% faulty math.

Fwiw, even if you had to get the electricity from fossil fuel plants, it is far easier to manage pollution at a single source than over millions of vehicles.

The question of whether electric snowmobiles are clearly viable is a reasonable question. The assertion that going to electric vehicles would not be a win for the environment is just totally wrong.

Let's debate in a factual reality, not a collection of falsehoods, please.

 

[cannondale27]

They cant make a Phone or Communicator battery hold a charge in extreme cold. I am all for it. Plenty of power but the Devil is in the details. We are not ready yet.

 

[kinger]

I think a hybrid is where its at. Rear axle drive with a 50-80hp electric motor, plus the gasser driving the the front. It would give instant response and speed/power from the ultra efficient rear axle drive. Battery sit underneath the tank, and turbo engine up front to spin the track and large generator to keep the battery charged. It would be so fast compared to gas front axle drive sleds! Probably comparable to a tuned winder or boosted apex off the line. Lightweight guys would scream but could possibly get 30 mpg on a high performance sled so high milers would rejoice. Win and lose pending what you are in to.