Polaris Project Gives EV Off-Roaders Places To Plug In

Plowing through wilderness trails on an electric off-road vehicle is fun, until you find yourself in the middle of the woods with no juice and no way to replenish it. But a pilot program launched Thursday in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula aims to remedy that dilemma.

Four remote recharging stations placed along about 100 miles of trails in Ontonagon County in the western UP are now available to those operating electric off-road vehicle.

The opening comes a year after power sports manufacturer Polaris Inc. was awarded a $700,000 Mobility Public-Private Partnershp grant through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation through the Michigan Office of Future Mobility & Electrification to develop and maintain an off-road trail charging network in the remote region.

“In the EV space a big part of the conversation is establishing sort of a charging network on-road. So when the MEDC came along with this grant, we felt like there is this real win win win opportunity where they were advancing electrification and modernizing mobility in the UP,” said Polaris vice president of strategy and partnerships Andrew Chasse, in an interview.

“We applaud Polaris’s effort to support the growth of a reliable EV charging infrastructure in one of Michigan’s favorite ORV riding destinations,” said Justine Johnson, State of Michigan Chief Mobility Officer, in a statement.

Polaris partnered with Austin, Texas-based Yotta Energy to provide the chargers which can be operated on the electric grid or off using solar power, with 120kWh of onboard energy storage. Each level two charging station has multiple ports.

It’s a fairly expensive solution at this point says Chasse, but it’s an important step towards providing greater access to off-road trails and remote areas to those driving electric recreational and utility vehicles.

“We’re going to learn a ton about how does charging happen out in a trail system. Now we’re going to see this sort of, I would say, a more aggressive or a harder use case to solve and see how the electric vehicles perform,” said Chasse, in an interview. “That’s going to teach us a ton about how to develop the next generation as well as how we think about charging in some of these off-grid locations.”

The four chargers are located along trails in Ontonagon, White Pine, Bergland and Greenland, Michigan in spots near tourist attractions, points of interest, scenic overlooks or places to grab a snack to give riders something to do while their vehicle is charging, according to Chasse.

In conjunction with the opening of the off-road charging network Polaris is also launching what it calls the “nation’s first all-electric Ranger XP Kinetic rental experience” through its Polaris Adventures outfitter Hamilton’s Off Coast Adventures near Ontonagon.

The program offers rentals of the Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic electric off-road-vehicle for use on the scenic Pioneer ORV Trail. It’s a way to expose people to both the vehicle and the ability to replenish its charge in an unusual environment.

“Really the partnership here is that is a great way to start to bring new experiences to life, quite frankly, really figuring out how consumers react to this and finding some cool new ways that we can really amplify the experience that consumers can have both new and existing power sports,” said Gray Rentz, vice president of Polaris Experience, in an interview.”

The Ranger XP Kinetic is an electric utility vehicle with a range of about 80 miles and prices starting at $29,999 and $37,499 depending on the model.

With its 1,250 pound capacity cargo box and 2,500 pound towing capacity, the Ranger XP Kinetic can be used as both a utility, work or recreational off-road vehicle.

While not as large or as powerful as a pickup truck, the Ranger XP Kinetic can still be a workhorse, maintains Chasse.

“There certainly are ranchers and farmers that are going to find that the use case of this product fits their needs,” says Chasse. “Hunters are another good one. The silence. There’s no exhaust fume. So it’s a product that some of those customers that are already with us are going to love.”

The combination of creating the off-road EV charging network and making the electric vehicles available to rent, is all part of Polaris’s longer-range goal of exposing potential new customers to a new product and new way to enjoy the outdoors.

It’s something the company is looking to expand beyond the Great Lakes State.

“This set-up in Michigan is a great example that the team has done a great job of having points of interest, interesting things to do is since a lot of the demographic of folks that are coming up here, both the tourism and the locals, that want to get outside, explore this in a new and different way,” said Rentz. “So we are looking at different environments where this might make sense.”