Despite me loving the sound of a two-stroke turbo, or even some naturally aspirated triple, I'm all for the coming electric revolution. That may sound odd coming from someone like me, a dyed-in-the-wool lover of all things go-fast, but electric drivetrains just make a lot of sense for a lot of things I love to do.
From backyard chores to late-night rips to silently getting around the woods looking for some elk and deer, an EV powertrain is one of those ideal future scenarios that I hope gets further into its development. Because the opportunities are limitless if we get it right.
And one of the frontrunners of the electric age in the powersports space is that of Can-Am, as the Canadian company has been heavily investing in the technology for the last few years now. The biggest being the company's reintroduction of its motorcycle lineup with the Origin and Pulse all-electric bikes. But that tech isn't just staying in the two-wheeled segment, as after debuting the new Defender HD11 (which you can read about here), it's dropping the curtains on its all-new 2026 Outlander Electric, an EV ATV with nearly a ton of towing capacity.
Woof.
As I mentioned, the Outlander Electric has its roots in Can-Am's motorcycles, the Pulse and Origin, and Ski-Doo's electric snowmobiles, as it uses the same Rotax E-Power powerpack powering those models. In the ATV, however, it's been tuned for the specific job of ATV'ing, i.e. doing all the woodsy, farm, and ranching stuff that I love to do.
What's that mean? It means the Outlander Electric puts out a reasonable 47 hp and 53 lb-ft of torque from its 8.9 kWh battery, and boasts a towing capacity of 1,830 pounds. That's impressive as hell, and beats every single other ATV on the market. Where you'd expect it to fall short, as with all current powersport EVs, is in range. And it sorta does, as you'll get up to 50 miles "in optimal conditions." That's likely just tootling around the farm and doing some light off-roading. However, Can-Am says that with a Level 2 charger, you can get from 20% of charge to 80% in just 50 minutes. So for those working on a ranch, you wouldn't be down for all that long.
Riders can still select between 2WD and 4WD, and it was designed for those who want less maintenance, i.e. no oil changes apart from the transmission, no spark plugs, no air filters. You also get a 5-inch color display, and it was specifically tuned for a quiet ride with noise-reducing XPS Recon Force tires, a suspension setup that's bespoke to the model, and a "low-noise cooling system."
As for price, it's about the same as other ATVs in the segment, and on par with its electric motorcycle cousins. The Outlander Electric, however, comes in two flavors; the standard Outlander Electric ($12,999) and Outlander Electric Max ($14,299). I still want for more range for the things I like to do, but for the opening salvos in the all-electric revolution, these definitely fit the bill for those needing something to get the job done quietly. Think of all the early AM wakeup calls heading out to the deer stand without an ATV's thrum...
