There's a major concern about the state of the powersports industry: getting kids onto machines again. While I don't personally ascribe to the idea that "The youths don't like powersports anymore!" based on the reality I've witnessed, I do think that whatever we can do to encourage youth participation should be applauded.
And one of the big things I could see in helping further that goal is something Polaris is, apparently, attempting to do, i.e. make youth models fully electric.
That sort of sounds odd coming from a lover of all things combustion, but one of the chief issues surrounding getting the youth more time on these machines is that of noise pollution, as today's society just isn't cool with the braapy noises of a two-stroke anymore. The introduction of EVs to the youth market has the potential to solve that.
So you'll likely hear me cheering from wherever you're reading this as I just found that Polaris is getting ready to launch both an electric ATV and an electric UTV built for everyone's kids. And this patent has some seriously interesting tech behind it sure to make every parent's lives easier.
How's a "return home" function sound?
According to the patent titled Youth Electric Vehicle—I mean, how much clearer can you get?—the patent's drawings and descriptions describe both an all-electric ATV and UTV modeled after Polaris' other youth models. Both, as is in the title, are powered by a battery and EV motor, though the patent allows for one to two motors respectively and doesn't state what motor is involved outside an "Axial flux" motor.
But the patent goes further and added a bunch of features that every parent who's ever watched their kid ride one of these machines before would want.
Firstly, the patent describes a system that allows the parent to set "geographic areas allowing different operation configurations for the youth recreational vehicle." Basically, you can set a limit as to how far a child can go from a given point, so that—theoretically—they couldn't leave your sight and if they did, they machine would shut off. That's pretty neat and could make younger kids safer when they're first learning how to ride. However, it's this next piece of tech that has me excited.
One of the worst things a kid can do to their parents is hop off their powersports machine, let it die, and then make you walk all the way over to it and either push it back into the garage or shed, or ride it back. That won't be the case with these, as Polaris had the brilliant idea as to build these—or at least patent the idea—with a 'Return Home' function, which would allow the parent to bring the machine in when the charge dips below a certain threshold or likely set time of day.
My back thanks you, Polaris engineers.
Unfortunately, Polaris is still mum as to when we'll see these machines. But given how advanced these patent drawings look, rather than the vague drawings we normally see when things are further away from production, I'd assume we'd be seeing them soon.
