# Electric UTVs



## Eximus (Aug 30, 2018)

Are EV parts "offroad ready"? There is only 1 production electric UTV in development, Nikola NZT which will be prohibitively expensive once available

I'm looking into UTVs and EVs and was wondering if consumer-available EV parts can even handle extreme off-roading conditions (water, mud, dust, dirt, sand, rocks, brush/trees, ice/snow, vibration).


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Eximus said:


> There is only 1 production electric UTV in development, Nikola NZT which will be prohibitively expensive once available


One thing I really have to give Nikola Motor credit for: they do great marketing! In this case, they've convinced at least one person that all of their competitors don't exist - a neat trick.

Just do a web search for "electric UTV", and pick your brand. Polaris and Textron (the old Arctic Cat) are the most obvious choices as experienced UTV manufacturers, but there is at least one entry from China as well.


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## dain254 (Oct 8, 2015)

I've got an electric UTV that I converted over to lithium called a Vanish made by golf cart company Tomberlin. They are based off of a polaris 700 size UTV chassis and can still be purchased new. Polaris makes both a lead acid and a lithium variant of their ranger, and there are several of the japanese mini truck style vehicles that have been made electric.

To answer your question from my perspective - I believe that there are plenty of good components out there that can make for a reliable UTV. The issue comes when considering duty cycle of such a vehicle and keeping the price reasonable. The Nikola UTV is massively heavy for a UTV which is why it needs 60-80kwh? of battery and 500hp to make it fast. This drives the price up significantly when you add up all of the motors, gearboxes, controllers, and bits to keep all of that playing together. If a person could keep the weight down to 800 or 900lbs, significantly less power and battery will make for the same amount of fun.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Since this thread has been revived, a more direct answer to some of the original post...

Water, mud, dust, dirt, and sand would be issues for components which are not sealed... especially typical brushed DC motors. Sealed (and liquid-cooled) AC motors are readily available and should not have any difficulty with these factors.

Rocks and brush/trees don't have much to do with the powertrain. Even ice and snow are only relevant to traction, which isn't a problem for the EV components.

Vibration could be an issue for electronics, but I wouldn't expect an issue with automotive-grade components. Anyone home-building a controller should be careful with connections and component mounting on boards.


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## Emyr (Oct 27, 2016)

Snow can be quite a good insulator when it cakes up on heatsinks and radiators.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

Emyr said:


> Snow can be quite a good insulator when it cakes up on heatsinks and radiators.


Good point, although no different from a UTV with an engine.


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