BRP to Offer Electric Model in Each Product Vertical by 2026
By Edward A. Sanchez – March 30, 2021
In hopes of changing customer’s minds about the suitability of EVs for just having fun, BRP, the parent company behind such well-known powersport names as Rotax, Sea-Doo, and Ski-Doo, has committed to offering an electrified model in each of its primary product verticals by 2026.
In my podcast interview with Chelsea Sexton, she brought up the perception of EVs as “spinach” vs. “ice cream.” Or to put it another way, EVs are something we’re shamed and nagged into driving by killjoy activists, rather than a voluntary consumer choice to buy something fun to drive and objectively superior. We may be approaching that point, but let’s face it, EVs are still seen by a large percentage of the motoring public as either overpriced, underpowered (arguably no longer the case), weird, or inconvenient. EVs may be an especially hard sell in the recreational powersports market, where a certain level of implicit rebellion and “letting loose” is part of the appeal.
BRP’s commitment to electrification shifted into high gear in 2019 with its acquisition of Alta Motors. One of the first fruits of the acquisition was the Rotax Sonic E-Kart. Now, the company wants to leverage its expertise across all of its product lines, including personal watercraft, snowmobiles, and on-road vehicles, such as its Ryker three-wheeler.
BRP expects to offer at least one electrified model per lineup come 2026. (Image courtesy BRP)
The effort will be a Trans-Atlantic effort, with its Valcourt, Quebec-based team taking the lead on battery and power management research and development, with a team in Gunskirchen, Austria, taking the lead on electric motor development.
How well will the recreational powersports market cotton to the idea of electrified power toys? It’s hard to say. Endurance, reliability, and ease of maintenance will be key to getting a foothold in the market. One built-in disadvantage to EVs compared to combustion-engine models in powersports is speed of refueling. Simply put, if you’re talking about the difference between charging a battery vs. filling a tank with gasoline, there’s simply no comparison. Gasoline wins hands down and will likely maintain that advantage for a long time to come. One possible workaround to this issue would be a quick-swap removable battery design, in which a pack could be swapped in a matter of minutes.
However, in power-hungry applications such as watercraft, this may prove an issue. Most sit-down personal watercraft have an on-board fuel capacity of around 20 gallons, which translates to a whopping 674 kWh in potential energy, or more than five times that of a Tesla Model S Dual Motor Performance. Even giving electric motors a generous 5-to-1 efficiency advantage, that would still translate to a 134.8 kWh, or a pack roughly as big as that announced for the base model Rivian R1T. High-performance personal watercraft, such as Sea-Doo’s own RXT-X 300 are rated for only 0.6 hours of runtime at wide-open-throttle. Lower-powered models, such as Sea-Doo’s Spark 60 HP, can go four hours at wide open throttle, or a substantial 166 miles.
Electrifying some of BRP’s lineup might prove challenging, especially in power-hungry applications like personal watercraft. (Image by Dimitris Vetsikas, Pixabay)
As tempting as it might be to make an ultra-muscular electric personal watercraft, from an engineering and physics standpoint, it’s likely BRP’s offering in this vertical will be more modestly powered to balance the interests of energy consumption and time of operation.
I am adamantly pro-EV. However, I’m clear-eyed about the challenges that come with the “electrify everything” approach. The powersports market may be one of the toughest nuts to crack in terms of consumer acceptance. Unfortunately, it may be forced upon consumers in the form of government mandates, or closure of certain recreational areas to anything but electrified vehicles. I wish BRP and other recreational powersports companies pursuing electrification the best, but the road ahead is steep and riddled with tough engineering obstacles.
(Main image courtesy BRP)
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