Nowadays, there are quite a few green alternatives for the cars we drive. But what about those gas guzzling, exhaust burning, engine revving off road vehicles? Did they get left in the “environment friendly” dust?
“Until now, there has been no green alternative to the gas ATV that is being used in vineyards, and the technology is out there to build a vehicle that is comparable,” said Barefoot Motors co-founder Melissa Brandao, in an interview for Suite101. "We here at Barefoot are going to change that. What we discovered is that we could build a better electric vehicle in terms of performance.”
All Terrain Vehicles Go Green
Barefoot Motors http://www.barefootmotors.com/ calls itself a "green" off road utility vehicle company that integrates best-of-class electric propulsion technologies and innovative design into rugged, high-performance, market-driven vehicles. Their research and design facility is located in Ashland, Oregon and Sebastopol, California.
Barefoot's first product is the Model One, a which is a 100% electric, heavy-duty all-terrain vehicle ("ATV") for agricultural, industrial and recreational applications.
"We use lithium ion batteries in them they’re DC and AC driven, (the first of its kind),” added Barefoot co-founder Brandao. “As far as horse power and torque, it’s better than anything that’s out there. The concentration has been on road vehicles but the reality is that these off road vehicles can come to market much faster because they’re not prevented by the crash testing and Department of Transportation issues. So from a cost perspective we can roll these out quickly.” Brandao said a small company like Barefoot could succeed in this niche industry, because they don’t have the exorbitant costs to invest in up front. “This is the first prototype,” said Brandao. “But next up is the UTV, (for two people) and tractors are in the future as battery technology improves.”
Brandao isn’t the only one who sees the next wave in off-road green vehicles. Co-host of the series called Myth busters, http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/ Jamie Hyneman, talked about Barefoot Motors in a recent Popular Mechanics article. Barefoot asked him to help develop their electric ATV.
“My first reaction was that this was a recreational vehicle and, while worth doing, it wouldn’t make a big impact if some kids were using electric instead of gas ATVs to fool around in the backyard,” said Hyneman.
The article goes on to describe how Hyneman discovered that while the ATV market is small in comparison to the automotive market, it is currently an $8 billion dollar industry, with 1 million ATVs are sold per year, and growing.
“There are millions of ATVs out there, and a major portion are used for agriculture and forestry,” stated Hyneman. “Every hour that a gas ATV is running, it’s putting out as many pollutants as four modern cars because the engines don’t have the same pollution restrictions. An electric ATV could be charged on the grid at a fraction of the pollution and cost associated with gas ATVs, and it would be much quieter, too.”
Hyneman and his crew then took the electric Model One ATV and a traditional gas ATV out to a motocross track to see how the electric performed. The electric won by a hair!
Hyneman concluded that plug-in vehicles aren’t just clean, they’re fast!
Advantages of Electric All Terrain Vehicles
Besides almost zero emissions, electric vehicles also have some very distinct advantages: An electric ATV is quiet, healthier to have around crops, and you don’t need it to go 300 miles on a charge. Barefoot’s prototype is running 2.5 hours of average use on a charge and is back to 80 percent charge over a lunch break, which is more than adequate run time on a farm or vineyard.
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