- 2 days ago
Don't like electric? This electric RZR from Super Powers Mobility RIPS. SPM drove all the way from PA to show us their stunning EV rig. CEO Jonathan Powers explained the tech behind his startup, and most important, let us take it to Windrock to bash on rocks and gnarly trails. It drew a crowd wherever we went—until we hit the throttle and left everybody behind.
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SportsTranscript
00:00All right!
00:02Hey, Andre Steve Carlson from UTV Driver here.
00:05So today we have a very exciting thing happening.
00:08We have a guest all the way down from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
00:11We have Jonathan Powers from Super Powers Mobility.
00:14Some of you may remember we did a story a couple months ago about an exciting startup that he's got,
00:18where basically, counter-intuitively, instead of coming up with a shiny prototype rig that's generally sort of vaporware,
00:25Mr. Powers has come up with basically a kit that you can install in your UTV.
00:30And in this case, tell us a little bit about this.
00:32We're a startup building electric powertrains for UTVs.
00:36And these aren't just any powertrains. These are high-performance powertrains.
00:40Our team is made up of automotive engineers, and we just weren't happy with the options in the UTV industry for electric.
00:49Everything is kind of boring and utilitarian, but we built, like, the sport high-performance electric powertrain in the UTV industry.
00:58And we built a conversion kit as our first product.
01:02So we want to build vehicles, we want to build full powertrains, but you've got to start somewhere.
01:07So we chose the most popular sport UTV in the industry.
01:12It's the Razer XP 1000.
01:14We built a high-performance powertrain kit that bolts into this.
01:19So if you want an electric UTV, you only can get a Ranger Kinetic, basically.
01:24And then there's some Chinese options, and then there's the Vanderhall Brawley, but that's kind of more like a big Jeep and price-inhibitive to a lot of people.
01:32But if you want an electric Razor or if you want an electric Can-Am X3 or a Defender, our powertrain kit will work in any of those vehicles.
01:42As long as your vehicle has a continuously variable transmission, we can replace your combustion engine with our electric motor and bolt onto your transfer case with our powertrain kit.
01:53So you can take what you have, maybe you blew your motor, maybe you're just tired of the maintenance or the scent or the sound of combustion.
02:00We love combustion, by the way.
02:01Even though we're an electric powertrain company, we love combustion.
02:04We're not saying we're gonna-
02:05That's kind of how you got your start, though.
02:06You have a background in competition.
02:08Yeah.
02:09And that's where your love, that's how you first entered sort of the world of UTVs.
02:13Is that right?
02:14Yeah.
02:15So my background, I used to race GNCC in a Razor XP 1000.
02:18I raced in 2014 up until 2017.
02:21At a certain point, I was like one of the top racers in XC2.
02:24I had sponsors.
02:25I was continuously replacing like every suspension component on this every race.
02:30I was replacing the belt every race.
02:32I was having powertrain kind of reliability woes like everyone ends up having if you're beating on it.
02:37Right.
02:38And that's kind of like where I think sort of the genesis of some of your idea.
02:40I mean, anything electric is just by definition is like half as simple, 25% as simple.
02:45Yeah.
02:46It's like less to break.
02:47Did your interest in LEVs and EVs kind of come from that?
02:50So back then, I didn't really have the idea to do electric.
02:53Back then, I finished racing in my final year and I was trying to get a factory sponsorship.
02:59I like really wanted Polaris to sponsor me so that I could continue racing.
03:03Did you hear that Polaris?
03:04You messed up.
03:05I'm kidding.
03:06No, I mean, I still love Polaris.
03:07I just wish they would have sponsored me because I could have kept racing and I could have tested their products.
03:11And like my mechanical engineering background, it could have been valuable, but they didn't want to sponsor me.
03:15So back then I was like, you know what?
03:17My vehicle's good, but it's kind of a little bit unreliable.
03:20It requires a little too much maintenance.
03:22I was like, why don't we just make the most reliable UTVs?
03:25You don't need any replacement parts.
03:27It just works every time.
03:29And that was in 2017.
03:31And at that time I had just graduated college 2016.
03:34So I was like, you know what?
03:35I don't have the experience.
03:36I don't have the time, the money to start a UTV company.
03:39I can't do this.
03:40The natural, you know, logical progression was go work in the industry.
03:45So I worked for Honda Power Sports for a year and a half.
03:48And then I wanted to get to the front of the industry.
03:50So I went out and actually worked for Tesla for four years and I was on the Cybertruck program.
03:55So we took Cybertruck from just exterior A surfaces and like tire wheelbase track width to like fully populated interior body structure, electrical architecture, like everything under the surface.
04:09We took Cybertruck from just the appearance to like a working vehicle over the next four years.
04:15And I was doing a lot of off-roading with Cybertruck.
04:17And contrary to private belief, Cybertruck is really good at off-roading.
04:20If you see a Cybertruck stuck or you see it having an issue off-road, it's the driver mod.
04:25I'll tell you, because I was taking Cybertruck off-roading, doing some of the gnarliest stuff that I will tell you most other trucks could not do.
04:33User error.
04:34Yeah, it was user error.
04:35I mean, if you think about the approach and departure angle of Cybertruck, like the front end is so short and the back end is so short, you can hit almost the same stuff with the UTV.
04:44Of course, with the UTV, the tires are forward and the body.
04:48But Cybertruck was really good at off-roading.
04:50And that's kind of when it clicked for me.
04:52I was like, oh, my God, Cybertruck is so good at off-roading because of the electric powertrain.
04:56Imagine that amount of torque in the UTV.
04:59And I knew that there was like the Ranger Kinetic.
05:01And that's through a partnership with Zero Motorcycles.
05:03So Polaris uses a powertrain from Zero Motorcycles.
05:06It's not really optimized for a UTV.
05:08It's kind of like-
05:09Sure.
05:10A drop in, go to market.
05:11It's literally sort of plug and play, but not something that they developed alongside with the chassis and everything in an integrated sort of way.
05:16Exactly.
05:17So we didn't really, you know, develop a powertrain along with the chassis.
05:22We kind of did a similar thing where we dropped in a powertrain.
05:25However, this is a performance powertrain specifically specified to compete with like an XP Turbo.
05:34So this powertrain should have about 160 horsepower.
05:37We have the motor coming that will make it 160 horsepower.
05:41Today, it's about 100 horsepower.
05:43That's actually going to be perfect because today is a disgusting day out.
05:47It is just soupy and nasty and foggy, and it's going to be really muddy.
05:52And so by way of sort of background, you have traveled here all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to visit us here in Knoxville, Tennessee.
06:00So we're going to try to take you out and have a good time and get as muddy as possible.
06:04And the 100 horsepower figure that you mentioned, honestly, I think 160 might be kind of lost on the mud and all the crap that we're going to encounter today.
06:13So it's really mostly about what can you actually put down?
06:16Could you put 160 down?
06:17Probably not.
06:18Yeah.
06:19But I think we're going to have a great time and we're going to rip on this thing.
06:21Everyone wants to know like, oh, electric, how's it doing the mud and the water?
06:25How's it do?
06:26Yeah.
06:27And, you know, this is a prototype.
06:28This is like the first one we built.
06:29So it's probably not fully sealed to the point where like I would submerge it, but like it can handle mud.
06:36And in the future, we will have this fully sealed to the point where you can submerge the whole thing and basically drive it underwater.
06:42You don't need to snorkel like combustion.
06:44And that's one of the benefits of electric.
06:46If you know how to seal all the connectors and all the devices, you don't need air.
06:51You know what? Next time you come down, we're going to have to put you to the test.
06:53We're going to actually find a body of water somewhere.
06:56Yeah, that's a production level goal.
06:58So just to like summarize everything.
07:00This is our prototype.
07:01We offer EV conversion kits coming in 2026.
07:06So Q3 or Q4 2026.
07:09You can get your EV conversion kit for the Polaris Razor or any other model that we get enough demand to adapt the kit to.
07:17But you got to place a preorder on our website so you can get on the list.
07:20It's growing fast.
07:21So get on the list so you can get one in 2026.
07:24Or if you want a turnkey vehicle, we're probably going to do that for like the first year or two.
07:30So we can build you a turnkey vehicle that kind of looks like this.
07:33It has our build sheet, cage works, cage, super ATV A arms, OMF wheels, Maxxis tires.
07:40We can build you this exact UTV that's a really good looking ripper for like one to two years.
07:46And then we're going to stop doing that.
07:47So if you want this, go on our website and preorder the epics.
07:51This is the epics.
07:52If you want the kit, preorder the EVK on our website.
07:56So the last time we talked was a couple of months ago.
07:58And you said that you were looking for basically about sort of growing organically and everything else like that.
08:03You were looking for alpha customers, I think is your term.
08:05Yeah.
08:06If you're interested in being an alpha customer and you fit the build as the customer, we'll make you an alpha customer.
08:12Essentially, you'll get the earliest level of this as a customer and you can test it if you have any issues with it.
08:19We'll give you 24 seven support.
08:21We'll fly people out to your house to fix it if something happens.
08:24But you'll be one of the first people to have a high performance electric UTV.
08:28And you're basically going to be our development partner.
08:31So we do have a couple spots available.
08:33We're almost full there.
08:34So if you want to do that, just get in contact with me.
08:37Hear that, America?
08:38You can get in on the ground floor.
08:39Who doesn't love being like the first?
08:41Well, cool.
08:42I guess that's it.
08:43Well, the only thing left now is that all this talk, these are just words in the air.
08:47We have to take this thing and put rubber to the ground and go out and rip and have a good time.
08:52Let's do it.
08:53Let's do it.
08:54We are finally out here at Windrock.
08:56Our lovely guest Jonathan Powers from Super Powers Mobility kindly drove all the way down from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to rip around in the Tennessee mud and all that.
09:04And we're going to get out there and we're going to get some pretty good going.
09:07Yeah, let's go climb.
09:08Crawl some rocks.
09:09Do a kill switch out first.
09:10Okay, kill switch out.
09:11There you go.
09:12Okay, key on one.
09:13Yep.
09:14Okay.
09:15Like lights come on.
09:16Uh-huh.
09:17Sell.
09:18You're ready to go.
09:19Now put it in drive and high gear.
09:20Drive and high gear.
09:21Those are my favorite words.
09:22And we'll proceed in silence.
09:23I can't imagine that I'm not going to like this thing.
09:28You're going to notice that I'm going to drive like a grandpa a little bit, but that's just because I don't want to crash your expensive.
09:38If you crash your rig, then you know.
09:40It feels just like a regular one, right?
09:43Oh, yeah.
09:44No, this is nice, man.
09:46Electric has to be an alternative to gas.
09:49Uh-huh.
09:50So for it to be an alternative, it has to be equivalent or better.
09:55We basically set out to like make this as relatable as possible for everybody, you know?
10:01I got to tell you, the torque on this thing is just addictive.
10:04Try it a little bit.
10:05I mean, get on with it a little bit when you get a little straight away.
10:08Honestly, what I love, love, love, love LEVs and EVs is just because there is just no wrong place to be.
10:15There is no torque curve.
10:16There is just a torque stick.
10:18Yeah.
10:19You don't got to think about DCT, CVT, where you are in the rev range.
10:23There is just all the power available whenever you mash the throttle.
10:26Yeah.
10:27How's the sound?
10:28That's my question.
10:29The sound is, you know what?
10:31Like, we're not going over twigs and other stuff like that, but you can hear the chassis.
10:35You can hear all the stuff that you can never normally hear.
10:38We want to do a Can-Am EV next.
10:40Oh, cool.
10:41What do you think, what base are you going to use?
10:42What platform?
10:43Probably the X3.
10:44Probably the X3?
10:45Oh, that's smart.
10:46Yeah.
10:47Oh, this thing just eats.
10:49It eats lunch.
10:50And we're keeping up with this Can-Am up here, you know?
10:52Wow, look at this.
10:53That's a caravan.
10:54We caught up to the caravan.
10:56They're just cruising nice and slow.
10:58That's all right.
10:59Now we become another number.
11:01What do you think?
11:02Oh, my God.
11:03I am addicted.
11:04It's great just going over the Crawley stuff.
11:06And like you were saying, like in anything else, if you were in high, you would have to like stop, put it in low and whatever.
11:12And this thing does not matter.
11:14It just eats.
11:15Do you notice like the throttle sensitivity?
11:17It's a little bit more sensitive than like a CVT.
11:20A little bit, yeah.
11:21You can kind of just like give it throttle.
11:23You don't have to wait for the CVT to get pulled up.
11:25It's definitely got that like kind of hair trigger thing.
11:28But it's one of those things like you get to know it like after you've spent like, you know, 10, 15 minutes in this thing.
11:32You kind of get used to it and you can modulate it.
11:34You get that sort of muscle memory where you're like, you know, so anyway, this is awesome.
11:38Okay, so we just got back from a really, really good time.
11:42Thank you so much for coming down from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and all that and coming down.
11:46And we're going to send you back home with some lovely, genuine Tennessee mud spatter.
11:51Oh, it looks beautiful.
11:52It's different than Georgia mud spatter, by the way.
11:54The livery is complete now.
11:55You know, whenever it's clean, it looks like you don't drive.
11:57It looks like you don't test it.
11:59It does look really nice.
12:00Now, did you plan this color combination to work so nicely with this mud?
12:03Yeah, I think so.
12:04I knew that mud would look good on orange, but the orange is good because it's high voltage.
12:08So like universally high voltage batteries, high voltage electrical systems have orange.
12:14So, you know, high voltage vehicle, high voltage livery.
12:17Yeah.
12:18Thank you so much for coming down and ripping around with us and all that.
12:21You are welcome down in Tennessee.
12:23Yeah.
12:24If anyone watching this video wants a demo ride, let me know.
12:26I'll come back to Windrock.
12:27Did you hear that, America?
12:28Free pony rides.
12:29Yeah.
12:30We'll make a weekend out of it.
12:31Let me know if you want to try the electric prototype.
12:33Let me know if you want an electric prototype.
12:35We'll build you one.
12:36All right.
12:37If you like what you have just seen, hit like and subscribe.
12:39And most of all, give us comments.
12:41We love hearing what we're doing well and what we're not doing well.
12:44And when you're done with that, go to UTV driver.
12:46We have news, updates, reviews, buyer's guides.
12:49I'm probably forgetting something.
12:50Five days a week, the news cycle never stops.
12:52Thank you so much for watching.
12:53We'll see you on the trail.
12:54You're welcome, America.
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