- What's up guys, Glen here,
back on the Function Powersports' YouTube.
Today, we got Jordan here from Anthem Off-road Wheels,
and we got a new topic for you guys that we haven't done
quite like this before.
So as most of you know, Polaris Rangers have been
a very common UTV for a long time.
Basically Polaris just launched an all-new Polaris Ranger,
XP kinetic, which is an EV Polaris Ranger model,
but with very high performance standards
compared to like an old school electric one
where it would be like a golf cart.
We're going to talk about what we think
on the all-new Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic UTV,
and kind of do some pro and con of gas versus electric here.
So you're ready to this Jordan?.
- Absolutely.
- Hell yeah. All right.
So, coming from my background, I do a ton of trail riding.
I've never really grown up on a farm where
it's like using a Polaris Ranger for work.
I more so have the trail riding experience there.
So I just kind of pulling you in,
what's kind of your background with the UTVs.
- From my background, isn't really into the trail riding,
or even like the ranch management type of thing,
but from a functional perspective, I mean,
I use them a lot for hunting,
for just basic land management.
So yeah, from a functional perspective,
decent background, especially in the Polaris market.
- Heck yeah. What we want to talk about is,
we'll compare some price points here,
but then also the power aspects of these machines.
So like Polaris Ranger XP 1000, the gas models, you know,
those are fairly powerful machines, but you know,
they are running on gas.
So it comes to this discussion of what do we think
of that brand new electric Polaris Ranger
that has 110 horsepower and an 80 mile range,
which seems like quite a bit actually, for what it is.
My take on it would be, you know,
80 mile range, pretty solid distance.
You could do a little bit of trail riding
or go to your local supper club
if you live out in the country.
- Yeah, that's my thought right away on the 80 mile range,
you hear that right away and you're like, oh, okay,
80 miles, that's not as far as a gassers' gonna go.
- Right.
- But when you're thinking of a functional user,
again, back to back to my uses for them,
I'm never going 42 miles into the woods
- Right.
- to go get anything accomplished
and then trying to come 42 miles back.
It could easily accomplish both of those for the range.
My only immediate thought on the range
with any electric vehicle
and now in electric power sports vehicle,
is what happens when you run out.
- [Glen] Like what's the backup plan once that range
is sapped.
- Exactly. What's the backup plan because again,
I'm a gasser, if I'm going into the woods,
it takes nothing to throw a little gas can in the back,
- Right.
- and 90% of the time I have one back there
anywhere for the saws or for whatever amount
they're working on.
So I have a backup plan with me at all times
where there's not an outlet when I'm deep in the woods.
- I could see, you know, maybe you got a generator
mounted in the back of that Polaris Ranger box,
but then you're eliminating your cargo.
- [Jordan] Yep.
- [Glen] And then you're going to be using gas
to power that, but you know,
how fast can you charge that ranger backup
to actually go, maybe you got to get 10 miles back home.
- [Jordan] Yeah.
- Or if you're out in the field, you're like shoot,
it died on me.
What are you going to do if you're out in the farm field?
So that's something I personally didn't see any specs on,
but you know, maybe there's a charge time rating, 'cause,
- Yeah. I believe they were saying somewhere
in the five-hour range for a full charge.
- But for like that quick boost charges,
just to get you a home kind of thing.
- Yeah, and again, throwing a generator in the back,
again, a one pound, two pound gas can,
to a 40, 50 pound generator.
- Right.
- It can handle it, but again, more space than a gas can
and way more weight than a gas can will ever be.
- Exactly.
- [Jordan] There's still tons of pros
that we can walk through that's for sure.
The range is, I mean really when we're going to talk
pros and cons, the range is like one of the few cons
I have on this entire machine.
- So Jordan's back on, he does a lot of hunting,
a lot of outdoor stuff.
You know, this machine's gotta be pretty quiet.
- [Jordan] Yeah.
- [Glen] So instead of it being a loud muffler,
just the gas machine where the engine is fairly loud,
we're talking, this is all electric.
So fairly stealthy if you're going into the woods.
- Yeah. One of my biggest takeaways from it is the noise,
both the going in and coming out, I think of it immediately.
This seems damn near silent that you can basically just be,
you could creep in there, turn that thing off,
turn it a full fire up
- Yeah.
- and it's going to be silent.
I mean that's a huge pro.
- And the cool thing about it too,
is like a normal Polaris Ranger,
lot of people are thinking, man,
is this a different chassis?
It's the exact same chassis, same roll cage
and four wheel drive system.
So really the only thing you're losing
is that gas first electric power here.
- [Jordan] Yep.
- So, I mean, heck even in terms of accessories,
can totally deck out the electric,
the Kinetic model Ranger as if it was an XP 1000 Ranger, so.
- Yeah. Another huge pro too, is that
the compatibility with the gas machine.
I mean, honestly one of the big,
a big plus for Polaris and the huge win in my opinion
for them is doing that.
And they're pushing 95% compatibility with their accessories
coming back so that they didn't use this as a ploy
to get people into a whole new everything.
- Right.
- They just said, hey, we simply just want to give you
a better machine, an electric machine,
but still use everything you still have current state,
or swap.
- I mean you can over your windshield.
You could swap over your full doors,
whatever it may be, all that's just swap it on over.
I think that's a huge pro and that's probably the best way
Polaris could have like introduced
a true performance electric machine to the market.
And like with what we're doing here at Function Powersports,
the goal here is to help all the riders, you know,
build out their machines from start to finish.
So being this old, the Kinetic Model Ranger does just that.
I mean, what better way than to kind of, you know,
bring it to market a little bit to say like, hey,
we can still throw aftermarket wheels and tires on that
as if it was the normal one, which is sweet.
- Completely agree.
Another huge pro that they touch on and that we can touch on
is that no gas means no spark plugs, no oil changes,
no filters.
- [Glen] Low maintenance.
- Yeah, the low maintenance aspect,
again, especially for me being in the woods is huge.
- We almost need to see if Polaris can get us
one of these machines, they are sold out on the websites,
meaning everyone's already pre-ordered them
to the max at Polaris is willing to commit to.
So it's like, man, I would love personally to see
how that performance is.
'Cause a 110 horsepower electric UTV.
That's gotta be pretty quick.
'Cause it does have the switchable modes on it
for your work mode, your normal
and like a more of a sport mode.
So seeing what that performance aspect is,
I'm extremely curious to see what it's like in comparison
to like a direct, you know, just the gas ranger 1000, so.
- Yeah. One thing I'd like to test, especially that
they touch on in their launch video,
but you can kind of tell that they're really not
doubling down on it,
is how does it handle exactly current state today
that we film and it's about negative 20 outside right now.
- Like would it start today?
- Exactly.
- Would it star^t today and 80 miles of range,
does that quickly become 60, 55?
- [Glen] 20?
- Yeah. Like 20. Exactly.
And then again, what happens?
I want to take that out ice fishing with me today.
I leave at six in the morning 4:00 PM
when I come out of that shack and that thing's
been sitting in negative 20 for the last nine hours.
- Right.
- Is it gonna turn over?
- 'Cause a lot of the gas machines will struggle
with this real cold weather to just start
and then to run efficiently.
So I'd say Polaris killed it with the concept
a hundred percent.
- Yep.
- You know, it makes sense the power's there.
You're not losing out on any of the capabilities,
but what we don't know personally is we can't say
how well it works in our current Wisconsin elements of,
like you said, negative 10, negative 20 with wind chill.
I mean, it is freezing and up here,
a lot of people ice fish all winter.
- [Jordan] Yeah.
- So would this be an alternative for ice fishermen
to go a mile out into the lake, back to their truck?
Would it work? Would it start?
That's all stuff I think it would be
a really interesting thing to find out.
- Yeah. I completely agree.
So, Polaris, we're talking to you.
- Yeah.
- Send one of these in here.
- Make sure to tag Polaris down below.
We'll tag them on all our socials.
'Cause we'd love to find out.
- Please. Please.
- That'd be awesome.
A lot of you might be wondering what kind of price points
are we looking at for these machines?
Well, we got figured out is if you want
a Polaris Ranger XP 1000 gas machine,
you're going to be looking at about 20 grand
right at the door.
So just to start to get into one
with the Polaris Ranger Kinetic models,
we've got two options there.
We got the premium and we got the ultimate.
So with the premium,
you'll be coming in at about 25 grand starting point
and then with the ultimate about 30 grand.
So there is a price jump there.
It's not, you know, I guess in UTV world,
it's not tremendous,
but in everyday person kind of just thinking about like,
man, that is quite a hop.
- Kind of like you said, I mean the horsepower,
the tow capacity,
I mean, the specs are in improvement.
You're not getting equal model electric.
You are getting a lot of upgrades, honestly,
a lot of steps up and you're going electric
and you're gonna save on that fuel.
So I really, I see the balance in, in cost.
I could rationalize it in my head pretty much.
- [Glen] Like you could justify it.
- Yeah, I could justify doing it.
And it wouldn't be, it would not be in the
"I'm gonna make it up in gas costs",
It would be "I'm getting the performance upgrades
from this machine."
That is how I would talk myself into it.
- So I mean, with that,
we've never really done like a review video
on a new machine.
This XP Kinetic Ranger just came out in like the last month,
so very new to market and we figured what better way
to bring it to our followers and our fans on YouTube
and kind of like deep dive what our first thoughts are
on this machine.
So we obviously hope you liked this video.
Give it a like down below if you did enjoy watching
and comment down below,
are you taking a gas Polaris Ranger,
or are you taking electric?
So it's kind of a toss up for me right now
until I really get to see one or maybe test drive one,
but it does sound like Jordan's kind of got, you know,
the route he'd go.
- Yeah. I would lean towards the electric.
That quiet ride is, is huge for me.
That would be a major selling point.
And then again, performance,
pretty much every single aspect you look at,
it is an improvement in performance and I'm not a range guy.
I'm not a trail guy.
I won't have to ever worry about those 80 miles.
So, it would be electric for me.
- Heck yeah.
I'm excited to see what the market does with these,
'cause this could lead to a Polaris RZR, you know,
having an electric.
Like see what the market could handle and what takes off
with it.
- Yup.
- Well, make sure to subscribe.
You're not gonna wanna miss out on more content
we got coming soon and we'll see you next time.
Peace.
(relaxing music)