CLEAN TRANSPORT Tested: 110 HP, All Electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic UTV

Last week, Polaris invited me to come out to Road America in Wisconsin to test drive the all-new, all-electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic side-by-side UTV. After months of speculation about the brand’s first-ever flagship EV, I couldn’t turn them down.

Why did Polaris invite little ol’ Jo Borrás out to drive their new, 110 HP UTV? While it probably had more to do with me being the closest CleanTechnica writer available, I’m also smack-dab in the heart of the Polaris’ target market – or near enough, anyway, that our family recently picked up a new side-by-side of our own earlier this summer. What’s more, as a former sales manager at a Honda power sports store, I’ve ridden the comparable Pioneer and Talon models, and even sampled a Yamaha or two along the way.

I have also sampled Polaris’ first electric effort, the Polaris Ranger EV UTV. That vehicle – which developed prior to the Polaris/Zero motorcycle marriage – was powered by lead-acid batteries and had more in common with an E-Z-Go golf cart than a high-performance SxS. To someone who associates electric power with a gut-punch of off-the-line acceleration, it was disappointing … if not downright boring.

While the little Polaris Ranger EV UTV is capable enough to haul hay and hand tools around a small farm, I wasn’t convinced it merited its price tag, regardless of its electrified benefits. As such, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to come at this new Polaris with the sort of clean-slate objectivity that the company probably would have liked. To be extra, doubly sure that I gave the Kinetic a fair shake, I brought backup.

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