Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Electric side by sides / UTVs

Going to buy a side by side in a couple months before hunting season starts up. My buddies all have Rangers and Pioneers but for some reason I am pretty interested in one of the electrics. I get their limitations—Slower and won’t have the same range but i like the fact that they are quiet. This will be something I use 75% of the time for hunting flat land to small hills and the rest for running my daughters around in the woods. Was wondering what people’s opinions are on an electric side by side versus gas powered for hunting? also was wondering if many folks had much experience with the electric side by sides particularly with the Textron Prowler EV? Supposedly they are a much improved version of the bad boy buggies which I know had a lot of problems. Thanks all

Scott

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I have a golf cart that I sneak around on. It is very quiet.

The suspension, however, is terrible. It has no cargo box. We don't use it much, except during hunting season.

I've considered the Ranger EV because I think we would use it a LOT more than we use the golf cart. It has a cargo bed and is capable of towing a trailer.

I'm interested in any experience with it or similar.

I've been involved with three different Bad Boy Buggies. I've heard they are much better than a few years ago but my experiences with them leave me uninterested in ever considering another.

This is an idea long overdue. The noise and stink of ATVs is foolish. If a car can be built with a 300 mile range on pure electric, surely an ATVthat can do 50 is possible. I'm sure a talented guy could take a wrecked Prius battery pack, a powerful electric motor, a blown up side by side and put together a silent but deadly unit.

I think Textron, who owns EZ Go and Arctic Cat, is trying to make improvements to the bad boy buggie platform and create a vehicle not to compete with gas powered models but create its own niche. I like the idea of being absolutely quiet even if I have to give up some range and mud bogging capabilities as my rig will mainly be for hunting. I’d like to see a Polaris Ranger Ev but my local dealer is pretty down on the electric models and won’t carry them. Of course the Textrons are limited in my area (eastern NC) also with my closest dealer being almost two hours away. I did get to drive a Textron prowler. 4x4, can hold 4 people, 400 lb bed capacity. 25mph max which is slow but fast enough for my hunting purposes. It’s heavy though with all those batteries— 72V...

I have a 48 volt, 2 wheel drive bad boy. Well built , good ground clearance and lots of torque and power. Easy to service and clean after use. I’ve ridden right into turkeys and deer and hogs. I mounted an Atwood led light and use the red leds for traveling in and out in the dark. All in all I like it but I’m also considering getting a Honda pioneer just because.

We have one of these on the farm.
My 93 year old grandpa uses it primarily, so I can't say it gets worked hard. It's been great so far. His battery runs out before the utv's battery does.
https://ranger.polaris.com/en-us/ranger-ev-li-ion-polaris-pursuit-camo/specs/

Why do you have to service and clean after use?

SIL is a rep for Textron, and has both gas and electric SxSs.

Personally I'm impressed with how quiet the electric is also. Lotta muscle in the engine.

I'd go that route for sure!


DMc

Batteries cann be compromised by cold. If in a northern state, don't forget it.

AB: You are most correct. According to Trojon Batteries: "... for every 15º F (9º C) below 80º F (27º C), capacity is reduced by 10%." I hunt at a deer lease in Alabama where only electric carts are allowed. One morning in January it was 10* F. The lease owner was complaining about the batteries not taking a complete charge. If my arithmetic is correct the batteries only held 46.6% of the capacity they had at 80*F. This also equates to about half the range at 80* F. The other thing we learned is that electric carts make a lot of noise breaking through ice on the trails.

Not an option on an electric-only lease, I suppose, but what if you augment range (when it's not important for stealth) by securing a Honda portable generator in the bed? My BIL works for a company that makes parts for ATV/UTVs and they do it all the time for testing purposes.

Mud, grease the zerks, general stuff. Nothing special has been required.

Earl: Great idea. My Honda 1000eu is very quiet.

Are lithium ion batteries affected by temperature? The Trojon battery figures are for lead acid batteries.

I'm in the market as well...

I wish the mfgr.'s would spend the time to design an exhaust system that makes the gas ones as quiet as most cars.

Do the electric Polaris's still use the noisy cvt system of the gassers, or are they more of a direct drive system??

A bunch of guys at my lease have been using converted golf carts for about 10 years, they’ve worked ok but require a lot of maintenance because they’re not very well built. A few years ago a couple of them bought the Polaris EV and it’s a much more impressive machine, it’s the only one on the market currently that I would consider.

I wish Honda or Yamaha would make an electric side by side. I’m not really a Polaris fan but everything else out there is golf cart based & wont hold up.

electric golf cart wouldn't make it 100 yds past the truck/trailer out here

want a quiet SxS ?

look at the new Yamaha Wolverine......brand new twin cyl 850cc motor

good suspension....brand new quietest exhaust on the market

power steering.....

http://www.atv.com/manufacturer/yamaha/2018-yamaha-wolverine-x4-preview[/img]

You are right about The converted golf carts. Two friends started out that way and didn’t work for them very long. Flat land, not much mud and ruts and they’d be ok I think.