Ok, boys and girls I asked the question this past week about global warming and a few had some great things to say. This might peak a little more feedback. Here is the answer for a green mechine. Enjoy the read...bt..

To see the video click the link below and then click the link on the top right of that page.

http://www.rasertech.com/apps_snowmobiles.html


Aspen Grove, Utah. Raser Technologies tested its prototype hybrid electric snowmobile in Aspen Grove, Utah near Sundance Ski Resort. NBC affiliate news station KSL featured the historic test drive on the 6 o'clock news. See the Video.

In this historic demonstration, Raser's engineers modified a Polaris snowmobile, replacing the 2-stroke combustion engine with a low cost industrial motor enhanced with Raser's Symetron™ technology. The small, light weight, 5h horse power motor now delivers 80 horse power—the same power as many popular 2-stroke combustion snowmobiles.

The electric snowmobile project is just one demonstration of how Raser's Symetron™ advanced motor technology can make electric hybrid vehicles of all sizes more powerful and more affordable. Raser plans to license it's technology to automobile and motor manufacturers.

Raser is currently in test demonstration of it's advanced technology with motor makers and automobile manufacturers for use in hybrid electric vehicles, generators and other types of motors.

This historic prototype is designed to operate as a "series hybrid" with the electric motor driving the vehicle, and a quiet generator used only when needed to recharge the onboard batteries while driving to extend the range. Advanced Lithium battery technology used in the test were provided by Compact Power Inc, in Colorado. This is the same type of new high power battery technology offered in many new hybrid electric cars & trucks

This new technology may help quiet the controversy over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park

“We think the horsepower is finally equivalent to what you would expect in a combustion machine, but we can run quietly and cleanly,” said David West, Vice President, Marketing for Raser Technologies.

Readings with a decibel meter showed that the electric snowmobile was 618 times quieter than the combustion version.

The company plans to team up with snowmobile manufacturers who want to participate in a test demonstration of the technology in Yellowstone National Park. Raser hopes manufacturers move quickly to meet the demand for clean quiet snowmobiles in sensitive areas like Yellowstone, then offer the technology to the general public in the near future.

The National Park Service is supportive of the snowmobile tests. “We have to go to a cleaner technology and we’re banking on companies like Raser to help us do that,” said Terry Brennan of the US National Parks Service.

“The future of snowmobiling has to realize that the two-stroke snowmobile is an antiquated machine,” Brennan said. “You’re going to see that with a quieter technology snowmobile going in, there’s going to be more wildlife, more photo opportunities for people who want to take photos of Yellowstone in the wintertime.”

Raser’s technology provides similar benefits to vehicles of all sizes. “Our technology is scaleable and works just as well at a fractional size motor as it will work on a very large, high horsepower motor,” said Kraig Higginson CEO of Raser.

“I’m very excited about what I’ve seen of the Raser technology,” said Dan Rivers, CEO of Compact Power, Inc. “To the extent you can raise the power to weight ratio and get more power out of a smaller motor, you unquestionably are going to get lower cost motors and that will accelerate the trend towards hybrid or other kinds of electric vehicles.”

NBC affiliate news station KSL featured the historic test drive on the 6 o'clock news. A video of the broadcast can be viewed here. Raser Technologies is a research and development company that plans to license its advance motor technology to motor and vehicle manufacturers.

Let's here the feedback we know everyone should have something to say, would you hook up your electric sled to your solar power supply and ride for free ? What will we do in ten years ?....bt.

Man...I wish I broke that story!!!!! -Gil

Was this a new article or from a few years back?? I remember seeing something like this say about 2 years ago when the Yellowstone controversy was in full swing, and that Polaris RMK chassie is about a 2002-2004, and no longer being built. Interesting concept, but I'll keep my 2-stroke.

If a 5 hp motor can be made to put out 80 hp, imagine what a 10 hp motor could do. 160 hp if my math is right. A 25 hp elec. motor would make a musclecar blush.
What's not being revealed here, is the weight and the range of the sled, but of course with an onboard generator, the range would seem to be limitless as long as you had gas.
Every once in a while, something like this comes along and seems too good to be true, and then you never see it anymore. Hope thats not the case here, but I'll be skeptical till I actually see this turn up in a commercially available vehicle.

I love new technolgy and can't wait to see new compact high storage batteries. It seems to be the major issue right now is storing enough power without a re-charge. It may take a while to catch on but if manufactures or some after market performance companies can make the thing a peppy ditch bangen machine it may catch on a little quicker. Like they say try them in Yellowstone and most likely move onto rescue and police and go from there. Right now it seems Ski-doo has the cleanest 2 stroke technolgy with there direct injection coming out pretty soon. But in 10 years who knows?

Ahte to cry foul, but i looked at the website quickly, and I just dont see how they can supply the power for " 80 " horsepower.

A 5 HP electric generator, in theory, can put out a maximum of 3700 watts power.

How big is the battery ? Weight ? I can see this being enough power for a slow cruising speed, and maybe a few burst of power, but you cannot majically create 80 hoarses from 5 for any sustainable period of time ??

I need more hard facts and proof.......

The reason that electric cars aren't worth a damn is because they're heavy, they don't have any range, and the bank of batteries is not only extremely expensive, but opens up an entirely new area of environmental concerns.

I can't see how it would be any different with a snowmobile. The only place I could see these being sucessful is in a park like Yellowstone, but even that is for nothing more than to please the tree huggers. For all the complaining they're doing about sleds in Yellowstone, none of those tree huggers seem to be trying to ban cars, which right now outnumber sleds in the park by a very wide margin, and ultimately produce more pollution.

Hydrogen sled ..... who has the balls to sit on a moving H-Bomb

This electric sled is not the final answer to the enviormental problem but at least people are trying things.

if you watch the video provided, they say it runs 20-25 mph.

watch out for radar guns!!! :-p