All-electric Can-Am Spyder concept
Bombardier Recreational Products, better known as
BRP, is having a lot of success with its Can-Am Spyder. It delivered the
100,000 unit last year. During the summer, you can’t travel far without
driving by one on the road. The single rear drive wheel with two front wheels
for steering is an interesting platform for an electric drivetrain and BRP
knows it.
The company has been financing a project to create
an all-electric version of the vehicle with the CTA and the Université de
Sherbrooke for the past 5 years. They finally unveiled the all-electric concept
at EVS29 last month.
The vehicle is equipped with a CTA-patented 16 kWh
battery pack which enables a range of about 170 km, according to
the organisation. The battery powers a permanent magnet synchronous motor rated
at 50 kW.
They didn’t release a lot of information about the
vehicle’s performance, but they said that they didn’t compromise with respect
to gas-powered models.
There’s no word on if BRP plans to bring the vehicle
to production or at what price (the gas-powered version starts at US$ 20,000),
but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
The US$ 8.6 million project was
supported financially by BRP and the Automotive Partnership Canada program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and InnovÉÉ.
