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Is the ELECTRIC 2024 Polaris Ranger Kinetic the FUTURE of side-by-sides? We take a close look at the pros and cons of new EV, find out just how fast it is, and discover if it's still a Ranger at heart.

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Transcript
00:00Is the Ranger Kinetic the future of side-by-sides?
00:08Aaron pop quiz, what is the fastest utility side-by-side on sale right now?
00:14I'll give you a hint.
00:15It's not the Ranger XD 1500.
00:17It's not the four-cylinder Kawasaki Ridge, nor is it the tried and true Can-Am Defender.
00:22Any guesses?
00:23Uh, is it this?
00:24Uh, yeah, it's the Ranger Kinetic.
00:26Isn't it electric?
00:28It is electric, but before you click away, this is not some Tesla version of a side-by-side.
00:33This is a Ranger First electric second, and it's one of the most capable utility machines
00:37on the market.
00:38We're gonna tell you all about it.
00:39Hold up, hold up.
00:40I just spent a lot of time in the Polaris Ranger XD 1500.
00:45That is a three-quarter ton side-by-side with 110 horsepower in line three.
00:51Yeah, and that's an amazing rig.
00:52You know what also has 110 horsepower?
00:54This.
00:55And more important than that horsepower number, it has 140 pound-feet of torque, and all of
01:00that comes on the instant you touch the accelerator.
01:03You can bet your tulips the XD 1500 can't match that number.
01:06How much did you say?
01:08140 pound-feet.
01:10But how much torque does a Ranger XP 1000 make?
01:12Yeah, I'm glad you asked.
01:13It's 62.
01:14Do you need 140 pound-feet in a utility rig?
01:18Okay, number one, how dare you?
01:20Well, and number two, yes and no, right?
01:22The more power you have, the easier it is on the machine if you're doing any sort of
01:25serious work.
01:26Fair.
01:27You know, tow capacities are capacities for a reason.
01:29If you have a 2,500-pound towing capacity, you're towing 2,500 pounds, you're using the
01:33absolute max.
01:34Right.
01:35That's going to be hard on a machine.
01:36You've got more power, it's going to be easier on the drivetrain, easier on you, you're not
01:39going to be beating yourself up, you're not going to be beating the rig up.
01:41So it's powerful.
01:42I don't think that's enough to make it the future of side-by-sides.
01:45All right, normally you would be right, however, we need to talk about driveline.
01:50Have you ever had an engine apart, Aaron?
01:52You ever been in the bits?
01:54Yeah.
01:56There are a billion pieces inside of an engine, and a failure on any one of them brings you
02:00to a grinding halt.
02:01You've got pistons, you've got valves, you've got valve springs, you've got valve keepers,
02:04all of them thrashing around, all of them making noise and heat, all of them have to
02:08be taken care of.
02:10This is just an electric motor.
02:11There's way fewer pieces inside this machine.
02:14What about like a belt?
02:15I'm glad you asked about transmission.
02:16This is the transmission out of the Polaris Slingshot, the road-going rig.
02:20So this is a cog belt transmission.
02:22It's not the usual CVT.
02:24When it comes to a tool, simple is always better.
02:26Yep, of course.
02:27Polaris says over the course of five years, this rig will save you $3,500 on maintenance
02:32alone.
02:33$3,500?
02:34$3,500, and that's not counting fuel.
02:36Oh, well, yeah, because...
02:38It's electric.
02:39Yeah, you just plug it in your wall.
02:40All right.
02:41So we need to get back to that transmission for just a second.
02:43There's all sorts of cleverness wrapped up in this thing.
02:45I think one of the most interesting things to me is that there is no reverse gear in
02:49the transmission.
02:50What?
02:51Yeah, okay.
02:52So when you turn this thing, go into reverse, there's a little switch on the shifter, okay?
02:56Okay.
02:57And all that does is reverse the polarity of the motor.
02:59So in forward, the motor spins this way, and in reverse, it spins this way and backs the
03:03rig up.
03:04Okay, that's actually pretty clever.
03:06But I got another beef.
03:07Politics of plugging in your side by side, put aside.
03:10What about range?
03:11Range is the whole thing, right?
03:12So like, okay, maybe it's got more power, but that power is useless if it's dead.
03:17So this is the 29.8 kilowatt hour rig.
03:21It's the smaller of the two batteries.
03:23It's the cheaper rig in general.
03:25You're looking at about 40 miles of range topped up.
03:29Now, if you step up to the bigger battery pack in the ultimate, that gives you a range
03:32of 80 miles, which is pretty good, especially here on the East Coast.
03:36Most of us are not spending 100 miles in your Ranger in a day, and that's good enough for
03:40ripping out chores or bopping out to the tree stand.
03:42And speaking of the tree stand, this thing is dead quiet.
03:45I mean, I love side by sides, but most of them, they sound like a weed eater gargling
03:50bolts and this is just, it's dead silent.
03:56It feels like it's coasting.
03:57Yeah.
03:58Okay.
03:59So look, if you'd never seen a side by side before and you walked into a dealer and the
04:01salesman said, okay, this one over here needs gas every 150 miles.
04:05It's loud.
04:06It smells bad.
04:07You got to check the valves.
04:08You got to change the oil.
04:10Oh, and it's less powerful.
04:11Oh, and it's slower in every way.
04:13This one here is dead silent.
04:15It's faster and it has more than twice as much torque.
04:18Which one are you going to buy?
04:19I'm going to buy this one.
04:2080 miles of range is not great.
04:23However, batteries get better every year.
04:25They get cheaper every year and it is only a matter of time before there's an electric
04:29side by side that can match internal combustion rigs mile for mile.
04:33And at that point, it's game over.
04:34But I got one more question.
04:35How do you charge this thing?
04:37I'm so glad you asked.
04:38Do you need a wall charger?
04:39Do you need somebody to come out and rewire your whole shop?
04:43No, no.
04:44The inverter for this thing is in the rig, so you just plug it in and the rig figures
04:48it out.
04:49If you've got a 110 volt outlet, you plug it in.
04:51There's a fancy little adapter for that.
04:53Rig figures that out.
04:54If you've got a 220 outlet, it'll figure that out.
04:56If you've got a level two charger, it'll figure that out.
04:59Drastically different times, right?
05:01So if you plug it into a regular 110 outlet, it takes about 19 hours to charge.
05:05That's a long time.
05:06But hey, everybody's got 220 in your shop, right?
05:08You do.
05:09I do.
05:10Plug that sucker in there.
05:11Suddenly it's nine hours.
05:12That's overnight.
05:13Level two charger, that's three hours to top it off.
05:16If you already have a Ford Lightning or your wife drives a Tesla or whatever, you've probably
05:21got a level two charger already there.
05:22You can stuck that sucker in while somebody else is out driving around and you're topped
05:26up.
05:27Okay, so how much money are we talking?
05:28What's this thing cost?
05:29Well, they're not cheap.
05:30This base 45 mile range premium is going to set you back $29,999.
05:35You want the 80 mile version?
05:36That's $37,499.
05:37Okay, so other than range, are there any differences between the base kinetic and the ultimate?
05:43Yes and no.
05:45Capacity wise?
05:46No.
05:47They can both tow 2,500 pounds.
05:48Okay.
05:49You can put 1,250 in the bed, which is insane.
05:50That's nearly an XD 1500, but you will get some nicety differences, right?
05:54Like this is a base, base rig.
05:57There is no winch.
05:58There's no roof.
05:59There's no rear view mirror.
06:00There's no stereo.
06:01There's no doors.
06:02There's nothing.
06:03Step up to the ultimate.
06:04You get a lot more stuff.
06:05Okay, that's all great and everything, but my baby, the XD 1500 starts at $29,999.
06:10Yeah, normally I would agree.
06:13The Ranger XD 1500 is an amazing value at that price, but this thing does not let up
06:17on capability and Polaris sells every one of these rigs they can make.
06:22So what do you think?
06:23Do you think the Ranger kinetic is the future of side by sides?
06:25I'm not convinced it's the future of side by sides, but I can definitely see how electrics
06:30fit into the side by side world.
06:32I mean the power, the simplicity, how quiet they are.
06:35Like yeah, there's a place for these for sure.
06:37Absolutely.
06:38Can you imagine this driveline in a Razor?
06:40I want it.
06:41I want that.
06:42I want that.
06:43Zach, walk me through the charger.
06:44Yeah.
06:45All right.
06:46So this is what shows up.
06:47It comes in a nice zippered pouch.
06:48It's the main wall unit, pluggy guy.
06:49That's what plugs into the rig itself, right where the gas cap usually is.
06:52And then you get these two adapters.
06:54That's for 110, like a regular wall outlet, right?
06:57That's for 220, like for your welder or your dryer or something like that.
07:00Pick which one you need, plug it in, rig figures it out.
07:03Really?
07:04So that's it.
07:05It's that simple.
07:06That's it.
07:07There's no messing with anything on ride command.
07:08It figures it out.
07:09All right.
07:10Yeah.
07:12Everything looks like a Ranger.
07:13Yeah.
07:14Cause it is a Ranger.
07:15There's nothing to learn really.
07:16Hey, it's on right now.
07:18It's on?
07:19It's on right now.
07:20Whoa.
07:21Oh, that's cool.
07:22So I could just, you could just take off right now.
07:23Wow.
07:24How's the shifter work?
07:25Yeah.
07:26It's just a regular shifter.
07:27Yeah.
07:28It's just a Ranger shifter.
07:29You're in gear now.
07:30Oh, and here's your, the switch you were talking about.
07:31So forward for forward, reverse, reverse, reverse.
07:32You've got a camera on even this base model.
07:33Oh, look, all the same regular storage.
07:35Do you still have the under, Oh, still put a five gallon bucket under there.
07:39You don't really give up anything for the battery.
07:42You know, on a production vehicle, a production EV typically you have way less storage because
07:45the battery has to go somewhere, but that's not the case with this.
07:48What's under the bed?
07:49Uh, the motor.
07:50So yeah, it's all sealed where you usually have a dipstick and all the rest of that.
07:54All you have is a coolant reservoir for the battery.
07:57So nothing under here to, uh, you, you could look at your bushings if you wanted to.
08:00Yeah.
08:01If you wanted to.
08:02Cool.
08:03All right.
08:04See how fast it is.
08:05Yeah.
08:06I want to see how fast it is.
08:07All right.
08:08We'll put it in not eco mode.
08:10Holy.
08:11Those trees came up quick.
08:12Holy.
08:13I can't.
08:14I need to not swear.
08:15You see what I'm saying?
08:16Yeah.
08:17No, dude.
08:18I feel like anybody who has any doubts about this rig, you just have to spend five minutes
08:35in one.
08:36Not even that.
08:37I've been in it for 30 seconds.
08:38It's like sold.
08:39Yeah.
08:40It just absolutely rips.
08:41It is so silly how fast it is.
08:43Like, like this is more fun than any other utility side-by-side period.
08:46And like, I know that's not why you buy a utility rig.
08:49No, but it helps.
08:50It helps.
08:51It certainly helps.
08:52If you've got a little stressful day going on, just jump in here and punch it once and
08:55it'll, yeah.
08:56All your cares are gone.
08:57You get smoked while you're out hunting, just, you know, rip back to the cabin.
09:01Yeah, exactly.
09:02It makes a great case for a sport machine with this powertrain in it.
09:05That's what I'm saying.
09:06It's so good.
09:07I want to razor with this driveline so bad.
09:09Yeah.
09:10And if you've never driven an electric before, it's worth getting in here and just punching
09:11it once because it takes like weirdly a second or two for you to realize how fast you're
09:16going and then your brain can't catch up because you don't get the, any kind of noise or whine
09:21or anything.
09:22Your stomach feels a little weird at first and then you're like, Oh, it reminds me exactly
09:26of a rollercoaster.
09:27Right?
09:28Cause you get that feeling of like, Oh, it's awesome.
09:31I like it.
09:32Well, let's see what else it's capable of.
09:33All right.
09:34We got some choring to do.
09:35So we're going to rip around in this thing a little bit.
09:36Hey, sweetie.
09:38What you doing girl?
09:40Check us out on utvdriver.com over there five days a week with news, reviews, buyer's guides,
09:45all that fun stuff.
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09:48So be sure to like comment and subscribe.
09:50Three, two, one.
09:51No utility rig needs to be this fast.
09:59No, it doesn't.