Zoomi Life

I’m going to sum this entire article up for you right now: Barefoot Motors rules!

Barefoot Motors makes all-terrain vehicles with electric motors and drive trains.  They’re plug-in electrics. They call these EUVs (Earth Utility Vehicle). The current models are being “beta tested” by people around North America; including a dairy farmer and a vineyard manager in California.

Oh, do you know who Jamie Hyneman is? Think Mythbusters and mustaches. Yep, he’s testing one too. In fact, he built the first proof of concept vehicle for Barefoot. He’s an adviser on product development.

The current model is called the Model One. Ya, I had the same reaction. Imaginative folks over there. On the plus side, it appears they’ve been putting a lot more effort into making a realistic, fun, and useable electric ATV (I mean EUV) instead of just writing up a bunch of marketing hype and coming up with cool names.

OK, enough prattling. Let’s look at some specs on this bad boy.  This is a heavy-duty ATVs and looks and is sized about like most large 4-wheelers of this class (650-800cc). It weighs in at 850 pounds and has a maximum load weight of 500 pounds. That covers me, the dog, a shotgun, and a case of ammo. Good to go!

Here’s more raw data:

• 51in wheel base
• 1100 pound max tow weight
• AC induction motor (6kW/46hp/7500rpm/105ft torque)
• 72volt li-ion battery system, 2,000-3,000 cycle rated
• 110/220v charge on board
• 35mph top speed
• 20 miles or 4-hours seat time average
• Hi/Lo gearing

These are preliminary specs that might change some at production, but they’re so close, they probably won’t change much (if at all).

The price on these isn’t cheap ($15,000), but when you figure in all the details, it’s in line with similar heavy-duty ATVs at the dealership. Plus, as the site mentions, you have very few maintenance costs, with an average vehicle lifetime savings of about $6,000 just from that.

Barefoot Motors is currently taking reservations (10% deposit) to gear up for their first production run. The Oregon-based company plans to begin production on the Model One in February ‘09 with the official product launch taking place at the World Ag Expo in California.

Barefoot’s only major competition in this arena is the Italian-made Verteci iWork, which is only 2wd and has disadvantages like worse battery life and a lower tow and carrying weight.

It’s great to see a real ATV on the electric market now and I want to get my hands on one to try it out ASAP. Nice!

Here’s a video of Mythbuster’s Jamie Hyneman talking about the Model One:

[Show as slideshow]