Back in September, 2019, BRP unveiled not one, not two, but six electric vehicle concepts. These included an electric Ryker, a new leaning electric three-wheeler it called TWeLVE, and two two-wheelers it called CT1 and CT2. A Sea-Doo and a Rotax Sonic E-Kart were the other two concepts introduced. 

On March 25, 2021, the Canadian powersports company announced that these six weren’t just concepts. In fact, they’re a roadmap of sorts, because by 2026, the company plans to introduce electric models for each of its product lines. To do this, it’s investing a total of $300 million in bringing this project to fruition. If all goes according to plan, the first BRP electric product should be on the market in about two years’ time. All others should follow soon after. It’s worth noting here that BRP hasn’t offered any specifics on what EV will be first out of the gate, so we’ll have to wait to find out more information closer to its release date.  

Of course, that means electric powertrain development is high on BRP’s list of priorities. To that end, it’s working on developing its Rotax modular electric powerpack in-house, across both its facilities in Canada and Austria.  

The current plan is for the work to be split across a new Electric Vehicle Development Centre based in Canada, and another location in Austria. The Canadian team will work on the charger, battery pack, and vehicle integration side of things. Meanwhile, the Austrian team will work on high-performance electric motor and inverter development. BRP is also actively recruiting EV experts to fill roles in its quickly-expanding electric vehicle workforce. 

“We have always said electrification was not a question of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’. Today, we’re very excited to unveil more details of our plan to deliver market-shaping products that will enhance the consumer experience by offering new electric options,” BRP president and CEO José Boisjoli said in a statement. 

“We are leveraging our engineering know-how and innovation capabilities to define the best strategy for developing electric-powered products,” he added. 

“We are thrilled to create our EV expertise center, taking steps into the world of electrification. Experts on our EV team will feel the agility of a startup environment but will benefit from BRP’s financial resources and state-of-the-art equipment to design our in-house technology,” BRP’s senior VP of global product strategy Bernard Guy concluded. 

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