Getting the jump on the competition, HISUN has released the Sector E1 electric side-by-side. Not only is it affordable but it offers 45-miles on a charge:

Meet the Sector E1: HISUN's First Electric SxS - ATVConnection.com

 

Sounds like a big improvement over the first EV from Polaris. Has the same hp rated motor which is plenty strong enough,but uses a single battery instead of sitting on top of 8 deep cycle marine batteries. Battery technology is slowly improving.

 

These types of machines are for specific purpose only though. Who could go fun riding with only a 45 mile range, then how long to charge backup. Then when the battery fails how much to replace it? Reminds me to much of the electric or hybrid cars, nobody wants a used one do to the high cost of battery replacement. A new Prius cost almost 40 grand but you cant give a used one away, so that makes one crappy investment. Most of the electric models in offroad are not very fast either so that makes them even more of a specialized piece of equipment.

 

That's the 2 biggest problem with any electric off-road vehicle. The range and lack of speed. I'm sure it takes hours to recharge the battery. Also, does it start to lose power as the battery gets close to being dead, as in most vehicles. At work, we have battery forklifts and cushman vehicles to pull wheeled carts and racks from one part of the plant to another. When the battery gets close to being dead, they slow down, a lot. But they're slow work vehicles, have a top speed of about 8 mph or so. I assume this has a top speed of about 25 mph or so. Fast enough for work duties but would be boring to take trail riding because its just too slow. I could see this electric utv being a good jobsite vehicle. But unless you really need the capability, a golf cart will do the same thing for a fraction of the price. And probably has a longer range.

 

I still like the concept after driving my first Polaris EV years back,love the torque of the motors and I don't think they're going to disappear like some sort of fad and will improve as time goes by. Elon Musk is making great steps on battery evolution even though his cars are still out of reach of a lot of people right now. Who knows what will happen in 5 or 10 years especially with what may happen to the oil industry and also the Epa that can give a much needed boost to this technology.