Are Electric UTVs the Future of Agriculture?
What comes to mind when you hear the word “EV”? Sleek, shiny sedans plugged into charging stations across the urban landscape? Monochromatic motor vehicles whirring down the highway in near silence? The clean future of commuter culture?
If “rugged terrain,” “agriculture”, and “farm work” aren’t words that spring to mind, you aren’t alone. But OEC – and plenty of others – envision a future for electric vehicles that spans far beyond that city-centric view of them that so many of us hold.
Meet: the Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic. From a distance, these enclosed four-wheelers might look like the average UTV you’d find on any farm across the country. But what you’ll discover up close is much more than that. These fully electric “side-by-sides” pack a whopping 110 horsepower (35% more than any fossil fuel-powered alternative on the market), and can save up to 70% in lifetime maintenance costs… all with zero emissions!
In 2023, we partnered with Pacific Power, and launched our first agriculture-focused EV project. We purchased Polaris UTVs for three different irrigation system districts in central Oregon. While there was some trepidation at first, the vehicles wound up being a huge hit, and are still being used as the go-to way to get around the sites today.
The success of the project is why, in 2024, we once again teamed up with Pacific Power to bring four electric UTV vehicles to Oregon State University College of Agriculture Sciences research station farms across the state: Hyslop Field Lab outside of Corvallis, Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River, Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Central Point, and The Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center in Pendleton. The project was made possible thanks to funds secured through Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program, which OEC helped pass in 2016.
Last summer, we had the chance to see some of these game-changing vehicles in action at the OSU research stations, and chat with the folks who had spent the most amount of time behind the wheel. Here’s what we found:
Corvallis
Just outside of Corvallis, the home base for OSU’s College of Agricultural Science, we pulled up to the Hyslop Field Lab and were greeted by throngs of people. It wasn’t just any day on the farm; it was their annual “field day,” where scientists (staff and students alike) show off what they’ve spent the last year researching. Producers and academics alike come to the events to see what the future holds for their production practices. Many of the studies center around sustainability – from weed control using legumes instead of chemicals, to ultra-precise, AI-powered pesticide application.
Hyslop’s Polaris is most often used for gopher trapping, surveying the fields, and getting around the 260-some acres throughout the work day. But as field day attendees looked up at the dark clouds rolling in, Kenny King, Hyslop’s farm manager, had another idea.
“Jump in!” he yelled to the slowly scattering crowd. “It’s about to start coming down!”
The Polaris had become the event’s go-to rain rescue-mobile.
At the end of the successful (albeit soggy) field day, Kenny said that the folks he drove around were impressed with the EV. “They were really surprised when they found out it was electric,” he said. “And it’s so quiet, I could actually have conversations with people as I was carting them around. It was a big hit.”
Hood River
Next on our list was OSU’s Hood River outfit, the Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Nestled in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge, the farm specializes in growing cherries and pears (the region is known as one of the biggest producers of those fruits in the country).
It was a stunningly beautiful July day when we arrived for their field day – not a cloud in sight, sans some smokey skies beyond the eastward hills. However, the previous winter had been a particularly snowy one. When Brian Pearson, Ph.D. and Director at Mid-Columbia, arrived for the job in February, he awoke to a deep snow just two weeks after settling in.
“When I woke up, I heard something outside my window,” he said. “I looked out, and there’s Jake, our farm manager, plowing the parking lot with the Polaris! I wasn’t even sure if it would work in the winter time… But, turns out, it had become his go-to piece of equipment. I was surprised by how well it works under such a wide range of weather conditions.”
Beyond plowing snow, their Polaris is regularly used for all sorts of projects around the farm, from hauling equipment, orchard debris and compost, to giving visitors tours. Its compact size lets it easily glide through the narrow rows between the pear trees, and it’s quiet enough to not disrupt the undeniable serenity of the landscape.
Thankfully, the weather held throughout the field day, so the Polaris was never called upon to bring people to shelter… which meant it was free for an OEC test drive!
Central Point
We weren’t able to make it to Central Point to visit OSU’s Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center and see their Polaris up close. However, when we chatted with the station’s Farm Manager, Jake Hoyman, they had just finished the last grape (the farm’s main crop) harvest of the season. The Polaris was an important part of the workflow; Jake drove it slowly down the aisles as the crew picked grapes alongside and dumped them in the trailer attached to the vehicle. He detailed how much the electric vehicle improved the experience from prior years.
“It was so quiet, I could hear the crew the whole time,” he said. “In a typical year, they need to yell to get my attention. No one was going deaf, or breathing fumes. It was fantastic.”
But that’s far from the only benefit Jake has found in his many hours behind the wheel of the Polaris. For one, the power of its all-electric motor makes unloading large loads from the bed far easier than with other types of vehicles. “It’s got so much torque, you can unload the trailer easily,” he said. “There was a 2000 pound load sitting in there, and I just ran a rope around it and put the pedal down and it all came out instantly.”
In addition, since acquiring the Polaris last March, Jake has been keeping track of costs, and how they stack up against gas-powered alternatives UTVs like Gators. Factoring in the cost of gas, maintenance costs, and kilowatt hours, they were already up hundred of dollars after the first quarter of using the vehicle alone. “It’s miles cheaper,” he said.
The Road Ahead
The day-to-day uses of the Polaris between these farms vary – from plowing snow, to trapping gophers and harvesting wine grapes – and there are still plenty of potential uses yet to be tapped into. And while there have been a few snags and learning curves along the way, all three OSU stations agree on two things: 1) the Polaris is a hit, and 2) it speaks to the potential future of electrification in agriculture – from smaller vehicles like these, to large-scale tractors and beyond.
“I could see more farms and research stations using EVs,” says Brian Pearson. “With vehicles like these with high torque and low operating costs that are capable of doing 8am – 5pm workdays, I could easily see that being an adaptation going forward.”
Jake Hoyman echoes the sentiment. “As battery technology gets better, and these vehicles become faster and lighter, I can definitely see EVs in agriculture finding their place,” he says. “In the meantime… I plan to use the hell out of it.”
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