Electric Snowmobile Brings Tesla Performance to the Snow with 3.5 Sec. 0-60 Time

And while passenger cars are taking most of the limelight, we see electrification spreading over other vehicles as well, with Tesla's Semi truck being a very good example. However, the electric powertrain isn't necessarily restricted to road-going vehicles - there are battery-powered boats, for instance, and even planes.

Now, we get to see the prototype of a vehicle that's designed to travel on water as well, except in solid state. Yes, we're looking at what could very well become the world's first production electric snowmobile. And given how large parts of the world are dealing with heavy winter right now, it couldn't have come at a more suitable time.

The company behind it is called Taiga Motors and is located in Montreal, Canada. The three co-founders say they took inspiration from Tesla when coming up with the Taiga TS2 electric snowmobile, by which they mean they went for the blank sheet of paper approach instead of trying to convert existing vehicles.

The result is a snowmobile with some impressive technical specifications. It's powered by a 15 kWh battery pack, which is simply massive for something this size. The PMAC motor develops a substantial 80 kW (approximately 108 hp), allowing the sub-500 lbs (226 kg) machine to accelerate to 60 mph (97 km/h) in just three seconds.

The TS2 is still in the testing phase as the team is ranking up work hours to have it ready for its commercial debut by next year. The target price is $15,000 for a vehicle that can cover 62 miles (100 km) on a single charge, and replenish its battery in just two hours. With a DC fast-charging option, that would go down to 20 minutes for an 80 percent charge.

According to electrek, the company is already taking reservations for the snowmobile, and we can see plenty of EV enthusiasts who live in wintery areas going for it. The fully-refundable deposits are $500 each, which we feel is a bit too low for an accurate estimation of actual demand.