El Macchina AB
A welcome innovation has seen the light of day – the unique, electrically powered Elmacchina snowmobile. This environmentally-friendly snowvehicle presages a revolutionary technology shift in the snowmobile industry.
Externally, El Macchina looks like any other modern snowmobile, but the similarity stops when you lift the hood. There is no combustion engine! Instead, this prototype snowmobile is run by a powerful electric motor kit, including powertrain, batteries, control and display. In Åre, the premiere showing of the Elmacchina astonished a large audience with the snowmobile’s performance and quietness in the steep mountainous terrain. No noise, no oily exhaust fumes and – zero carbon emissions!
“This is so much more than I expected,” said one of the impressed spectators.
Elmacchina is at the absolute forefront of developing the new generation of snowmobiles.
“This is a unique product and I believe that it is absolutely the right time for it. The requirements and consumer demand for environmentally-friendly snow vehicles will definitely increase,” says Pontus Sandell, managing director of Elmacchina AB in Östersund.
In terms of capacity, Elmacchina doesn’t yet measure up to petrol-powered snowmobiles, but things are moving fast, particularly for batteries which are a key to success. The challenge is to develop snowmobiles with electrical power that also retain the high engine power and drive qualities of a traditional snowmobile.
“We have established a partnership with an American snowmobile manufacturer, Arctic Cat, and our aim is to build an assembly plant in Östersund. The target is to produce an initial series of 20 snowmobiles for the local market.
They will surely disappear like hotcakes; there is particularly great interest in electric snowmobiles among tourist businesses and ski resorts. The electric snowmobile is also of interest for snowmobile safaris for tourist groups, and also as a work vehicle for power companies, plant and service companies that need to travel through snowy terrain for maintenance work, etc. The Polar Science Center at Washington University has also shown great interest in Elmacchina.
“We aren’t currently focusing on the recreational market for snowmobiling, but it will certainly be of interest in a couple of years,” says Pontus Sandell, who particularly wants to highlight the strong network of players and partners that exist in and around the company.
“We quickly realised that partnerships between research and business are necessary for the successful development of innovative products. Peak Innovation has meant a lot to us in this regard.”
In Scandinavia the snowmobile is not just a recreational vehicle, but also an important tool for many mountain businesses. Conventional snowmobiles have the problem that they cause considerable amounts of hazardous emissions. According to the Swedish Transport Administration, snowmobiles are responsible for 30% of the total emission of hydrocarbons in the north of Sweden! This means that the environmental benefits of an electric snowmobile are huge. Tourist businesses and destinations have a particular need to maintain a high level of green profiling, including major reductions in carbon emissions, making an electric snowmobile particularly interesting.
“Ah, we want to be first! Elmacchina is perfect for our activities and my dream is to have the first electric snowmobiles at our facilities within a year,” says Björn Olsson, Technical Manager at Skistar, Scandiavia’s biggest ski resort group.
Skistar has an environmental profile to its activities, and Björn believes that it would be an amazing advantage to be rid of the emissions and noise from the hundreds of snowmobiles at the resorts. The electric snowmobile is a valuable innovation from the perspective of health and the working environment. Smaller tourist destinations in the mountains are also eagerly awaiting the electric snowmobile, and it can be an ace in the sleeve for the marketing of many eco-friendly businesses.
“The electric snowmobile is an innovation to which we are very positive,” says Anna Iderot Bjelke, Managing Director of Destination Funäsfjällen.
“For those of us who work in mountain tourism, the environment is our greatest resource. Nature is the foundation of our business, so our survival depends upon being able to protect the environment and contribute to sustainable development. An electric snowmobile would be an important part of our marketing of an attractive tourism product.”
Contact:
VTC – Pontus Sandell, +46 (0)70-658 05 30, pontus@vtc.se
Peak Innovation – Kjell-Ove Wiklund, +46 (0)70-511 63 75, kjell-ove.wiklund@peakinnovation.se
Read more at VTC – Vehicle Technical Centre, www.vtc.se
