Fredericton’s Potential Motors Announces Plans To Build Off-Road Electric Vehicles
FREDERICTON–A Fredericton firm is preparing to sell a series of electric off-road vehicles to test and validate its proprietary software.
Potential Motors announced its plans to build and sell an undisclosed number of electric, off-road vehicles to showcase its software capability.
The plans are supported by a successful $4-million round of financing in February. That round included investment from Build Ventures, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, and Time Ventures.
This move is also supported by an $180,000 investment the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency made into the 21-person Fredericton-based firm last year.
At the time, CEO and co-founder Sam Poirier told Huddle the investment was “the kickoff to what I think is going to be one of the most exciting years in Potential Motors’ history.”
“Moving toward the EV architecture is a good opportunity to integrate more software into the vehicle, which isn’t taking away from the driver experience, but instead being able to augment and aid the driver and improve upon how you navigate off-road,” Poirier said
Although Poirier wouldn’t tell Huddle the number of vehicles or the names of partner OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) Potential Motors is working with to build the vehicles, he said they will be based on the design of a traditional side-by-side.
“The goal of the vehicle is to really be able to show off what a new category of off-road vehicles look like when you build electric architecture,” said Poirier.
“The big part is the software we’ve been developing that will be hosted in the vehicle. This is going to be different than what you picture a typical side-by-side, today, to look like.”
Ultimately, Potential Motors plans to sell low-volume, electric, off-road vehicles and supply software and engineering services to manufacturers.
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Poirier said the new vehicles will be a quiet alternative to the traditional gasoline-burning models.
“If you think about hunting and being out in nature, all of the sudden you don’t have this roaring engine in the background–which is fun in some circumstances and is sometimes a nuisance while out in the wild and trying to explore nature. It’s also clean and good for the environment,” he said.
Poirier said the electric models also will have a great degree of torque and will offer a higher degree of control over the motor.
When asked about more specific differences, Poirier demurred.
“With this new type of electric architecture, you can really start to look at new ways to innovate upon these off-road vehicles that haven’t existed before, and build one in a new way that really delights off-road adventurers,” he said.
Poirier was emphatic about his excitement in innovating a component central to one of New Brunswick’s most favoured pastimes: off-roading.
“It’s one of the fundamental goals of this company to bring awesome, talented people to what is a really awesome and, unfortunately, often-overlooked province,” he said.
“We see off-road vehicles in our backyard every single day, so New Brunswick is the perfect place to be building something like this.”
This announcement comes not long after Potential Motors hired Michael Uhlarik, a 25-year vehicle design industry veteran, as its head of design.
Uhlarik has previously worked with Yamaha, Bombardier Recreational Products, and Damon Motorcycles.
Potential Motors, founded in 2018, was launched by a group of UNB grads whose original plan was to convert cars relying on internal combustion engines to electric vehicles but saw an opportunity in the market for off-road vehicles.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
