One word does not come to mind when we think of snowmobiles, and that is “clean.” We think of these as loud machines that spew fumes and basically disturb the peace. Of course, this is coming from someone who thinks November to March is a good time of year to enjoy the great indoors.
But the idea of a Clean Snowmobile Challenge is intriguing, more so because we’ve heard that this is the 12th annual event! Electric cars are having a hard time catching on, but it seems that electric snowmobiles are just improving with each year.
According to reports the SEA Clean Snowmobile Challenge is an annual event to push entrants to develop eco-friendly transportation for the real world, including those that have a lot of snow. Competing teams, which are made up of college students, must design a touring snowmobile for groomed-trail riding. More importantly these must be cost-effective, and comfortable to ride, while also improving on emissions and noise. There are categories for low emissions – which obviously do use traditional fuels – as well as zero-emissions, where the devices are judged on how far they can travel and how much of a load they can carry.
Given that winters maybe getting longer, these teams are probably on to something.
[Via Gizmag: Electric sleds compete in the 12th annual Clean Snowmobile Challenge]
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