YardBikeBob
Silver Member
I thought I'd pass along some info on my new "Farm Implement." It is a Recoil by Textron Offroad.
The farm has its share of other implements: 2 ATVs, some motorcycles, and an LS tractor. Day in and day out, the most-used implement over the last 5 years has been a standard golf cart. I am surprised it has lasted as well as it has but it is getting long in the tooth.
The Recoil started off from Bad Boy Buggies. They were bought by EZ-Go and then they were gobbled up by Textron. Textron also bought Arctic Cat this year and, soon, all Arctic Cat dealers will also sell the machines from what was Bad Boy Buggies which includes the gas-powered Stampede and the Recoil line of electric UTVs.
The Recoil uses 6 Trojan T-1275 12-volt batteries to provide 72 volts which the onboard controller converts to AC driving two motors, front and rear, to provide full-time 4WD and promising the equivalent of 38 horsepower. As the old golf cart might offer 3.8 horsepower, this is quite a step up!
So why an electric side-by-side? Just about zero maintenance. There are no issues of gummed up carburetors from stale gas or faulty fuel injection from bad sensors or engine control computer problems. There are no filters to change, no transmission to service, no CVT belts, no drive shafts or U-Joints to wear out. My wife uses the golf cart to care for her garden a couple 100 yards from the homestead. She might make the trip a dozen times a day: no motor to start or warm up. Hop in, turn the key, and go.
The only real competitor to the Recoil is Polaris Ranger EV. There they just pulled the gas motor and replaced it with a 30hp electric motor and 4 batteries. You still have the driveline maintenance and parasitic losses from the transmission and driveline. I think the Recoil is a better solution for my needs/desires. With 72 volts and twin AC motors the Recoil is certainly more state-of-the-art.
Why not stick to a golf cart? Because it was engineered to be a golf cart! Our property is hilly, rocky Missouri Ozarks and there is an occasional stream that crosses the property. The golf cart with its little wheels and primitive suspension is a rough, slow run around the property. The brakes are rear only and cable-operated which, with water crossings, means one side locks up and the other often just squeaks. Our cart is a 48 volt DC Club Car Precedent we bought used. I replaced the 4 batteries over its service here but otherwise it has been dead reliable. There is a whole industry to lift and "off-road" a golf cart but I think that barely makes sense even for suburban types (gee whiz factor notwithstanding).
I have already farkled-up the Recoil. From the dealer I got the roof and windshield. I added a speedometer from Trail Tech mostly to get an odometer and hour meter (and volt meter).
The dash on the recoil is pretty sparse. There is a a "fuel gauge" and parking brake light. The switches are lights and a speed control for max speed or max distance. They don't offer a speedometer so I added one. This required some shade-tree engineering to add the pick-up on the front axle.
How fast does it go? In max speed mode I'm seeing 24 mph and in max distance mode 15 mph. We have a loop around the area of 14 miles and it managed that in max-distance mode with the "fuel" gauge showing a little over 1/4 tank when we got back. That is plenty of speed and distance for our usage.
As we're certainly not the fastest thing on the county roads, I added a rear-view mirror. This required some whittling on a piece of oak scrap on the table saw to get the angles right to mount a $10 mirror from Amazon.
I also added a Kolpin Rhino Grip for a "gun rack" on the Recoil. When not used as right-wing militant transport, it also carries shovels and other implements out to the garden.
This is a quality product. I might need another one for a rack under the roof.
The Recoil can tow 1000 pounds off the hitch and 500 pounds in the rear bed. This really distances itself from a golf cart and is on par with all the usual gas-powered UTVs.
So what am I giving away with going electric? If my neighbors want to make an afternoon tour on their UTVs, I won't take the Recoil. I have an ATV for that. But as that so rarely happens, it is not much of a hardship. For what we do around the farm, I'm hoping the Recoil will be ideal and with its added range and speed, I can really expand where we go and what we do compared to the lowly golf cart.
I bought mine from Parker Powersports in Parker Colorado and everything about the deal was great other than trailering it home. I'm pretty frugal and $12Kish is a lot of money for anything. But it is competitive with the other name-brand new UTVs out there and, besides, you're paying for 5 years worth of fuel up front. Just plug it in overnight and you're good to go. And, yes, I really like that it is so quiet. The motor whine is background noise to the sound of the tires rolling.
My only real ***** is that the rear suspension is leaf springs and, with the weight of the batteries, it can be a pretty rough ride at speed. The front IFS is supple in comparison. They offer a Recoil with IRS but that seemed too much money to me while sitting in the showroom. Now I wonder a little bit.
Bob
The farm has its share of other implements: 2 ATVs, some motorcycles, and an LS tractor. Day in and day out, the most-used implement over the last 5 years has been a standard golf cart. I am surprised it has lasted as well as it has but it is getting long in the tooth.
The Recoil started off from Bad Boy Buggies. They were bought by EZ-Go and then they were gobbled up by Textron. Textron also bought Arctic Cat this year and, soon, all Arctic Cat dealers will also sell the machines from what was Bad Boy Buggies which includes the gas-powered Stampede and the Recoil line of electric UTVs.
The Recoil uses 6 Trojan T-1275 12-volt batteries to provide 72 volts which the onboard controller converts to AC driving two motors, front and rear, to provide full-time 4WD and promising the equivalent of 38 horsepower. As the old golf cart might offer 3.8 horsepower, this is quite a step up!
So why an electric side-by-side? Just about zero maintenance. There are no issues of gummed up carburetors from stale gas or faulty fuel injection from bad sensors or engine control computer problems. There are no filters to change, no transmission to service, no CVT belts, no drive shafts or U-Joints to wear out. My wife uses the golf cart to care for her garden a couple 100 yards from the homestead. She might make the trip a dozen times a day: no motor to start or warm up. Hop in, turn the key, and go.
The only real competitor to the Recoil is Polaris Ranger EV. There they just pulled the gas motor and replaced it with a 30hp electric motor and 4 batteries. You still have the driveline maintenance and parasitic losses from the transmission and driveline. I think the Recoil is a better solution for my needs/desires. With 72 volts and twin AC motors the Recoil is certainly more state-of-the-art.
Why not stick to a golf cart? Because it was engineered to be a golf cart! Our property is hilly, rocky Missouri Ozarks and there is an occasional stream that crosses the property. The golf cart with its little wheels and primitive suspension is a rough, slow run around the property. The brakes are rear only and cable-operated which, with water crossings, means one side locks up and the other often just squeaks. Our cart is a 48 volt DC Club Car Precedent we bought used. I replaced the 4 batteries over its service here but otherwise it has been dead reliable. There is a whole industry to lift and "off-road" a golf cart but I think that barely makes sense even for suburban types (gee whiz factor notwithstanding).
I have already farkled-up the Recoil. From the dealer I got the roof and windshield. I added a speedometer from Trail Tech mostly to get an odometer and hour meter (and volt meter).
The dash on the recoil is pretty sparse. There is a a "fuel gauge" and parking brake light. The switches are lights and a speed control for max speed or max distance. They don't offer a speedometer so I added one. This required some shade-tree engineering to add the pick-up on the front axle.
How fast does it go? In max speed mode I'm seeing 24 mph and in max distance mode 15 mph. We have a loop around the area of 14 miles and it managed that in max-distance mode with the "fuel" gauge showing a little over 1/4 tank when we got back. That is plenty of speed and distance for our usage.
As we're certainly not the fastest thing on the county roads, I added a rear-view mirror. This required some whittling on a piece of oak scrap on the table saw to get the angles right to mount a $10 mirror from Amazon.
I also added a Kolpin Rhino Grip for a "gun rack" on the Recoil. When not used as right-wing militant transport, it also carries shovels and other implements out to the garden.
This is a quality product. I might need another one for a rack under the roof.
The Recoil can tow 1000 pounds off the hitch and 500 pounds in the rear bed. This really distances itself from a golf cart and is on par with all the usual gas-powered UTVs.
So what am I giving away with going electric? If my neighbors want to make an afternoon tour on their UTVs, I won't take the Recoil. I have an ATV for that. But as that so rarely happens, it is not much of a hardship. For what we do around the farm, I'm hoping the Recoil will be ideal and with its added range and speed, I can really expand where we go and what we do compared to the lowly golf cart.
I bought mine from Parker Powersports in Parker Colorado and everything about the deal was great other than trailering it home. I'm pretty frugal and $12Kish is a lot of money for anything. But it is competitive with the other name-brand new UTVs out there and, besides, you're paying for 5 years worth of fuel up front. Just plug it in overnight and you're good to go. And, yes, I really like that it is so quiet. The motor whine is background noise to the sound of the tires rolling.
My only real ***** is that the rear suspension is leaf springs and, with the weight of the batteries, it can be a pretty rough ride at speed. The front IFS is supple in comparison. They offer a Recoil with IRS but that seemed too much money to me while sitting in the showroom. Now I wonder a little bit.
Bob
