First ride: I went wild off-roading in the all-electric Polaris RANGER XP Kinetic
I was recently invited on an eye-opening trip to visit the sprawling Polaris proving grounds in Wyoming, Minnesota. There, over 600 acres feature 17 miles of trails carved from the earth to test Polaris’ off-road vehicles through a range of heavy duty scenarios. And with the company’s exciting new all-electric RANGER XP Kinetic set to roll out to customers next year, I was stoked for the chance to get an early test on the new utility side-by-side.
I should preface this with the fact that I haven’t actually driven a gas-powered Polaris RANGER before. In fact, I’ve never driven any side-by-side. I’m normally a two-wheeler guy, but I jumped at the chance to test this thing out, and to push it HARD. Coming from motorcycles, I must say it’s amazing how much fun you can have when you don’t have to worry about little details like, you know, tipping over.
Though I did get that electric side-by-side up on two wheels more than once, which is a testament to just how much power the RANGER Kinetic XP has. You can go from a stand still to a hair-raising two-wheel ride in just a few seconds flat.
There’s a reason the Polaris engineers call it the “best and most powerful RANGER ever built.” It bests every gas-powered RANGER that came before it when it comes to power, throttle control, ease of use, reduced maintenance, and just about everything else.
Check out my testing video below to see me putting the RANGER XP Kinetic through its paces.
Polaris RANGER XP Kinetic test video
Motorcycle propulsion, four-wheeler ruggedness
The beauty of the Polaris RANGER XP Kinetic is the way it combines the electric motorcycle drivetrain from Zero Motorcycles with the long-standing Polaris RANGER vehicle design, including all the years of ruggedization testing that have gone into the vehicle’s gas-powered older brothers.
If you’re already familiar with the existing RANGER line, then you’ll instantly feel at home in the electric model. Outside of a few key giveaways like the lack of a grille, it’s hard to tell the two apart at a quick glance. Around 95% of the RANGER 1000 accessories are compatible – that’s how similar they are.
The real difference is in the powertrain and in the interface.
The controls are simplified, and you get new fancy features like the RIDE COMMAND screen that adds connectivity and functionality, including features like waypoints for marking important points (that’s where I dropped off those hay bales or left that deer…), viewing the GPS markers of other RANGERs in your group (great for fleet operators or larger farm/ranches with many hands operating multiple vehicles), and a pile of other fun features I didn’t even get a chance to try.
But let’s get real – the biggest difference is, of course, the performance. It’s night and day, and that’s why the Polaris engineers aren’t shy about calling the RANGER XP Kinetic the best RANGER they’ve ever built.
I was flying around turns, shooting up inclines and bouncing over obstacles without a care in the world. The journalist driving in front of me hit a damn tree and no one even noticed, including him! That’s the power we’re talking about here, people.
That Zero motor has been custom modified by Polaris, and the side-by-side is using that 110 horsepower to perfection thanks to the engineering team expertly marrying it to the RANGER’s existing vehicle platform.
That doesn’t mean it didn’t require some modifications, of course. With added liquid cooling to keep things from running hot and battery heaters to keep things from running too cold (I learned that remote ice fishing is a serious thing up there), Polaris has turned that electric sport bike powertrain into a monster of utility in a four-wheeled vehicle.
Work or pleasure? How about both!
The RANGER line is of course about utility. Polaris has other fun vehicles that are pure recreation, but the RANGER is about getting stuff done. But with this new electric drivetrain, it’s so responsive and powerful that it feels like a joyride anyways.
I was driving it like a dune buggy, getting as much air as I could on ever bump and keeping as few wheels on the ground as possible at any one time.
But when it comes to what it’s designed for, actual honest to goodness work, that’s where I think it is really going to shine. Because everything that went into the electric drive also helps make it that much more potent for utility tasks.
The extra power and torque give it huge towing and hauling capabilities (2,500 pounds and 1,250 pounds, respectively). The low noise means you can operate early in the morning without bothering anyone – get an early start plowing snow without waking the neighbors.
The quiet operation is great for hunters or photographers trying to get deep into the woods without a loud engine scaring off the animals before they can get in range for the perfect shot.
The precision control that comes from the electric motor makes reversing, parking, lining up a tow hitch, and other tight quarters operations that much easier.
Though, on that note, this was my one big complaint. I felt lots of precision in forward gear, but in reverse it felt quite sensitive. I could creep up to a sleeping kitten in forward gear, but I wouldn’t have trusted myself to do the same in reverse – it was like the reverse gear wasn’t programmed as smoothly or something.
And maybe that was it, who knows? These were prototype vehicles, after all. But that’s another cool thing about electric – all that fix takes is a laptop and a data cable. Done!
Want to make modifications or change the torque profile on a gas engine? Cool, start boring out a cylinder or swap a connecting rod. Have fun with that. Want to do it on an electric vehicle? Ok, plug in this USB cable. Done! I don’t envy being an engineer on the ICE team.
Everything is just simpler when its electric, and it just works better. Instead of an ICE engine with hundreds of moving parts, you have a more powerful electric motorcycle with a single spinning shaft.
Do you really want to be dealing with clogged air filters or fouled spark plugs when you’ve got a job to do? No, you just want your vehicle to work. And electric just works. Fewer parts, fewer problems.
BuT WhAt aBoUt tHe RaNgE?!?
So here’s the part where people start to go something like this: “Sure, Micah. You had fun for an afternoon. But what’s the range? Will it work on my 90,000 head of cattle ranch that stretches from Austin to Anchorage?”
Here are the numbers: You get two trim options. The cheaper model (still expensive at $24,999) gets 40 miles of range, and the more expensive model (yikes, it’s $29,999) gets double the battery for 80 miles of range.
That’s enough for you. I know you think it isn’t, but you’re probably wrong. 1 in 10 of you might be right, but that’s enough range for most anyone using these for either recreational or real utility work around the farm. Not only do they charge up straight from a Level 1 or Level 2 charger enjoying 120V or 240V charging, but you can probably do everything you need in a day on a charge.
And now you’re scoffing and saying, “I don’t get it.” But you know who does get it? Polaris. One of the engineers mentioned to me how a big part of the battle is just helping people realize that what they think they need and what they actually need are two different things. When surveyed in the past, many RANGER owners said they rode about a 100 miles a week and average around 35 to 40 mph. When checking data-loggers, it turned out they did more like 20 miles a week and and averaged 17 mph. Whoops.
It feels cool and all to think you’re the biggest baddest rancher of them all and that 80 miles per charge isn’t enough for you, but the truth is, a single charge will last most users for days. Plus refueling is even easier since you do it at home in the garage or barn instead of ferrying red gas cans back and forth each week. And realistically, if you actually are the biggest baddest rancher of them all, then you’d want the most powerful, most capable RANGER of them all. And objectively speaking, that’s the XP Kinetic.
If you ever hear a RANGER coming, you’ll know it’s not as powerful or capable as this one.
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Tesla (TSLA) is no longer confidently stating growth in its automotive business for 2025, and it has delayed updating its guidance until the next quarter after a disappointing performance in the first three months of the year.
2024 was Tesla’s first year in a decade where its vehicle deliveries went down year-over-year.
Just a few months ago, in January, Tesla was confident in predicting that it would return to growth in 2025:
“With the advancements in vehicle autonomy and the introduction of new products, we expect the vehicle business to return to growth in 2025.”
Today, Tesla released its Q1 2025 financial results, confirming that it had its worst quarter in years to start 2025.
The automaker is now clearly not as confident about returning to growth in its automotive business this year.
Tesla updated its “outlook” section this quarter to highlight the potential impact of trade policies and now no longer discusses automotive growth in isolation. Instead, it bundled automotive and energy businesses together and said that it will “revisit its 2025 guidance” next quarter:
It is difficult to measure the impacts of shifting global trade policy on the automotive and energy supply chains, our cost structure and demand for durable goods and related services. While we are making prudent investments that will set up both our vehicle and energy businesses for growth, the rate of growth this year will depend on a variety of factors, including the rate of acceleration of our autonomy efforts, production ramp at our factories and the broader macroeconomic environment. We will revisit our 2025 guidance in our Q2 update.
Tesla’s vehicle deliveries are already down about 50,000 units so far this year compared to last year.
It will be challenging to catch up in the current macroeconomic situation.
Tesla again guided the start of production of “new affordable models” in the first half of 2025, which could help the automaker to deliver more cars.
However, as we have previously reported, these new vehicles are expected to be stripped-down Model Y and Model 3, which will cannibalize Tesla’s current sales and limit its growth to those products.
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US DC fast charging is becoming more reliable, and charging stations are getting bigger and busier, according to a new Q1 2025 report from the EV data analysts at Paren.
DC fast charging station reliability is on the rise
Paren’s latest US Reliability Index – “Can I successfully charge at this charger?” – increased from 81.2 points in Q4 2024 to 82.6 points in Q1 2025, a notable jump of 1.7%. According to Bill Ferro, CTO at Paren, “This continues a quarterly trend across the US non-Tesla fast charging infrastructure, which suggests that the ongoing efforts to replace or sunset older hardware are having a positive impact on station uptime. In addition, newer entrants into the field are bringing time-tested hardware along with enhanced driver experiences.”
Utah, Alaska, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Nevada were the top-ranked states for DC fast charging reliability in Q1 2025.
Growth slows, but charging stations are getting larger
New DC fast charging ports grew to 55,580 at the end of Q1 2025, up 3,667 from last quarter, with total stations reaching 10,839, an increase of 794. This is fewer new additions compared to the surge seen at the end of 2024, reflecting typical seasonal slowdowns due to winter weather. However, there’s a bright spot: the average number of ports per station among non-Tesla networks rose to 3.9, compared to 2.7 year-over-year. The Tesla Supercharger network now averages 13 ports per station.
Utilization rates reflect the urban-rural divide
Average utilization – that’s the minutes of a charging session as a percentage of time a station is open each day – dropped slightly from 16.6% in Q4 2024 to 16.2% in Q1 2025, following typical holiday travel patterns. But overall, charging use is climbing, especially in dense urban areas with significant rideshare and apartment communities that rely heavily on public chargers.
Early days for NACS transition
The Combined Charging System (CCS) remains dominant, with 59% of new ports, and the shift toward Tesla’s NACS (J3400) standard is still in its very early stages. Only 104 non-Tesla NACS ports were added this quarter at non-Tesla networks, so drivers of new non-Tesla vehicles need to use their adapters if they want to use Superchargers.
Fixed pricing prevails
Charging operators primarily use fixed pricing (80%), with Time of Use (TOU) pricing making up 16%. Pay-by-time options are rare, used only 4.2% of the time.
California is the only major state where TOU pricing surpasses fixed pricing, while many states, such as Oklahoma, Vermont, and Arkansas, almost exclusively utilize fixed pricing models.
As for the most expensive places to fast charge your EV? The top four metropolitan statistical areas are all in California, with average rates at $0.60 or $0.61 per kWh.
Rural and low-income areas at risk
The Trump administration’s cancellation of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program poses a significant threat to rural and low-income communities. Loren McDonald, chief analyst at Paren, cautioned, “Our data is a harbinger of less expansion in rural and lower-income markets as CPOs will increasingly focus on urban markets, seeing high utilization, often north of 30%, versus markets with less than 5% utilization.”
‘Charging 2.0’ – a new industry phase
McDonald summed up the report by marking 2024 as a pivotal year, stating, “2024 was a year of mixed news in the US DC fast charging industry, but it will be remembered as a pivotal turn to a new era we are calling ‘Charging 2.0’. Charge-point operators and new players in the industry are increasingly focused on creating a great customer experience, improving reliability of chargers, and reaching profitability – a shift from chasing the availability of incentives, racing to get chargers in the ground, and then crossing your fingers that utilization will grow over time.”
Read more: Trump just canceled the federal NEVI EV charger program
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Tesla (TSLA) released its financial results and shareholders’ letter for the first quarter (Q1) and full-year 2025 after market close today.
We are updating this post with all the details from the financial results, shareholders’ letter, and the conference call later tonight. Refresh for the latest information.
Tesla Q1 2025 earnings expectations
As we reported in our Tesla Q1 2025 earnings preview yesterday, the Wall Street consensus for this quarter was $21.345 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.41 per share.
The expectations had been significantly downgraded over the last month, as analysts were surprised by Tesla’s announcement of much lower deliveries than expected in the first quarter.
Did Tesla meet them?`
Tesla Q1 2025 financial results
After the market closed today, Tesla released its financial results for the first quarter and confirmed that it missed expectations with earnings of $0.27 per share (non-GAAP), and it also missed revenue expectations with $19.335 billion during the last quarter.
This is a big miss for Tesla despite the company admitting to selling a lot more regulatory credits this quarter.
At $595 million in credit sales, Tesla would have lost money without it in Q1 2025:
In short, Tesla is on the verge of being a money-losing company.
We will be posting our follow-up posts here about the earnings and conference call to expand on the most important points (refresh the page to see the most recent posts):
Here’s Tesla’s Q1 2025 shareholder presentation in full:
Here’s Tesla’s conference call for the Q1 2025 results:
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