BRP refiles patent application for a two-door EV with a novel door hinge
Bombardier Recreational Products, a sister company of Bombardier Aviation and otherwise known as BRP, is the Canadian company that makes getabouts like the Can-Am line of UTVs and ATVs, Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, and Sea-Doo jet skis. As one might expect considering the breadth of the range, BRP is constantly filing patents for potential new developments. We're not sure what the company's doing with a patent application that AutoGuide discovered, but it could point to BRP going even further afield in its transportation efforts. BRP filed paperwork with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for something simply called "Two-Door Vehicle" (app number WO/2024/121813). What's more, this is BRP doubling down on the effort, the patent application making clear that BRP lodged the same request for the same item with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the end of 2022.
Can-Am makes more than a few two-door UTVs. The unexpected aspects of the Two-Door Vehicle paperwork are that it contains just one drawing of something that looks like it could be a UTV, it's devoted to an electric vehicle on a skateboard chassis, and it refers to multiple vehicle body styles.
We'll start with the doors, though. An unusual setup mounts the entry door on an articulated panel nested into the forward portion of the door. The panel's front hinge connects to the vehicle frame at the A-pillar, the rear hinge connects to the midpoint of the main door. When a passenger opens the main door, this panel pushes entire door outward, hanging away from the vehicle body on that panel. The benefit is that it allows ingress and egress to rear passengers without needing to move the front seats — necessary because neither row of seats can move; they are shown in one drawing as being mounted atop a storage box bolted to the floor. And the inner door is designed with a handle so that it can be pulled from the front seat, bringing the main door back to the body.
The scheme's aimed at an electric vehicle with a skateboard pack arrangement and at least one motor, the text declaring this setup could be for a subcompact, compact, compact city car, coupe, hatchback, sedan, SUV or MPV.
A patent application, even one filed twice, doesn't mean we'll see an equivalent in showrooms. But in 2021, BRP announced it had put aside $300 million to electrify every UTV and ATV in its lineup by 2026. We're waiting on the first entry from BRP, while Minnesota-based competitor Polaris has its Ranger Kinetic XP out already. The Canadians did the unexpected, however, revealing two electric motorcycles last year that returned the Can-Am name to the two-wheel motorcycle fold. It's possible the brand has even more planned for its EV expansion than merely converting its current ranges.
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