History of Polaris Industries with a Focus on Batteries

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Clik here to view.Polaris Industries has a rich history of manufacturing powersport vehicles and now military, commercial and industrial vehicles via their purchase of Taylor-Dunn. It was 1945, during the height of World War II when two brothers, Edgar and Allen Hetteen along with their good friend David Johnson formed Hetteen Hoist & Derrick. Fast forward to 1955, in tiny Roseau Minnesota, the trio took their skill at repairing farm machinery and created a motorized winter vehicle that helped them haul gear to remote isolated customers stranded by deep drifting snow. History now refers to these men as the fathers of the snowmobile.

Corporate Overview

As a fledgling industry, snowmobile makers in the 1960’s and early 70’s were filled with excitement and expectation. The late 1970’s and 1980’s were filled with tumult as the snowmobile industry suffered from extreme competition followed by a sudden and dramatic decrease in sales. In 1968, during the height of enthusiasm, this forerunner to what we now know as Polaris Industries was purchased by Textron who is the owner of brands such as EZ GO and Bell Helicopters. About a decade later Textron wanted out of the snowmobile market along with rivals Harley Davidson, Suzuki, Chaparral , Scorpion, AM, and Johnson & Evinrude.

With a failed sale to Canada's Bombardier and with no other outside buyers coming forward, the company, in 1981, was forced to pursue a leveraged management buyout of the snowmobile division. The Polaris Industries name was officially born. In 1998 they once again became a corporation in a much leaner environment and trade on the NY Stock Exchange under symbol PII. Today, the company has around 8000 employees and 2015 revenue reported to be $4.7 Billion. For purposes of shareholder reporting, the Minneapolis, MN based Polaris Industries is organized into three businesses: Off-Road Vehicles (ORV) and Snowmobiles, Motorcycles, and Global Adjacent Markets.

Off-Road Vehicles: Snowmobile, ATV, UTV, SxS

Many people do not know that Edgar Hetteen is also the founder of Arctic Cat. He became disgruntled with his board of directors in 1960 after completing a 3-week 1200-mile trek across the Alaskan wilderness to show the reliability and usefulness of the snow machine. So he ventured out on his own and started Arctic Cat. To this day, Polaris and Arctic Cat are staunch in-state rivals as they compete for notoriety in the snowmobile and off-road vehicle industry.

Despite this perceived setback and the in-your-face competition, Polaris has been able to dominate in each powersport market segment entered. The Indy Series sled of the 1980’s, for example, was a game changer for Polaris and was named the snowmobile of the decade by Snowmobile Magazine. The introduction of the 250cc Trail Boss four-wheeler ushered in an era of superiority out on the dirt and turf expanding their dominance from the snow-covered frozen tundra. They were also a first to jump into the Personal Watercraft (PWC), Utility Vehicle (UTV, think Polaris Ranger) and the recreational Side-by-Side (SxS, think Polaris RZR) markets.

Many of the early ATVs and sleds utilized one of two specific battery sizes: The Y50-N18L-A or the YB14A-A2. Both of which are the traditional wet conventional style battery. Of course there is a sealed AGM upgrade available you can view by following the links above. In the mid 2000’s Polaris shifted away from this size battery in their snow machines and began using the YTX20L-BS for most. The ATV battery has been fairly consistent keeping the YB14A-A2 (YTX14AH) for most all the midsize 200cc to 500cc machines. Strangely, the UTV and SxS batteries have not maintained the same consistency. Many of the newer 500cc and 570cc Ranger and RZR’s use the YTX14AH-BS while the larger machines use the YB30L-B (sealed version YIX30L), YTX20HL or Group U1 sized batteries.

Indian and Victory Motorcycles

With much fanfare, the first Victory motorcycle rolled off the line July 4^th 1998. These heavy cruiser class motorcycles were priced below Harley Davidson and designed to go head-to-head. The 92 cubic inch V92C set the stage for what has been a very successful lineup. Interestingly enough Big Dog Motorcycles and Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Mfg. also launched (or were reborn) during this time period. As a battery retailer, the one thing we can appreciate is that Polaris has used the same YTX20HL battery in every Victory bike since day one. It sure does make replacing the battery a breeze!

In 2011, Polaris Industries was in a buying mood. They invested in the electric motorcycle company Brammo and purchased the rights to market and manufacture Indian Motorcycles. Indian Motorcycles relocated production from North Carolina to the same Spirit Lake Iowa factory that produces Victory Motorcycles in 2015. The Enertia electric bike (purchased from Brammo) was also slated to begin production at Spirit Lake by the end of 2016.

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While the resurgent Indian Motorcycles have kept their early nine-teen hundreds traditional styling they have not been consistent with their battery. Of their 9 bike models they utilize 4 different batteries! In most cases they simply flip-flop the polarity. The best way to ensure you buy the correct polarity battery is by purchasing the QuadFlex enabled MotoBatt; you CANNOT get the polarity wrong as it has 4 terminal placements.

Polaris’ three-wheeled moto-roadster, the Slingshot, has been turning heads since its introduction in 2014. This fun highway cruiser is a cross between a trike, a bike and an SxS. In 2016, to reduce weight, Polaris reduced the battery size in the Slingshot to the 30 amp 400 cold cranking amp YIX30L-BS Yuasa batteries. Since many Slingshot owners seem to like to add stereo and LED light accessories we have come across a few videos that explain how you can install a much larger Optima Yellow Top 750 CCA battery.

Global Adjacent Markets and Industrial Electric Vehicles

Polaris Defense, a division of Polaris Industries, produces the MRZR platform and the DAGOR. The Deployable Advanced Ground Off-road (DAGOR) is a purpose-built, ultra-light combat vehicle designed and built by Polaris Defense to meet the light-mobility needs of light infantry and special operations forces incorporating military commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and driveline system.

The 2016 purchase of industrial gas and electric powered vehicle maker Taylor-Dunn will once again diversify the Polaris Industries product platform. In the early years they had to transition from being a snowmobile maker to year round powersport vehicle manufacturer. They then took the next logical step and entered the motorcycle market. Now they have broadened the horizon to include electric powered vehicles. In making this 2016 purchase, Polaris has bridged the gap between mainly retail consumer sales and established a solid foothold in commercial industrial sales.

We have sold American made battery chargers to replace the foreign made chargers in the Taylor-Dunn people movers, utility vehicles and stock chasers for some time now. We highly recommend three brands, two of which are American Made: Pro Charging Systems (also known as Dual Pro), Quick Charge Corp., and Schauer (not to be confused with Schumacher). We also sell US Battery, Trojan and East Penn Deka batteries that are high sought after and readily used in these machines.