Is the world’s cleanest snowmobile in Swedish Lapland?
On February 18th, at the iconic Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden, the Swedish startup company Vidde Mobility launched Alfa, the company's pre-series electric snowmobile. Alfa is said to be the world’s cleanest snowmobile, in regard to both environmental sustainability and maximised product life span. The vehicle is designed in collaboration with the renowned Italian design house Pininfarina, globally recognised for iconic cars such as the Ferrari Testarossa.
Photo: Swedish Lapland Visitors Board
In Sweden’s Arctic destination alone, (and almost a quarter of Sweden’s total area) there were 85 855 registered snowmobiles in 2022, about 25% of Sweden’s registered 350 360 snowmobiles.
Fun fact: The village of Arjeplog has the highest density with 65 scooters per 100 inhabitants.
Not only is it more sustainable, but to silently drive through the wilderness, really enhance the experience. The destination management organisation of Sweden’s Arctic region, Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, welcomes the launch of Vidde’s electrical snowmobile with positive enthusiasm.
“Our region is very vast. Motor driven vehicles are more or less a must to get around. At wintertime a lot of people use snowmobiles for both personal and professional purposes. It’s also a popular tourist attraction to get out and experience our stunning nature,” said Annika Fredriksson, CEO for Swedish Lapland Visitors Board. ”If we can turn a number of these snowmobiles into electrified versions it would have a positive impact on nature and wildlife, both for CO2 emissions and for sound disturbance. This is very hopeful and will play its part of reaching our sustainability goals for 2030, as well as our challenging vision to be the Arctic’s most responsible destination.”
The initial carbon footprint of the Alfa snowmobile is less than 100g CO2/km in comparison to a conventional snowmobile that emits approximately 550g CO2/km. Put in perspective a car with a conventional gasoline engine emits close to 565g CO2/km and an electric car 322g CO2/km.
Vidde and Pininfarina collaborate to create an environmentally sustainable snowmobile that, beyond being electric, is designed to maximize the product lifetime, a circular standpoint. The two companies are also working with the circular transition team within electromobility at RISE, Research Institute of Sweden.
“As agreed at COP 28, we all need to transition into fossil free transportation. This obviously also includes snowmobiles. Fossil free isn’t just about direct use. To take our responsibility we need to see to the total footprint of the product. From raw materials, to production, through use and all the way to the end of life. This is what we are working on and we are carefully choosing partners and components to share our vision and work together with us in order to move towards a fossil-free transportation industry, “said Vidde's CEO Christian Lystrup.
The new vehicle will be put into production and ready to start shipping at the later stage of 2024 expecting to expand production moving towards 2025. The first units are already signed for by the testing partners but there are still many opportunities to sign up and pre-book a Vidde snowmobile.
The iconic Icehotel hosted the launch, a hotel that is circular in its true meaning, by melting back into the river come spring, and resurfacing next season as new ice blocks are harvested from the Torne river. Icehotel generates attraction year after year with new artistically sculptured rooms and the fascinating circular thought for a hotel.
Situated 200 km north of the arctic circle, the hotel has all the challenges that the machines need to handle. Cold, sometimes harsh climate, multiple users, as well as a variety of prior knowledge and experience of riding a snowmobile, is all part of the future every day of the product.
Press contact at Vidde Mobility: Christian Lystrup, CEO & co-founder, christian@viddemobility.com
Visit Sweden has an official assignment from the Swedish government to market Sweden as a destination. Our vision is that Sweden by 2030 is the world's most sustainable and attractive destination built on innovation. Visit Sweden is a limited company with 50 employees across the world. The Company is based in Stockholm and the turnover 2022 was SEK 159,9 million.Welcome to Sweden, a destination of a different nature.
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