Maritime made off-road vehicle Adventure 1 now prototype ready

A futuristic Maritime design is putting Potential Motors on the map with an electric camper-vehicle prototype.

The Adventure 1 is the size and shape of a UTV - or side-by-side as the prototype resembles - but it's built to camp.

"The big difference is we really went back to the fundamentals of if you ask an adventurer what they want to do when they get out to the off-road,” said Sam Poirier, CEO of Potential Motors.

“It comes down to the driving experience, but then there's also the experience of actually being there in nature, and that meant building a vehicle from the ground up that allows you to do both of those things,” he added.

Once the prototype is complete, the Adventure 1 will resemble a camper van.

“To have the interior space to be able to camp, but also the capabilities to go off road,” he said.

At full charge, the vehicle has 100 miles of range, and can charge on any EV outlet.

“So we like to make it akin to cell phones in the 90s, they became very utilitarian to something that we can't live without,” said Bill Lamey, vice president of engineering at Potential Motors. “We see that same thing happening with vehicles as they become software platforms.”

This prototype will soon be hot off the manufacturing line and ready to hit the world stage.

"As a team we're going to be testing it very soon, so people will actually get to see and sit in this vehicle in October,” Poirier said. “We'll have a vehicle both at Overland-Expo East in Harrnigton, Virgina. We'll be showcasing and unveiling the actual vehicle to the world.”

Poirier added the team will then bring it to events in Atlantic Canada.

Diving into automotive design on the east coast has been an exciting adventure in itself for the team.

"I always thought I'd have to go outside of New Brunswick to work on something cool,” said Jessica McQuarrie, people operations at Potential Motors. “I actually moved back to New Brunswick for this position, I grew up around here, and it's been really cool to see, there's a lot of talented individuals.”

The future of adventure is sustainable, and Maritime made.

“It's really there's really incredible talent that's here and a lot of it tends to leave the province or leave this area and seek different jobs and we've done an incredible job of keeping some of that really awesome talent here," Poirier said.