Outdoors

Electric snowboard nullifies gravity to motor over the flatlands

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The Cyrusher Ripple uses a battery backpack and handheld controller to motor its way across snow - whether downhill, flat or uphill
Cyrusher
The Cyrusher Ripple uses a battery backpack and handheld controller to motor its way across snow - whether downhill, flat or uphill
Cyrusher
Unlike other devices calling themselves electric snowboards, the Ripple looks the part complete with a wood core, camber profile and bindings
Cyrusher
The integrated adjustable independent suspension can lower or raise the wheel
Cyrusher
The electric drive powers a tire with a serious paddle-like tread
Cyrusher
Cyrusher has released a variety of electric sports products this year and launches the Ripple just in time for Winter '23/24
Cyrusher
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Cyrusher has been going a bit bonkers this year, releasing one electric power toy after another to collectively explore virtually every imaginable patch of Earth's surface. With winter fast-approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, it's turned its attention to snow, launching what it calls the world's first electric snowboard. And while we've seen other rides that use that name loosely, the Cyrusher Ripple looks to be the first to truly live up to it – a wood-core camber board, complete with bindings, that just happens to lay down 3,000 watts of motor power while tearing through snowy landscapes at speeds over 30 mph.

While electric skateboards and surfboards have really grown into their own, we've come to expect nothing but disappointment in the electric snowboard category. Typically anything billed as such is really something else entirely, sometimes a mini snowmobile, other times an all-terrain powerboard that can handle some snow, maybe a powered trailer or tractor, and oftentimes just a snowboard-inspired electric skateboard not meant for real snow at all. We did like this student-built contraption, but it lacked the all-out adrenaline-oozing potential any "electric snowboard" should have.

Cyrusher has released a variety of electric sports products this year and launches the Ripple just in time for Winter '23/24
Cyrusher

We're not sure the all-new Ripple Cyrusher announced this month will be the fast, amazing powder-in-your-face experience that would-be electric snowboarders have been patiently awaiting for years, but it's certainly the most convincing e-snowboard design we've ever seen, bringing hope where hope seemed lost long ago.

Cyrusher begins with something that actually looks like a standard snowboard built for resort and/or backcountry riding. The 5.1-ft (156-cm) Ripple features a mix of fiberglass, carbon and composite around a wood core. Cyrusher says it has a camber profile, a slightly concave base that should give the board confident edge hold and control. We doubt camber's springy pop will prove much of an asset as part of a 33-lb (15-kg) tail-heavy electric snow-wheeler, but snowboarding has seen crazier stunts than e-jumps and tricks, so who knows.

The electric drive powers a tire with a serious paddle-like tread
Cyrusher

What separates the Ripple from every other actual snowboard in this universe and beyond is the 3,000-W electric drive that drops clean through the rear of the board by way of an ultra-knobby tire. We'd think a track drive could seat the board flatter for a more natural feel, but Cyrusher goes with a wheel shod in a wide, high-traction tire meant to claw and shed snow.

To eat up jarring bumps and chatter, Cyrusher cushions the single rear wheel with a dual-sided independent suspension. The system can be adjusted to raise or lower the wheel, so riders can set the board high or low according to weight, preference and the riding conditions ahead.

The integrated adjustable independent suspension can lower or raise the wheel
Cyrusher

Under power from the 12.6-Ah low-temperature-resistant Molicel battery pack that carries along in a backpack, the e-drive delivers speeds up to 31 mph (50 km/h) or a maximum estimated range between 9 and 12 miles (15 and 20 km). The rider controls it with a handheld throttle.

Cyrusher suggests the Ripple could be used for exploring backcountry trails, but we feel like its real advantage is in bringing snowboard-style fun to the flatlands. The cold, snowy plains of the US, Canada, Europe and beyond could get a lot more fun with an option that's much lighter and easier to transport than a snowmobile.

A 156-cm snowboard might seem on the short side to experienced adult snowboarders, but Cyrusher says the Ripple can support riders up to 250 lb (113 kg) with a recommended height between 5.2 and 6.2 feet (1.6 to 1.9 m).

Unlike other devices calling themselves electric snowboards, the Ripple looks the part complete with a wood core, camber profile and bindings
Cyrusher

Cyrusher's special Christmas pricing starts at US$2,199 for the Ripple board and a single battery pack and rises to $3,299 for a package with the board, bindings and two battery packs. The Ripple is available for preorder now but will likely be late for the holidays, as the first shipments are planned "on or before" January 1, 2024. The special prices will phase out in a week, increasing by $300 to standard MSRPs.

Cyrusher hasn't done itself any favors with the video below, the only Ripple content we could scrounge up on its YouTube. It demoes the Ripple rather timidly over absolutely chunky, bony snow that looks to be barely hanging on before full-blown spring thaw. Its US HQ is in northern Utah so hopefully it'll get some better content up soon.

Source: Cyrusher

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5 comments
PAV
Well now this looks promising. I have to say your idea of a tractor tread is intriguing.
Old J Hawthorne
Might be useful for search and rescue, too.
Kpar
Excuse me, but I'm looking for chains for my snowboard...
paul314
The problem is the wheel. (Or, more generally, the traction between the motor and the snow) 3000 watts would easily tear you along if all that power went to speed, but instead, it's almost all going to spraying snow around. And a suspension for the wheel doesn't help that much unless the snow is of a very particular consistency so that you do get traction. But with a contact patch about the size of a couple of boots, that's all the drive force you're going to be able to muster.
Gordien
At first I thought the motor was separate from the board, where the motor and battery could give you a tow. For hiking, it could help tow you up steep slopes. When I saw the whole thing, I thought "brilliant". Also a good start on the driver for an electric wheelbarrow.