Every ninja’s gotta have an ATV. Now, ninjas can be a little bit greener with it. Arctic Cat announced their new 700 Super Duty Diesel ATV at the 2007 Biodiesel Conference, and it’s featured in November’s Biodiesel Magazine:
Because Arctic Cat planned to market the vehicle to the military, it had to ensure that it could perform admirably in harsh conditions using a number of different fuels, including biodiesel. Arctic Cat’s promotion of diesel-powered ATVs, which are approved for B20 use, is good news for biodiesel and should make skeptics more comfortable with wintertime use of the fuel.
As Arctic Cat was testing its new product, it discovered that the renewable fuel burned cleaner than conventional diesel and had added lubricity. Even in cold-start testing procedures, the company actually found an increase in revolutions per minute (rpm). “We expected that this was because of the added lubricity biodiesel provides,†says Craig Kennedy, an engineer for Artic Cat who was involved in the development of the diesel ATV. “It did carry more rpms and performed similarly to No.1 diesel, in regard to cold running.â€
Now Kawasaki’s just gotta make a biodiesel burning Ninja: