The Prinoth Panther XL is heading to the South Pole.
The Norwegian Polar Institute has selected Prinoth’s high-performance Panther XL tracked vehicles to support transport and logistics at the Troll Research Station in Antarctica.
Prinoth was awarded a US$17 million contract to supply 10 Panther XL with a relevant spare parts and service package.
Built at Prinoth’s facility in Granby, Québec, the Panther XL combines expertise from across Prinoth’s divisions to create a machine designed for the world’s harshest environments.
A product of internal collaboration, the Panther XL draws from both Prinoth’s Snow Grooming (Sterzing) and Crawler Carrier (Granby) business units, with additional innovations developed specifically for this model.
“Antarctica demands the very best technology,” said Klaus Tonhäuser, President of Prinoth. “By bringing together the strengths of our Snow Grooming and Crawler Carrier teams, and adding targeted innovations, we’ve built a vehicle that’s made to perform well in the toughest conditions and underlines our groupwide leading engineering capabilities and our focus on customer needs.”
The Panther XL is powered by an 800 hp Caterpillar C18 ACERT engine. The 20,000-kg machine features a 32,000-kg payload, 75-cm tack width, 50-cm ground clearance and 16 km per hour travel speed.
Dual expertise
From Prinoth’s snow grooming division, the Panther XL features a large, intuitive and customizable touchscreen display adapted from snow groomers to meet the specific demands of Panther XL operations, heated windows and wipers designed to endure the most severe weather and a high-comfort air suspension seat, intuitive steering wheel and cruise control system, providing operators with exceptional comfort and control for long-haul missions.
From Prinoth’s crawler carrier expertise, the Panther XL benefits from Prinoth’s patented rubber track undercarriage, incorporating large wheels and automatic track tensioning for reliable performance in difficult terrain and an advanced powertrain integration, drawing on Prinoth’s experience with Caterpillar power pack systems.
Fine-tuned for polar operations
As well, the Panther XL introduces innovations developed specifically for polar operations, including a full suspension cab design for superior ride quality and operator comfort, Prinoth’s patented four-track drive dynamics for optimized traction and stability and a patent-pending operator assist drive functions, designed to support operators during long-distance hauls in extreme conditions.
The Troll Research Station is Norway’s only all-year research station in Antarctica.
The station is used to as a base and starting point for biological, glaciological and geological field work during the summer season, and year-round for long-term monitoring series in meteorology, radiation, atmosphere, upper atmosphere, environmental toxins and seismology.
The Norwegian Polar Institute will use the Panther XLs to transport fuel, building materials, parts and tools for the station, as well as materials for research purposes.
