New technology can be a hard sell, even if the benefits seem obvious.

For PapaBravo Innovations, convincing the mining industry to embrace electric vehicles was as much of a challenge as designing the vehicles themselves.

“Getting people to accept new technology is hard, especially in the mining industry. That’s my biggest hurdle,” said Brandon Hall, manager of business development at PapaBravo.

Lucky for them, the proof is in the product. Since their initial prototype went out in 2010, they’ve had more requests than they can fulfil.

“Ever since we started we’ve been beating customers off with a stick. We’re trying to grow organically and sustain the growth we have,” Hall said.

The company is the brainchild of Patric Byrns. What started as a hobby — he outfitted his own truck with a zero-emissions electrical system — turned into a business when a chance meeting with a PotashCorp employee led to the mining company deciding to give electric a try.

That conversation led to the Gopher, PapaBravo’s first vehicle.

“They were looking at trying it for a couple months to see how it went. Within a couple weeks they called and asked if we could make a production model,” Hall said.

The key to PapaBravo’s designs — and the innovation they’ve patented — is “modular vehicle architecture for serviceability.” There are three main modules on each vehicle — the control, operator and battery modules — each of which can be replaced without any real technical knowledge. If a module needs repair, a red LED lights up, and the user just removes some harnesses, lifts it out, and replaces it with a new one off the shelf.

This easy system, which removes the need to train or hire a new set of mechanics, was key to getting acceptance from prospective clients.

On top of no emissions, which improves life for everyone underground, Hall said operating costs for their vehicles are just 15 per cent those of comparable diesel vehicles in terms of fuel and maintenance.

After the success of the Gopher, clients started asking for new designs and PapaBravo was happy to oblige.

The Badger is their version of a one-tonne truck. It can tow 10,000 pounds and haul 4,500. The Armadillo is a 12-man transport — a sort of underground bus — for shuttling workers from the mine shaft to wherever they need to be.

They have other models with names like Marmot, Groundhog and Armadillo, each designed for specific tasks. Whatever the challenge, they think of a way to conquer it.

“We’re awesome at problem solving. We can take a problem and create a solution no one would think of,” Hall said.

Their success led to a venue change in November from an 11,000-square-foot facility to a new, 40,000-square-foot space. They employ 35 people, from engineers to electricians to fabricators. All of their vehicles are completely made on site. Hall joked that their building is like “a mini GM here in Saskatoon.”

Hall gets calls from Africa, Australia, Germany and more. With so many potential markets, the next challenge for the company is balancing their growth and not over-extending themselves before they’ve got the proper infrastructure.

“It’s very difficult to turn down business, but it’s also important not to take on business that could tarnish our name,” he said