Super Powers Mobility exits stealth with new tech to build off-roading EVs

Super Powers Mobility founder Jonathan Powers sees a lot of similarities between racing cars and being an entrepreneur. 

“When you’re racing, you have to plan for every possible scenario,” Powers, who’s also a former professional racer, told Technical.ly. “As a startup founder, you also have to do that.” 

Fresh out of stealth mode, Super Powers Mobility (SPM) aims to make electric off-roading vehicles like ATVs mainstream. Powers, like many founders trying to tackle hardware, faces an expensive uphill battle, but he thinks he knows the secret to commercializing hardware effectively – and it starts with the right kind of story. 

“I think one of the most important things for startups is founder-led marketing,” Powers said. “That’s something I’ve noticed from every wildly viral, successful startup. If you think about this for a second, Apple has Steve Jobs; Tesla has Elon Musk; Nvidia has Jensen Huang. Everyone loves it because people connect with people and they want someone to be accountable.” 

Along with live demo days and plans to build a strong social media presence, Powers is betting that his automotive experience and lifelong passion for off-road vehicles will resonate with potential customers, even as the initial buzz around EVs has cooled.

Supplying EV parts for others to build them, too

Commercializing electric vehicle (EV) hardware is an expensive challenge, Powers said, because the components are scarce, highly specialized and often cost thousands of dollars each. 

While startups can initially charge a premium — since the market is accustomed to high prices — bringing costs down means either years of in-house development or large-scale bulk orders, both of which require significant capital.

Unlike other major EV companies like Tesla that have benefited from substantial federal subsidies, Powers doesn’t expect the same level of government support moving forward. Instead, he’s banking on the market seeing the competitive advantage that EVs provide, like reduced noise pollution and fewer maintenance requirements. 

With a team of seven, SPM built its first electric off-road vehicle in just seven months, starting in January of this year. Beyond designing new vehicles, the company also converts combustion-engine off-road vehicles into electric ones. 

Long term, Powers said, the goal is for SPM to become a powertrain supplier, a company that provides the core systems that make vehicles run. In the auto industry, manufacturers often buy key components from specialized suppliers rather than building everything themselves. Ideally, SPM would someday be the supplier of automotive components that make vehicles electric. 

With that in mind, Powers isn’t just targeting recreational users, farmers, land management companies and off-grid resorts. The US military is also a potential customer, which makes sense given how much federal defense funding flows through Pittsburgh startups.

“I’ve been in the industry six years,” Powers said. “Now is the time to start this company and electric is the differentiator.” 

A lifelong love of off-road vehicles

At five years old, Powers became obsessed with off-road vehicles when his parents gifted him his first ATV. He grew up in the woods of New Kensington, he said, and dreamed of becoming a pro racer. 

“I would get bigger vehicles, and then I would modify them and customize them, and then sell them and get a bigger vehicle and modify, customize, sell,” Powers said. 

In college, while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Powers’s passion for racing intensified. He joined Pitt’s Formula SAE team, and switched to riding off-road vehicles – similar to the ones his company makes today – and Powers became a professional racer. 

But Powers found it difficult to compete with the other racers who had money or big-name sponsorships, so he stepped back from racing for a couple of years to work in the automotive industry, spending time at companies like Tesla and Honda. Now he’s back, building the company he’s wanted to since childhood, he said. 

“I stopped racing, but I think racing is going to be critical to getting our product out there,” Powers said. “We’re going to have to start racing to show people how capable this vehicle is and how good electric is because … the off-road industry has not experienced electric yet.” 

Pittsburgh’s personal and practical perks

After stints with automotive companies in Ohio and California, Powers returned to the Pittsburgh region to launch SPM because of his personal ties to the area and its unique resources. 

Soon after Powers got back to Pennsylvania, he was accepted to AlphaLab Gear, a leading accelerator in the Pittsburgh area, and Digital Foundry’s Innovation Forge accelerator program in New Kensington, which helped secure early funding for the startup.

Pittsburgh also offered practical advantages. 

With top engineering schools like Pitt and Carnegie Mellon, plus one of the highest concentrations of machine shops per square mile in the country, Powers said he’s been able to quickly tap local businesses for SPM’s prototyping needs.

“There are always people to help you make stuff,” Powers said. “If you’re in a pinch and you can’t get something the next day in Pittsburgh, then you just don’t know enough people.”