“You can connect so much more with the outdoors when you don’t have the noise,” said Bruneau, CEO and co-founder of Taiga, a Montreal-based power sports company. “When you don’t have the smell.”

Taiga is the maker of one of the world’s first electric snowmobiles, and has since applied the technology to personal watercraft as well. The company is at the forefront of a burgeoning electric recreation industry, which aims to reduce not only decibels and fumes but also reliance on fossil fuels that, when burned, contribute to climate change.

From the outside, the Taigas look nearly identical to their gas counterparts. But with the ability to go from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour — or approximately 62 miles per hour — in as little as 2.9 seconds, they have more torque than many combustion-engine sleds.