Canadian Yachting February 2023 - 38

Candela C-8 out of the water to 'fly' and
adjusts the foils hundreds of times per second
for stability.
Here in North America, there are now
two non-foiling electric boats specifically
designed for wakeboarding and other
watersports. The Air Nautique GS22E
uses the same hull as their popular tow
boats, but with all-electric propulsion.
The Arc One has been designed
by Space X engineers with a 350kW
(400+HP) electric inboard and is backed
by top tech funders like Andreesen
Horowitz, celebrities like basketball
player Kevin Durant and multimedia
mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
This shows the top-view of the Ingenity battery and motor as installed in an Air Nautique
GS22E.
In the high-power electric outboard
arena, Canada's Vision Marine
Technologies is one of the world leaders
with their E-Motion 180E. They recently
smashed the electric boat world speed
record using twin 180Es on a Hellkat
powerboat that hit 106 kilometres per
hour.
The Vision Marine outboard and battery
system can be added to any appropriately
sized boat and will be available next year
on production boats from Four Winns and
Limestone/Aquasport with more partner
announcements expected soon.
Vision Marine also sells its own line
of electric boats that include everything
from low-powered (6kW) canopied cruising
boats to the Volt 180 and Bruce 22
runabouts.
They are now joined by Voltari, from
Merrickville Ontario, who recently
launched the 26-foot Voltari 26 inboard
with a peak power output of 550 kilowatts
- equal to about 740HP.
A practical and serene way to get into electric power is this Princecraft Brio pontoon boat
powered by a Torqeedo outboard.
construction of a pontoon are ideal for
holding sizeable batteries.
Princecraft of Quebec has their Brio
line of electric pontoons with Torqeedo
motors and Pure Watercraft has built a
pontoon around their outboard motor.
Established manufacturers like Godfrey,
Legend and Craft are now offering e-pontoons
and they are being joined by companies
like Hercules in Michigan, which
grew out of the EV world.
A more difficult challenge for electric
boat and battery technology is in
high-speed-planing boats, because it simply
takes a lot of energy to keep a big boat
on plane for a long time.
Candela, of Sweden, estimates that a
25-foot planing boat consumes about 15
times more fuel than a family car over the
same distance. That is what is required to
keep overcoming the friction and drag of
a hull going through water (which is 800
times more dense than air).
That requires a lot of battery. So, they
have addressed the task with hydrofoiling
technology that lifts the hull of the
38 CANADIAN YACHTING | FEBRUARY 2023
Other production electric boats available
in Canada are Frauscher boats distributed
by Pride Marine Group (also a
Nautique distributor), the Magonis Wave
e-550 distributed by Segway Powersports
and Sweden's X Shore 1 and Eelex 8000
represented by BCI Marine.
The last segment of boats to look at is
large displacement and semi-displacement
powerboats, which are available as
electric (or that can be refitted to electric),
but almost always in a hybrid system that
incorporates some use of a diesel engine.
The diesel is used for higher speed situations
and the electric motors for slower,
quieter moments on the water.
Greenline Yachts of Poland has been a
premier builder of luxury hybrid yachts

Canadian Yachting February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting February 2023