POWER FOR THE PEOPLE

E-BOAT TECHNOLOGY IS ADVANCING FAST. HERE'S WHAT INDUSTRY LEADERS SAY WE CAN ALL EXPECT NEXT. 

- KIM KAVIN

JOHN VO KNOWS NIL ABOUT BOATS. HE SAYS IT'S IDEAL FOR AN E-BOAT BUILDER.

"People ask us what experience we have, and I say, 'Zip. Nothing. Zero," says Vo, whose team at Blue Innovations Group is preparing to launch its first electric boat, the R30, this autumn. "But you can't use the same people from the same industry to revolutionize themselves." ¶ Vo, the former head of manufacturing for Tesla, is just one among many minds trying to bring electric-powered boats into widespread production. So many longtime boatbuilders are transitioning from internal-combustion to electric power, and so many other builders are popping up anew, that the president of the American Boat and Yacht Council says his agency's safety experts with requests are being "bombarded" about technology that's changing by the day. E-boat prototypes and launches are coming from long-standing marine brands such as Chris-Craft (the Launch 25 GTe) and Four Winns (the H2e) at the same time that newer brands are promising everything from an electric dayboat (the Blue Innovations R30) to a catamaran with world-cruising capability, but without generators or fuel tanks (the Zen50).