Last November, General Motors announced it had acquired a 25 percent stake in electric boat motor manufacturer Pure Watercraft. This new partnership spawned its first consumer-facing product this week, with the two companies unveiling a new battery-electric pontoon boat at CES 2022 in Las Vegas.
The boat, dubbed the Pure Watercraft Electric Pontoon Boat, is a ten-passenger, 24-foot pontoon watercraft jointly developed by Pure and GM. The boat features a 66 kWh automotive-grade battery pack supplied by GM, along with either single or dual Pure Outboard electric motors. The Pure Outboard motor is rated at 25 kW or 33 horsepower.
Pricing for the entry-level version of the electric pontoon boat ranges from $45,000-$65,000 depending on options, GM says. The top speed for the single motor version is 15 mph, while the dual-motor model maxes out at 23 mph. The GM-supplied battery packs provide enough juice for up 7 hours of boating fun, depending on how the boat is being driven.
This boat can be used in both salt water and fresh water, as there is no impeller and thus no water intake. Pure says “all parts are designed to prevent corrosion,” as well, further enabling operation in saltwater environments. Additionally, Pure says the electric outboard needs “no scheduled maintenance,” and says there is no need to winterize the motor for the offseason.
“Our fully-sealed electric outboard motor means there are no fluids to ever check or fill, no spark plugs, no cooling loop to get clogged and carry invasive species, no gear set rebuilding, and no annual winterization,” the company explains on its website.
Customers can place a pre-order for the Pure Watercraft Electric Pontoon Boat through the boatmaker’s website at this link. Customers are required to put down a $100 fully refundable deposit to secure their place in line.
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Comments
I sure hope they put plug-ins someplace so you can get the shock of your life when it’s wet. I hope it has a great ground system to keep people safe from shock. Not just the price.
Your comment tells us u do not have a boat.
I plan to use my dual outboard electric pontoon boat to smuggle the purest coke on earth.
How much can she hold? Will a mini-sub be available?
No impeller? With access to water it would be a cheap way to keep the batteries cool just by pumping fresh water through the battery cooling system.
Ok, interesting. Now, if there was a practical way to store the equivilant of 2-300 fuel gallons of battery/electric energy this tech would be great for power boating.
A 30-32 footer (not a big boat at all) will consume 30 gallons an hour at cruise, and requires full maintenance on 2 or 3 engines every 100 hours. And, with salt water constantly sitting in the cooling system it’s far from ideal. A no-maintenance electric would provide unbelievable operating savings…many multiples of that offered by an electric car.compared to ICE. And, power would be no issue…everytime you pull up to the dock in a gas boat you plug it to keep the power flowing to the sustems, so no extra in convenience there. I’m sure buyers would be prepared to pay a healthy premium…like an extra $75 100k on a new boat..though who knows what the real cost of the tech is.
For now, beyond these small low-power putter-around-the-bay boats, I’m gussing the required battery wieght is still a huge barrier for a modest sized cruiser, that already weighs 12-20,000lbs and needs 600-900 horsepower to comfortably cruise.. Hopefully we get there some day. This is a start.
No new invention here. Torqueedo has been providing electric outboards for years that are plenty reliable. I would check them out before GM’s hope it works motor.
I’m not on the EV bandwagon, but an equivalent Torqeedo costs $20,000 for just the outboard. At $50,000 for the whole boat, that seems reasonable. Granted, I would never pay that for for a pontoon, but I just wanted to play devil’s advocate here.
I will say, an inflatable boat that I can take with me camping with some of the newer electrics is becoming mighty tempting. No fumes, no gas/oil, no maintenance. An ePropulsion Navy 3.0 (6HP) and 80kWH battery with an Azzurro Mare AM385 would be just about the ideal pack and go boat for me.
Get used to it people. EV is the future not gas.
If 4 people are on board you could call it Quatro Sinko.