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A group of former SpaceX rocket engineers have joined the race to build the commercial electric speedboat. Their groundbreaking company, California-based Arc Boats has secured $ 4.25 million in seed funding to begin work on a 24-foot watersports boat that will cost around $ 300,000.
The startup, founded earlier this year, has ambitious plans to sell its first model, “Arc One”, by the end of the year.
The Arc One was designed and built for a seamlessly connected boating experience with live updates. The electric boat has far fewer moving parts, which means they should reduce maintenance costs, one of the biggest headaches of owning a boat.
Arc’s first boat looks straightforward, but it’s something amazing, at least on paper. The Arc Boats already has a prototype ready. The boat will have a 200 kWh, 800-volt battery, roughly double the capacity and voltage of Tesla’s current high-end package. Its 475 hp electric motor will deliver a top speed of around 40 mph (64 km / h) and the battery will provide an average runtime of three to five hours.
The 24ft (7.3m) long boat combines marine and aerospace grade aluminum fabrication techniques, resulting in a lightweight, inexpensive yet strong structure. The boat can accommodate up to 10 people. Plus, the boat will launch a wake behind it which means it will be fun to use for wake sports like water skiing.
In addition to the hull, the start designs its own cases for the battery, as well as the cooling system. He is also developing software, which is expected to be tweaked and improved via live updates. Electric boats are not only much easier to maintain and much cheaper to operate, but are also quieter, faster and, most importantly, cleaner, smoke-free and pollutant-free.
While the first models will be very expensive, the cost was mainly related to the development of the technology, and cheaper versions would be available in the future, Mitch Lee, managing director of Arc, Recount The Guardian. He said the technology could be applied to larger craft and even ferries could run on electricity in the future.
Kevin Wollscheid, Arc’s chief manufacturing engineer, previously worked at SpaceX for six years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Audrey Gaither, Mechanical Engineer at Arc, and Robert Binkowski, Vehicle Engineer at Arc, both worked at SpaceX as engineers before moving on to electric boat starting.
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