Electric boats are becoming more commonplace but where do you turn when you want something with more kick than your standard battery-powered pontoon? Vision Marine may have something in the works.
The company last weekend brought the V32, a 32-foot catamaran, to an event on Lake of the Ozarks and completely shattered the speed record for an electric boat. The vessel, powered by a pair of Vision Marine’s E-Motion electric outboards, reached a top speed of 109 miles per hour. That was fast enough to fully demolish the previous electric boat speed record of 88.6 MPH set in 2018 by Jaguar’s Vector V20E.
While it’s still far short of the 317 MPH the Spirit of Australia was clocked at back in 1978, it’s still incredibly impressive. Vision said it worked with HellKat Powerboats and Octillion Power Systems to design the V32 so it could hold the battery packs necessary for powering both motors. The companies spent several months optimizing the electric motors, the 700-volt batteries and the cooling circuitry, along with the necessary hardware and software.
Vision Marine CEO and co-founder Alex Mongeon said the demonstration was about proving that a transition to electric power in the marine industry is achievable. “We are this much closer to eliminating the colossal carbon footprint our planet is experiencing due to continued usage of [internal combustion] engines,” he said.
Vision Marine isn’t only focused on building electric motors for racing boats. The company also has its eyes on the commercial boat market and said it believes the market is in “dire need of a performance electric outboard.”
