Elaqua Electric Pontoon, a battery-fuelled party boat, ready to hit the water
Cheap, ready to go and fuelled by a wall plug, Elaqua hopes its Electric Pontoon will create a buzzElaqua, the US-based tech start-up that last year launched an electric personal watercraft complete with its own in-built drone, has unveiled the next chapter in its story – an electric pontoon boat.
Built to carry up to 10 people, move across the water at up to a speed of 24 knots, and with a battery big enough to last up to 10 hours under ideal conditions, the triple-hulled pontoon boat is a direct rival to the petrol-powered Sea-Doo Switch, the jet ski-based pontoon boat that has taken the US by storm.
Priced from $US46,500 ($A70,000) including a trailer, the 6.0-metre-long and 2.0-metre-wide Eleaqua Electric Pontoon – no fancy naming conventions here – uses a single 175hp electric motor powered using a 75kWh lithium-ion-phosphate battery.
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Steering and the automatic trim are both controlled electronically via a fly-by-wire system.
The Elaqua Electric Pontoon features a lounge space forward, and then a step up to an aft quarter deck that includes a wet bar in one corner and the helm featuring Garmin instrumentation in the other.
The electric motor appears to be a pod hanging off the back of the pontoon boat. It also uses what appears to be a cantilevered hardtop that extends over the helm and wet bar and wraps around the sides.
The interior of the pontoon boat shown in images released alongside Elaqua’s announcement has three forward-facing lounges that can also be used as inboard-facing sofas. Entry is via a gate on the bow, and another on the transom.
Elaqua says part of the appeal of the Electric Pontoon is the modular configuration of its layout that allows owners to easily remove bits of the interior.
It’s also a well-connected boat, featuring state-of-the-art 5G LTE-enabled mobile phone-based network connectivity that allows those on board to stream music services or video as though they were in the lounge at home.
Adding to the party atmosphere out on the water, or safety when docking at night, is an array of interior and exterior lights.
Elaqua will even sell you the wall charger you need to top the battery up each night.
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