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Apparently the best way to get people talking about your new boat is to get them out on the water for a ride. The conversation is easy, especially when that new boat is powered by whisper-quiet electric motors.
Seattle-based Pure Watercraft attracted a crowd of boating enthusiasts, investors, tech notables, and one Seattle Seahawks legend with a hometown unveiling of the new Pure Pontoon at Mount Baker Rowing & Sailing Center on Wednesday.
The fully electric boat is the first product of the startup’s partnership with General Motors, established in November 2021 when the company acquired a 25% stake in Pure at a cost of $150 million.
“They’re overjoyed,” Pure founder and CEO Andy Rebele said when asked how the giant automaker is liking its foray into boat building. “That they can be a part of this and that we can be succeeding at this is a real joy to them.”
Rebele said Pure is piggybacking on the economies of scale provided by GM. The $45 billion company produces more than three times as many vehicles every year as the entire world recreational boat industry produces boats.
Founded 12 years ago, Pure Watercraft has been working on electric propulsion for motorboats with an ultimate goal of disrupting the $44 billion global leisure boating industry. Its focus for much of that time was on building motors that are quieter and more environmentally friendly than traditional gas-powered boat motors.
Pure’s motor, battery pack, throttle and charger created a system that became the electrified foundation for use on vessels such as rigid inflatables and coaching launches like those used by rowing and sailing teams.
In 2017, work began on the design of a “social boat” hull — for the kind of boating that people do in pontoon boats. The goal was to make such a craft efficient and high performance. The boat cruising Lake Washington on a sunny and warm afternoon fit that bill.
Part of the success comes from a hydrofoil system added to the hull, which lifts a lot of the mass of the 25-foot, 9-inch boat out of the water. That reduces the drag of the boat and cuts the energy required at speed by 21%. Other manufacturers are taking the design element to the extreme.
“It’s a big impact, and this boat ends up being a technical marvel,” Rebele said of the Pontoon.
The technology was a big attraction to at least 100 people who turned out to hear Rebele make brief remarks, show a video of the Pontoon and later offer quick rides from a nearby dock.
Mark Hahs of Seattle has been boating all his life and came to the event because he’s in the market for a pontoon boat and he wanted to make a change from gas power.
“This is a new technology and I think it’s perfect for a pontoon boat,” said Hahs, who does some recreational boating on Payette Lake in Idaho.
George Spano is a longtime boater who grew up on Vashon Island. For his saltwater recreation, he said range is an important factor.
“I’m looking forward to the day when the battery technology catches up with the engines and I can feel good about taking a gas engine off my Boston Whaler,” said Spano, who also drives a Tesla. “I want to have a plug at my dock so that I can charge right there and be ready to go.”
The Pure Pontoon is powered by single (50 horsepower equivalent) or twin 25kW electric outboard motors weighing 112 pounds each. Top speed is 26 mph with the twin setup and 14 mph with the single. The range at top speed with twin motors is 30 miles, or 120 miles at an average of 5 mph. Range on the single motor is 32 miles at top speed. The numbers vary with load size, as the Pontoon will hold 10 passengers.
Pricing starts at $75,000 for the single outboard model and $95,000 for the twin outboard model and Pure is taking pre-order deposits of $100 on its website. Rebele said he’s hoping for production boats in the water by the third quarter of this year.
Pure, which is nominated for Sustainable Innovation of the Year at the upcoming GeekWire Awards, has raised $37 million to date, including a $23.4 million Series A round in September 2020. The startup employs about 100 people, including contractors, at its original location in Seattle’s North Lake Union, a production facility in Tukwila, Wash., and a factory in West Virginia.
Rebele said he doesn’t really see electric boat companies as Pure’s competitors — such as the Swedish company X Shore which made a splash at the Seattle Boat Show in February.
“We’re all on one side of the line competing against the incumbents,” he said.
The incumbents’ traditional customers couldn’t wait for the chance to ride in the Pure Pontoon on Wednesday.
Former Seahawks star safety Kam Chancellor hopped aboard with his wife Tiffany and their kids. Dean Hachamovitch, a former Microsoft corporate VP, smiled from ear to ear as he sat in the stern of the boat. Mario Obeidat, former CEO of wireless power company Ossia, chatted with James Baker, a former member of the Harvard University crew team. He talked about meeting Rebele through rowing and agreeing that the sport needed electrified assist vessels.
And everyone was talking about the ability to talk. Wind noise aside, it was just easier than trying to shout over a gas-powered engine. And there was no smell of gas fumes floating in the air.
“Very smooth. Certainly quiet,” Mark Hahs, the Seattle/Idaho boater said after his ride.
George Spano, who sat in the bow of the boat with Hahs, pictured himself cruising around at 4 knots on the Pontoon, sipping on a martini or a beer.
“It’s a great concept,” Hahs concluded.
Keep scrolling for more photos from Wednesday’s event:
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