The Waveflyer is the world’s first electric hydrofoil personal watercraft.
I am getting a bit tired of writing about the lockdown, so I have decided this week to briefly comment on a subject that I have been following for a long time. Electric PWCs. While I am not a rider, I have often wondered why the big three players in the PWC market, Yamaha, Sea-Doo and Kawasaki, have not yet come out with an electric version. Most likely, the excuse is battery power, or more the lack of supply of sustainability. No point in only having enough juice for 15 mins and then have to go back to the beach for a recharge.
After several years, it seems that there are some options from fringe PWC brands that are 100% focused on electric power. So far, the gasoline personal watercraft is still outperforming the e-jet in terms of range and speed. In addition, the charging is still time-consuming. However, as with other vehicles, I think this will be just a matter of time. There is a future for the electric Jetski.
So far, companies moving toward electric personal watercraft have stuck only a proverbial technological toe in the water. Still, with brands such as Sea-Doo announcing plans for an e-PWC, it may not be too long before we see the three mainstream PWC manufacturers offering e-PWCs in their lineups.
We look at some of the latest innovators in the e-PWC market. Some have been discussed for a few years and are still very much in the development stage, but it will not be too long before electric PWCs are mainstream as the old fossil-fuelled skis are replaced.
The WAVEFLYER is the world’s first electric hydrofoil personal watercraft. The WaveFlyer jet-ski appears similar to a conventional jet-ski when stationary, but when it accelerates, it cuts through the surface and levitates above the water.
Although the release date is a few years away, SEA-DOO is the first of the big three PWC brands to announce it is playing in the e-PWC market. SeaDoo calls it the E-GTI concept PWC. Targeted for model year 2026, not much has been released on the new all-electric Sea-Doo, apart from some concept drawings showing a very stylish craft.
The first electric PWC to market was the strikingly angular, Hungarian-built NARKE GT45 Electrojet, unveiled at the Cannes Yachting Festival in 2018. Longer than Yamaha’s largest WaveRunner, with a weight of 375 kg and pushed by only a 60-hp motor, it has a stately top speed of just less than 30 knots.
The second company to come to market with a production e-PWC is Québec-based TAIGA Motors. It has had a functioning prototype since 2018, and it started selling the Founder’s Edition Orca in 2020. This model has a 180-hp motor first used on a snowmobile the company produces.
Taiga has entered the market slowly, producing a limited run of 100 Founder’s Edition models, which sold out in 2020. The plan is to ramp up production dramatically with the capability of producing 80,000 PWC, snowmobiles and side-by-side off-road vehicles a year.
The NIKOLA Motor Company, a world leader in both pure electric and hydrogen-electric powertrains for semi-trucks, unveiled an all-electric personal watercraft – the WAV – in 2019.
There have been rumours of something like this since Nikola purchased California watersport company Free Form Factory in 2017. In March of that year, Free Form had launched the Gratis X1, the world’s first electric Jetski.
YAMAHA has not announced plans to jump into the e-PWC market but rarely reveals its plans. Its engineers are developing electric motors for other purposes, so Yamaha may also use e-motors to power future WaveRunners.
For a full report on Electric PWCs, check out the Nov-Dec issue of Pacific PowerBoat/PWC Annual 2022, online October 25.
