Pure Watercraft unveils production-intent design of electric pontoon boat
Pure Watercraft, the electric motor and boat company that landed a $150M investment from General Motors in November of 2021, has unveiled the production-intent design of its 29 foot electric pontoon boat – the Pure Pontoon.
This is the latest update on the boat’s journey to production. In January 22, 2022, Pure Watercraft Founder and CEO Andy Rebele published a post “Top-Secret Strategy Behind the new Pontoon Boat” on the company’s website blog:
In November 2021, we announced a strategic relationship with General Motors to work together to make electric boats. On January 5, we unveiled a prototype of the first boat to result from that collaboration, the Pure pontoon boat. This project illustrates many of the facets of our strategy, and how it will help us in our mission to enable a new era in boating that’s more enjoyable, accessible, and environmentally friendly than ever before.
As Plugboats wrote, The prototype was revealed at the Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Photo below.
New electric pontoon boat from Pure Watercraft (Jan 2022)
For ramping up production, the company announced last September that they would be converting an 80,000-square-foot revitalized former steel plant on the banks of the Ohio River in West Virginia.
The development of the Pure Pontoon is interesting. Prior to GM investing in Pure Watercraft, the car company had actually unveiled their own electric boat, the ‘Forward’ at the Miami and Detroit Boat Shows in 2019.
In January of 2021 – again, before the GM investment – Pure Watercraft acquired Elux Marine, a Minnesota company that had developed a luxury pontoon-type boat in 2019. The first iteration of the Pure Pontoon shown at the CES definitely has similarities to the Forward, and it looks like at least one of the design elements of the Elux – the shape of the pontoon hulls – has influenced the production-intent Pure Pontoon unveiled yesterday.
GM unveils electric boat (Feb 2019)
You can see from the photo below that the Pure Pontoon has pointed pontoons, more like catamaran hulls than the usual tubes on many other pontoon boats. That means better hydrodynamics and less water resistance – important elements in reducing the amount of energy required to push a boat through the water.
The company says the Pure Pontoon has “up to 40 miles of range in an outing with a normal mix of speeds, on a single charge.” Top speed is about 25 mph (22 kts / 40 khm) with passengers aboard.
The Pure Pontoon can be ordered with single or twin Pure Watercraft outboards, each of which has 25kW of power and performance similar to a 50 HP combustion engine, according to the company. The energy is supplied by 66kWh batteries from GM – the same used in the (soon to be retired) Chevy Bolt.
Electric pontoon boat uses Chevy Bolt batteries
The boat comes with a standard Level I charger compatible with 110V & 220V outlets. Also available are a Level II system and Level III with DC fast charge.
All the data and monitoring features of an electric boat are available on the Pure Pontoon, including a Bluetooth-enabled throttle (side or bottom mount), GPS-enabled display screen showing battery state of charge, speed of travel and travel time remaining. A wireless communication setup enables remote system diagnostics and firmware updates. Everything pairs with the Pure smartphone app.
The Pure Pontoon can accommodate 10 passengers, with plenty of room for lounging, fishing and dining.
“We’re thrilled to introduce the Pure Pontoon Boat to the market,” said CEO Rebele. “We believe the Pure Pontoon Boat will appeal to a wide range of people who love the water, and will change the way people think about pontoon boating.”
Pricing starts at $75,000 for the single outboard model and $95,000 for the twin outboard model. The Pure Pontoon is now available for pre-order on the Pure Watercraft website with a fully refundable $100 deposit.
