X Shore – from Zound to silence
It may seem a bit ironic that a man who made his fortune selling headphones is now touting the silence of electric motors as one of his boat’s virtues, but make no mistake, the X Shore is determined to make a big noise in the e-boat industry.
X Shore was founded by Swede Konrad Bergström, who was also one of the founders of Zound, the company that brought the world Urbanears and Marshall headphones.
Now embracing the virtues of silence, the X Shore website cheekily encourages you to ‘turn on your sound to experience the silence’.
Bergström first conceptualized the idea of an electric boat company in 1996, but was sidelined by his work in the tech world. He says on the X-Shore site “Founding Zound Industries introduced me to the burgeoning technology scene and opened up new thoughts. In 2012 I began to work with the idea of creating an electric craft, and X Shore began to take shape.”
In January of 2019 X-Shore (for ‘crossing shores’) launched its much anticipated Eelex 6500 and Eelex 800 models at the Düsseldorf Boat Show.
As you can see, both of the boats have very distinctive styling, with high bows for protection from wind and spray with a lower stern that makes heavy loading and unloading easier.
Ridges on the hull allow for air insertion between the craft and the water. The company claims that this can reduce energy use by approximately 35% by decreasing friction between the hull and water.
Speeds of up to 40 knots
The company’s tests have shown that the boats can travel at speeds of up to 40 knots and a range of 100 nautical miles can be attained at lower speeds. The FAQs state that “our crafts are capable of traveling for more than 2 hours on a single charge while maintaining a consistent speed of 25 knots.”
As for propulsion, the boats use a single shaft propeller with an option to choose between 90 kWh and 120 kWh batteries.
The boats are stylish and innovative, but none of this comes cheap. Orders can be customized on line – but the starting price for the 6500 is €225,000, (295,000$US) and 325,000$US (€249,000) for the 8000.
Find out more on the »» X Shore website
