Boats are following in the wake of cars when it comes to electrification.
Tech Brew recently caught up with Mitch Lee, CEO and co-founder of electric boat manufacturing startup Arc, about the company’s newest product, its expansion into the commercial segment, and how it hopes to help the marine industry catch up to its automotive counterpart.
“Boats make even more sense to go electric than cars do,” Lee told us. “The percent improvement you [get] from gas powertrain to electric powertrain is dramatically higher when you’re on the water, because gas boats are notoriously bad at what they do.”
Coasting: The LA-based company recently unveiled a model called the Arc Coast, a 24-foot all-electric center console boat, which is commonly used for fishing. TechCrunch reported that, with a starting price of $168,000, the Coast will be Arc’s most affordable product yet.
Features of the Arc Coast, which seats 10, include a redesigned helm; a touchscreen with navigation, entertainment, and diagnostics; and over-the-air software updates.
The model reflects Arc’s strategies of vertical integration and using the same electric platforms to support multiple products, which the company says have enabled it to get products to market quickly. The Coast uses the same platform as one of Arc’s earlier products, the Sport. Lee compared this strategy to similar ones used by EV makers like Rivian and Tesla.
“We could unlock and deliver a product to a completely new market segment in the marine industry, for a fraction of the cost and time that it took us to get to the Arc Sport,” he said. “That’s also what sets the stage for commercial…We are many steps ahead there because of all the work we’ve been doing on the consumer side.”
Going commercial: Arc, which was founded in 2021 by former automotive and aerospace engineers, recently announced plans, with West Coast shipyard Diversified Marine, to retrofit a 26-foot tugboat to be used in the Port of Los Angeles, marking the startup’s entrance into the commercial marine industry. The port aims to be zero-emissions by 2030.
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“Tugboats are a cornerstone of the economy that enable cargo ships to operate at ports,” Kofi Asante, Arc’s VP of business development, said in a statement. “The short, but high power requirements of a tugboat make it a great fit for electrification, which can drive efficiencies at the port.”
In a news release, Arc noted that the federal government recently proposed a dedicated White House Office of Shipbuilding and announced tax incentives to support domestic shipyards.
“At a federal level, the emphasis is on shipbuilding and reshoring manufacturing,” Lee said. “At a state and local level, the emphasis is really on, how do we clean up our ports?”
On the consumer side of the market, Lee said the auto industry’s progress on electrification has helped lay the groundwork for the marine industry to follow suit. And boat owners can reap benefits like cheaper fueling, cleaner air, and lower operating costs.
“It makes a lot of sense that we went and electrified the automotive industry first,” Lee said. “What has happened is those supply chains and all that R&D money that has flowed into automotive has now enabled us to come along in the maritime industry, take those learnings, take those supply chains, and repackage them for a solution that works on the water.”
And on the commercial side, federal, state and local regulations are creating tailwinds that support domestic production of electric boats, according to Lee: “We’re feeling quite enthusiastic about the pace that we’re going to be able to move at on the commercial side.”