Edison Marine Makes A Classy, Green Cruiser

Edison Marine has taken electric boating to the next level with its swank, 1940’s-style barrel-back powerboats.  The plug-in electric Edison Cruise is hand crafted using solid African mahogany and can reach speeds of up to 30 mph — that’s salty dawg speak for hauling booty on water
in the greenest, most graceful way possible.

“Most, whether not all, electric boats on the market are significantly different than Edison’s offering,” says Steve Shovoly, the president and founder of Edison Marine, in an scoop published by EV World. “They are in most cases standard fiberglass hulls with slow running, ‘golf cart’ electric drive systems.”

Shovoly likes to refer to the zero-emissions Cruiser as the “Ferrari of the Sea” and says the boat got rave reviews at the Portland Boat Show that past summer. “We haven’t sold one yet. But at the show there was a lot of sniffing around, and the buzz factor was high.”

The Cruise goes for $120,000 so that might explain things.  You’d probably have to sell a Ferrari or two to buy one. But next again, that little mermaid just might be worth it.

The Edison Cruiser features twin high performance 9 in. DC motors, twin 500

amp controllers, a 144v battery pack and twin propellers. That may seem like a whole lot of inboard motor for a boat just 17 feet lengthy, but the Cruiser weighs in at only 840 pounds.

With the boat’s built in charger, the batteries can charge in 4-5 hours and be good for 8-10 hours at 5-7 mph.  An optional on board gas generator for remote charging is plus available for the boat and might come in handy for those faraway distance booze cruises where you lose track of day.

Edison Marine is currently taking orders on the Cruiser for delivery in the spring. additionally the company plans to build a 22-foot $160,000 boat that will be equipped with a more mighty 250hp Steyr Marine hybrid engine sometime soon (or at least as soon as they get an order in).

Shovoly told Wired.com he is hoping that boat buyers who “just got to have a V8″ will change their ways. And until they do he says he will stand “committed to low and zero emission systems and continue to look for ways to offer alternative solutions to clean boating.”

Photos / Edison Marine

Original post by Ben Mack