Electric Jet Skis, Sea-Doos & Other Electric PWC Models [Video] - jetdrift.com (2024)

Electric Jet Skis, Sea-Doos, and other electric PWCs are just around the corner. It appears that the personal watercrafts industry is moving towards electric power, which makes sense!

Clearly, the entire world of motorsports is undergoing many changes. A new generation of youth getting involved in watersports are more worried about the global footprint being left behind and willing to buy an electric PWC despite all the disadvantages.

Are you interested in learning about the electric PWCs that are currently available on the market, along with similar concepts from a variety of manufacturers?

JetDrift has compiled everything you need to know right here!

Orca by Taiga Motors

Taiga Motors has come out with a new electric PWC, powered by a 23-kWh battery pack. Taiga Motors was founded in 2015 by three people who had worked on electric powertrains for McGill’s racing team while studying at the university. They have been working to develop a new line of electric snowmobiles.

Using their experience developing electric snowmobiles, they decided to turn their focus to building an electric PWC, resulting in the Taiga Orca. The Taiga Orca is a fairly small PWC, measuring only 9.5 ft. x 3.9 ft. (2.9 m. x 1.2 m.). It’s fairly lightweight as well, weighing only 580 lbs. (263 kg.) since it’s totally made of carbon.

It has a 134 kW (180 HP) engine, which should certainly be powerful enough to have a lot of fun. It can go up to 65 mph (104 km/h), which is plenty fast on the water. According to Tiaga, under normal driving conditions, a fully charged battery should last you two hours.

The first one hundred customers can get the “Founders Edition” for just $28,000 USD and expect American deliveries to arrive in the summer of 2020. After that, the company will proceed to develop the standard edition to be priced at $24,000 USD, with 400 scheduled for production.

Tiaga Motors is backing the Orca with a no-maintenance powertrain 5-year warranty that includes remote diagnostics anywhere the Orca is sold.

Electric PWC by Narke

If you’re excited to hop on an electric PWC sooner rather than later, Narkle electric watercraft models definitely deserve your attention.

Over the years we’ve seen a number of idea concepts for electric PWCs, but none of them have ever made it through production. This gives Hungarian brand Narke the right to claim they’ve produced the world’s first electric PWC.

The Narke looks quite impressive in their beautifully lit PR photos. Depending on the angle in the photo, it looks a bit like an experimental stealth fighter jet, with clean lines and sharp angles. Forget the curving hull like you find on most gas-powered PWCs!

Narke is different from standard PWCs technologically but also represents a new era in physical design and sound. The electrojet’s design is made up of clean sophisticated lines and it runs very quietly.

The Narke is built for maximum speeds of 34 mph (55 km/h), which is limited electronically, whereas the top speed of gas-powered PWCs is significantly faster.

According to Narke, the battery will typically last you an hour and a half if you’re riding “normally.” But since you can swap the battery out, it is possible to keep a spare on hand if you want to spend more time riding the waves.

Looking at the digital display, you can see a ton of information and it looks as if it has Bluetooth connectivity, which would allow you to integrate the Narke with your cell phone.

Prices start from 44.000 EUR ($49,000 USD) without the fast charger or cover, both of which come as extras.

The WAV by Nikola Motor Company

The Arizona startup Nikola Motor Company has been making battery-powered electric off-road vehicles and cargo trucks. In 2019 they announced that their WAV personal watercraft will join its e-vehicle lineup.

The design of the WAV is nothing short of wild, having been inspired by the wild look of superbikes. Trevor Milton, CEO of Nikola Motors says this design represents the “future of personal watercraft.”The name WAV stands for Water Adventure Vehicle and it is set to be launched this year in 2020.

So far, we’ve learned that the WAV is built like a watercraft with sport bike-like ergonomics. The electric motor has instant torque and a unique waterproofing system protects all the electronics. This means that the WAV can be submerged in up to 1.5 meters (4.9 ft.) of water for up to 30 minutes without being damaged.

Unfortunately, we still do not know anything about the pricing. However, interested parties are able to reserve their own WAV electric PWC now!

Electric Sea-Doo

Sea-Doo is known for its remarkable innovations, and e-vehicles are just another example. They have a brilliant team of engineers and designers from all over the world coming up with new ideas. They can hardly wait to see how consumers react!

According to the company, Sea-Doo has been diligently working for a while now on developing electric vehicles that can bring an entirely new experience to riders.

Recent news reports on the electric PWC market is that BRP, in response to the market, has introduced a new watercraft concept, an electric Sea-Doo. This model is slated to join their petrol-engine versions if the market demand becomes strong enough.

The battery-powered Sea-Doo was presented in a lineup of electric motorcycles, side-by-sides, go-karts, and other electric recreational vehicles.

The design concept for the electric Sea-Doo is based on the gas-powered Sea-Doo GTI line, which has been very successful. An electric version may be able to compete successfully with a growing number of brands breaking into the electric PWC market.

Electric Jet Ski by Kawasaki

The big three in the PWC industry are Sea-Doo, Kawasaki and Yamaha, but it seems as if Sea-Doo is the only one currently developing electric PWCs.

This means that we cannot expect Kawasaki to come out with an electric Jet Ski anytime soon. But if we take a look at their line of motorcycles, Kawasaki has now made it official that their first electric models are now in development!

The manufacturer produced a two-minute video featuring a prototype of their electric bike, which was shown during racetrack tests.

Representatives of Kawasaki say they have long been developing electrical technology, going back to the early 2000s. According to them, the technology has advanced to the point that they will soon be ready to go into production.

That makes us wonder if the company might surprise us with a new electric Jet Ski before anyone ever expected!

Electric WaveRunner

Yamaha does not intend to be left behind when it comes to electric vehicles, just as Kawasaki stated they won’t and neither will other Japanese motorsport companies. This means that Yamaha’s concepts might almost be ready for production.

Unfortunately, starting production of electric vehicles is not that easy. For some reason, there always seems to be a problem with the batteries holding a sufficiently long charge.

To address the problem a brief statement was jointly put out by Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha that is certainly newsworthy when it comes to the world of motorsports. The four largest Japanese manufacturers have all agreed to work jointly towards the standardization of replaceable batteries for electric vehicles.

It sounds like we’ll be seeing these standardized batteries in electric Jet Skis and WaveRunners in the not-too-distant future!

But at present, based on their current lineup it looks as if Yamaha is more focused on developing electric motorcycles, bikes, and scooters.

So, apparently, we’ll have to wait a while for electric WaveRunners, but hopefully not too long!

Conclusion

If you have your heart set on getting an electric PWC, you may have to wait a while before you have a wide range of selections.

Most of these are still in the concept stage, with no information on how long it will be before anyone can actually buy one. While some models are set to be produced in 2020, a very limited number are going into production.

As for the big three, only BRP has actually introduced their concept for an electric Sea-Doo. But, Yamaha and Kawasaki have both introduced new lines of electric motorcycles. So, we will keep waiting to try out their electric Jet Skis and WaveRunners.

With the other brands, the industry’s electric segment provides them with an opportunity to join the PWC market. Just like Krash Industries with their freestyle watercrafts, a gap in the market could appear if the big three take their time innovating.

But remember, these electric PWC models may look good as prototypes or in these videos, but riders are anxious to try them out now, and no later than the start of the upcoming season!

And the limited availability is not the only drawback of electric Jet Ski models, they also come with a hefty price tag, only provide 1.5 to 2 hours of average use riding and are significantly slower than gas-powered models.

Due to these drawbacks, gas-powered models will likely dominate the PWC market for the foreseeable future.

——————–Related Articles:

Electric Jet Ski vs. Gas Powered Jet Ski Comparison [Video]

Jet Ski vs. WaveRunner vs. Sea-Doo vs. Krash Comparisons 2020

Jet Ski Top Speed vs. Sea-Doo vs. Yamaha Top Speed Chart

———————Sources:Electrive: Kawasaki confirms electric motorcycle in developmentPlugboats: SeaDoo showcases concept electric jetskiTheverge: The Nikola Wav is an electric watercraft with a 4K display and cruise controlElectrek: Taiga Motors unveils new electric jet ski with a 23 kWh battery packElektrek: Narke’s awesome new electric jet ski lets you hear the surf, not the engine