Is Zin going to be the Tesla of the water? Or, if you’re an early-adapter, will an all-electric runabout from a startup company in Seattle be your next boat?
Zin Boats has launched its first vessel, the Z2R, a carbon-fiber 20-footer with head-snapping acceleration but no carbon footprint, fumes, noise or vibration. Piotr Zin, the company’s founder, says it’s perfect as a tender, a second boat, or a picnic boat that you can run up on a beach.
Zin himself worked as an industrial designer at BMW and GM before he settled down and moved aboard a houseboat on Seattle’s Lake Union. He built the new Zin by himself, starting from scratch, using high performance fluid dynamics software and lots of scale models.
His mindset is that he’s building a technology company, as well as a boat company. And he compares the Z2R, which costs about $250,000, to a Tesla Roadster. (A fast reminder here that Tesla is now the world’s most valuable car company, worth $208 billion.)
The slick, minimalist Z2R is quick, with a 35-mph top speed. At its cruising speed of 15 mph, it has a range of about 100 miles. It is driven by an 80-hp Torqeedo Deep Blue 50i 1800 electric motor and a 40.5kW BMW i3 battery.
You can recharge the battery from a wall plug or any shore-power plug on a dock. If you stop at a waterfront restaurant for lunch, plug it in while you eat and you’ll have at least another 50 miles to go by the time you finish.
The boat has almost no bow rise when it accelerates since the motor is centered in the bottom of the hull. And the acceleration is almost instantaneous, since electric motors torque up so quickly.
The new Zin requires almost no maintenance. When you’re done, just hose it down and plug it in. Recharging from scratch will probably cost $5 or $6.
The Z2R seats five. It’s an even 20 feet long, with a beam of 6’ 6”, a draft of 1’ 6”, and a weight of just $1,750 pounds. Read more:
