General Motors just invested $150 million in Pure Watercraft, the Seattle-based company that makes electric outboards and battery packs. The investment represents a 25 percent stake in the company.
Pure Watercraft, founded by Andy Rebele nine years ago, makes all-electric Pure Outboards as a drop-in replacement for boats that use 25- to 50-hp gas outboards. It also has partnerships with manufacturers to sell complete electric boats, in the RIB, pontoon boat and small fishing boat categories.
The Pure Outboard operates with a 25kW electric motor that the company says is the equivalent of a 50-hp gas outboard. It is built to fit on any standard transom.
The electric outboard requires almost no maintenance and it eliminates the noise and fossil fuel pollution associated with gas outboards. It also is meant to appeal to owners of diesel-powered boats who don’t want to have to worry about carrying gasoline to power their dinghy or second boat.
Pure Watercraft now will work with GM to develop its battery technology. The investment is part of a much larger GM push to develop electric vehicles of all kinds.
On a blog, Mary Barra, the GM CEO, posted, “We are delivering hardware platforms that will help put everybody in an electric vehicle – even beyond our own vehicles. Our Ultium battery and HYDROTEC fuel cell platform give us the potential to make planes, trains, automobiles and even boats into zero emission products.”
On its website, Pure Watercraft offers a complete Pure Outboard System, consisting of a Pure Outboard, battery pack, two routing cables, and a charger. On a boat, the outboard is connected to the lithium-ion battery pack and throttle via two cables in a simple “plug and play” design. The package costs $16,000. The Pure Outboard weighs just 105 pounds, and the battery pack 115-pounds; the entire package can be delivered by UPS. Read more:
