The Germans Wrapped A Boat Around An Electric Car, And It Worked
Image Credit: Porsche AG.
I've seen car companies try to dip their toes into the water before, but it usually ends with all the grace of a hippo in a tutu. The results are often clumsy, overpriced, and serve mainly as a marketing exercise that everyone forgets in a year.
So, when I heard Porsche was getting into the electric boat business, I immediately stopped trying to figure out what Tesla's CEO was going to do next, and focused on something far more serious - Porsche, the masters of the 911, the kings of Le Mans, were building a speedboat? And it's electric? Oh, this was already starting to look like a masterstroke of German engineering.
Drive system, Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom. Image Credit: Porsche AG.
Meet the Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom. A name that just rolls off the tongue, provided your tongue is about a yard long and you speak fluent marketing. But this isn't just a boat with a Porsche badge slapped on the side - this is a genuine collaboration. The Austrian boat-builders at Frauscher, known for their achingly pretty designs, handled the hull. Porsche, meanwhile, did what they do best: they supplied the oomph.
The heart of this 28-foot day cruiser is ripped directly from the all-new, all-electric Porsche Macan. Yes, the family SUV you'll soon see parked outside of every expensive grocery store. They've taken the entire Premium Platform Electric (PPE) powertrain - the motor, the brains, the 800-volt battery architecture - and masterfully adapted it for a life at sea.
Image Credit: Porsche AG.
The numbers are properly impressive. The system delivers a continuous 536 horsepower to the prop. That's more than a base model 911 Carrera. In a boat! This electric wizardry is fed by a 100 kWh battery pack, the same one found in the Macan. The whole thing is a testament to the beautiful modularity of electric powertrains. It's essentially a high-performance, waterproof skateboard that Frauscher has built a stunning boat on top of.
Power is one thing, but what do you do with it? Apparently, you take it to the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge. This is an event where the glitterati and engineering nerds collide, all trying to prove their version of an electric watercraft is the best. Porsche, not being a company that enjoys losing, rolled up with their Fantom and proceeded to shatter a record.
Image Credit: Porsche AG.
During its run, the 850 Fantom clocked an average speed of 57.3 mph (49.84 knots). For a car, that's a leisurely Sunday drive. For a 28-foot electric boat, that is absolutely flying. What's particularly amusing is that Porsche's official claimed top speed is a more modest 56 mph.
This means they either were being hilariously conservative, or the pilot had plenty of strong espresso that morning and just decided to "send it." Either way, it's a new record for an electric boat on that course, and a chunky gauntlet thrown down to the rest of the industry.
Image Credit: Porsche AG.
It's brilliant. It's fast. In essence - it's a Porsche for the water. Time to sell the house and buy one, right? Well, this is where a gentle dose of reality splashes over the bow. At a sensible cruising speed, Porsche says you'll get about 27 miles of range. If you pootle along like you're trying not to spill your champagne, you might stretch that to over 55 miles. That's perfect for a quick jaunt from your Monaco penthouse to your superyacht anchored just offshore, but it's not exactly ready for a quick crossing to the Bahamas.
And then there's the charging. The boat's 800-volt system means it can handle DC fast charging up to a blistering 270 kW. Fantastic! You can juice it up in under half an hour. There's just one tiny, insignificant, microscopic problem: where on earth are you going to find a 270 kW DC fast charger at a marina? Most docks are lucky to have a standard wall outlet that doesn't trip if you plug in a hairdryer.
Image Credit: Porsche AG.
Then we get to the price. While not explicitly mentioned in the initial reports, a bit of digging reveals the sticker price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000. For that money, you could buy the Porsche Macan EV it's based on, and a very nice Porsche 911 to park next to it, and still have enough left over for a very, very nice, non-electric boat. The Fantom isn't a boat - it's the world's most expensive and stylish accessory for your electric Porsche.
But I find myself not caring about the practicalities. I'm just charmed by this stunning piece of engineering and a magnificent proof of concept. It shows that the future of mobility - on land and sea - can be exhilarating, silent, and stylish. It's a toy, sure, an absurdly expensive toy for the one-percenters. But all the best technology starts this way. It proves that a single, well-designed electric powertrain can be adapted for wildly different uses. And that is a very exciting glimpse into our electric future. Oops, the Germans did it again.
