Magonis Wave e-550 – electric boat style at full speed

Some boaters like to be in the moment and sail at a leisurely pace, while others seek the thrill of speed. The creators of the Magonis Wave e-550 have had a facelift and have offered an e-boat for everyone.

One is a concert organizer who has featured bands like Jamiroquai and Snoop Dogg and developed a very successful electronic dance music festival. The other is a marketing and IT genius who started Barcelona‘s biggest short-term rental company before AirBnB was even a concept. Neither had ever built a boat, but they obviously know what people are looking for in order to enjoy the water.

Thus was born the Wave e-550, an electric boat with an extremely light hull, luxurious details and high-tech accessories that casual cruisers can order with a motor and speed fanatics can order. with another.

Magonis Wave e-550 starts with an ultra-light shell

As you can imagine, music festivals and short-term apartment rentals have been two businesses heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – particularly in Spain, which was one of the first countries to hit. to suffer.

François Jozic was well acquainted with the country’s Belearic Islands (he had done festivals in Ibiza) and was spending some time in Menorca when he found a shipyard working on an elegant hull made of vacuum resin infusion (VRI) – a process which offers high strength and light weight. The boat was designed for fossil fuel engines under 15 HP – the upper limit at which users do not need a license to operate a boat.

The shipyard also experienced some difficulties during the pandemic and Jozic, always on the lookout for an opportunity, called his apartment rental friend Mathieu Quintart to ask him if he would be interested in the boat-making business. Let us add here that Jozic is a boating enthusiast while Quintart could count on one hand the number of times he had sailed on a private boat.

A traditional boat company did not interest Quintart, but if it was a New kind of boat … well, maybe. As a marketing man, he knew that interest in electric boats was growing, and his knowledge of software told him that there were all kinds of technology options available, ideal for an all-electric boat, that could make both extremely efficient and incredibly enjoyable.

Friends, family, and potential investors they had met in their previous business (Jovic started out as a banker) had the same reaction – it sounds awesome! Within months, they had put in place the first financing, rights to the mold and hull designs and a facility in Sabaudia, Italy, with state-of-the-art VRI equipment ready to go.

Adjustments made for a purely electric boat

It all starts with this lightweight shell. The company works with Chimpex composites and the Sabaudia site has a 5-axis CNC (computer numerical control) machine that guarantees high precision combined with rapid production.

The target launch date has been set for March 2021.

“If it was easy, everyone would do it,” Mathieu’s wife told him a few months later as the assembled team digged into the details with the target date still on hand but quickly approaching.

Adjusting the ultralight hull of an all-electric boat was more complicated than they expected. The hull had been designed for a gasoline engine under 15hp, but of course the original designers knew that it could also be used by people looking for a faster ride.

“With a fossil fuel ICE boat, if you want it to go faster, you just add a bigger engine,” said Quintart. “But with an electric boat, a more powerful motor means different batteries, with different weights and proportions. We knew we wanted to have both cruise and speed options, but maybe because we had never built a boat before, we weren’t sure exactly what it was!

The designers, engineers, craftsmen and technicians knew this and quickly got to work.

What they decided to do was to keep the essence of the hull and the way it moved in the water, but to work with the dimensions so that it could accommodate an engine and a water system. power for those who want a cruising experience and a different propulsion package for those in a hurry.

Work with Torqeedo, Huracan, Stealth

For boaters looking for a cruising experience, nothing could be better named than the Torqeedo Cruise range of electric motors, batteries and accessories ranging from a 4kW package to a 10kW package. This is the type of engine for which the ultra light weight of the Magonis was designed – the larger Torqeedo provides continuous power of 10 kW with an increase of 12 kW which has propulsion similar to a 20 hp combustion engine.

The revised design of the Magonis Wave e-550 can hold up to 3 of the associated Li-ion batteries in parallel (to extend the range) and the packages include the Torqeedo fast charger and the TorqTrac system which monitors and displays the location, range, battery level and distance.

The design changes needed to handle the larger Mag Power 18.0 kW and 30.0 kW motor systems and corresponding batteries were coordinated with Stealth Electric Outboards (18 kW) from the United States and Italian manufacturer Huracan (30 kW), which manufacture electric drives for motorcycles and cars as well as boats. The 18 kW version can reach a top speed of 16 knots / 30 km / h while the 30 kW version reaches 22 knots / 40 km / h – enough for wakeboarding and towing as well as for islands and cruising in coastal waters.

Aside from speed, each engine gives the boat a distinct look. The angular head of the Torqeedo visually extends the gunwale line, the Huracan has a truncated shaft rather than a “motor” profile, and the Stealth gives the Wave e-550 the appearance of a day cruiser with a motor. traditional fossil fuel outboard.

Fine details and lots of options

Either way, an electric boat, motor, and battery system is a big long-term investment. So Magonis wanted to make sure that the passengers and the pilot would have a comfortable time on the water, no matter how fast they like to travel.

The Magonis Wave e-550 has a large bowrider area which gives the 5.5 meter / 18 foot boat a capacity of 6 people. A stainless steel and true teak dolphin firing pin extends from the bow with an articulated roller for the anchor. At the rear, there is a practical swimming platform with a telescopic 4-step ladder that stows under the platform. The entire deck including swim platforms is covered with high quality / low maintenance Flexiteek® and there are thoughtful accessories like stainless steel cup holders and retractable cleats that fit the sleek gray gelcoat .

Then there are the electronics and other options that Mat wanted to incorporate. They include a 12’9 “iPad Pro with Liquid Retina display and Navionics® maps with 12 month subscription, 6 USB charging ports around the machine and an anti-theft solution with satellite tracking system, preconfigured and ready to go. ‘use.

Of course, one of the founders being a music promoter, you’d expect a great sound system, and Magonis offers a surround sound experience through Fusion® with 2 x 120W speakers, ready for Bluetooth and Apple Airplay. There are also options like a telescopic teak table to convert the bow area into a dining area, a 2m x 4m (6’x 12 ′) awning system, a 42 liter fridge / freezer (1, 5 cu.ft) and a deck shower with 25- tank (11 US gal).

Finalist at the 2021 Gussies Awards

Ultimately, the Magonis Wave e-550 wasn’t ready for the self-imposed March deadline. However, he made his debut at the 1st World e-Regatta in Venice on June 2 and was eligible to be nominated for The Gussies Electric Boat Awards, where the newcomer became one of 6 finalists in his category. of electric boats. Up to 8m / 26ft.

The team is en route from Barcelona and Italy to the United States in September, where they will deliver a boat to a customer on the north coast and show the boat in Miami. The cost ranges from € 33.485 / US $ 40,000 for the low kW cruise model to € 68.960 / US $ 80,000 for the 30 kW model. These prices do not include the options mentioned above.

Whether you are looking for a lazy day cruise or a thrilling open water outing, you can book a test drive on the all-electric Wave e-550 and get a full quote by visiting the Magonis website. You can also catch it at the Barcelona Boat Show October 12-17 and Boot Düsseldorf on January 22, 2022.