Braunschweig (Before Christ), the world’s largest consumer marine company behind brands such as Boston Whaler, Sea Ray and Mercury is making waves at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in landlocked Las Vegas this year.
This being CES, the focus is on innovation and what’s next. For Brunswick, that means electrification.
Brunswick’s Mercury Marine power division showcased its Avator 7.5e electric outboard at the show. The 7.5e electric motor is the first in a series of electric outboard products that will be released in 2023. Mercury also showed concepts for its Avator 20e and 35e outboard motors, which will arrive later in 2023.
Mercury said the Avator 7.5e generates 750W of power at the propeller shaft, which would be similar to the horsepower and acceleration of a Mercury 3.5hp FourStroke gasoline engine that you would find on a small fishing boat or a tender.
The Avator is paired with a 1kWh lithium-ion battery, which doesn’t sound like much juice. But the batteries are easily interchangeable so you can have all-day use on a small pond, or ferry passengers to bigger boats on larger bodies of water.
In addition to Avator, Brunswick unveiled a brand new brand, called Fire. Brunswick said the Veer brand of boats will “support electric propulsion and appeal to the next generation of boaters.” The company showed off the Veer X-13 model at CES.
The X13 is a 13-foot boat constructed from rotomolded polyethylene, a type of marine plastic that is lightweight and can generally withstand a lot of abuse. The X13 is designed to be powered by Mercury Avator electric outboard motors, but it can also accommodate traditional Mercury FourStroke outboard motors.
The X13 was designed by the Brunswick Lund Boats brand, which specializes in the design of fishing boats. Brunswick said the X13 will offer “exceptional quality and ruggedness, contemporary design, combined with thoughtful and ingenious fishing-focused features.” Brunswick hopes the X13 will be a game-changer that brings boating to the masses, focusing on performance, ease of use and affordability.
Combined with a service like Brunswick Liberty Yacht Club — think of it like an Airbnb for boats — Brunswick could offer Veer electric boats for rental for boaters looking to dip their toes into the marine world. Brunswick CEO David Foulkes said so at Yahoo Finance in August during the company’s press day in NYC at Chelsea Piers.
Brunswick said pricing for the X13 will start at $11,995 with standard features and will be available to order in the spring of 2023.
—
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on instagram.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Download the Yahoo Finance app to Apple or android
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, instagram, Flipboard, LinkedInand Youtube
Comments are closed.