"Always Be Selling" Seems To Be Arc's Company Motto: Electric Boating Is Serious Business

Folks, since 2021, LA, California, has been home to a new kind of boat manufacturer, Arc. If the name sounds familiar, it's because they've been attracting attention by collaborating with a number of celebrities and their companies. This includes organizations Will Smith and Kevin Durant, among others. Their mission? "To electrify the world of boating."

Now, to understand precisely what Arc is all about, let's explore the one and only machine currently in their lineup, the, well, Arc One. As Arc likes to say, this is the "First of its kind," meaning that we can expect so much more from this team if everything takes off properly.

Well, to wipe any doubt from your mind that Arc is in play and in it for the long haul, we can use those collaborations as proof that this crew means business, but most recently, in September 2023, Arc secured $70 million (€66.2 million at current exchange rates) in a new round of funding for its project.

Some of the cash came in from return investors, but a few new names were on the list, too. In short, this brand is growing. To date, around $100 million has been scooped up by Arc, and the best news is that the results are starting to show. The manufacturer's website states that a new model is in store for 2024.

Along the way, limited numbers of Arc One boats have been built and sold, always keeping stock in a "Sold Out" state. When you think about it, this is the best way to do business: always selling with nothing in stock. As for what is being sold, well, as anything these days, it's an experience, a 24-foot-long (7.3 meter) experience with 500 hp, a top speed of 40 mph (64 kph), and a per-charge runtime of three to five hours. Since they're selling an Arc One for around $300K (€286K), how can you resist?

Now, each Arc One starts off with an aluminum hull, like quite a number of boats currently on our waters. Throw in a dash of "aerospace-inspired engineering," and you've got yourself a vessel that doesn't just look hella good but performs at standards that force these babies to fly off the shelves like a Tickle Me Elmo during Christmas in 1996.

The rest of the looks and feels are finished off with seating for twelve people, a little water deck at the rear of the Arc One, and the gator step that completes the vessel with a contrast of materials and tones that simply work together. The occasional semiprecious metals shine in the sunlight and catch the corner of your eye like a flare from a D-VVS-1 diamond.

As for performance, this is yet another way that Arc has been meeting the needs of its customers and investors. Overall, this crew designs every component that goes into their machine, including the powertrain, battery packs, thermal control systems, and even the software needed to optimize performance, allowing them to craft a machine that's completely different from everything else on the market.

At the base for all this eco-friendly magic sits a 500 hp inboard motor and a battery pack with 220 kWh of juice. The result is, as I mentioned, a 40 mph top speed and a run time between 3 and 5 hours. So far, that's all the manufacturer's website shows us.

The question now remains as to where things are going. To answer that, we've gathered a few hints from here and there, some based on personal experience with such craft. First of all, there's massive potential for Arc in the luxury yachting industry; they come across as the perfect tender to explore uncharted islands without ever leaving a mark on the local ecosystem.

However, one industry that Arc is clearly aiming for is watersports. Their website mentions something about a wake-producing pylon. This means that your superyacht tender can pull you around in the middle of nowhere, but it can also be used on local waters for competitive sports.

Considering professional wakeboarders are zipping around at speeds upwards of 23 mph, the choice is clear. Water skiing falls into the Arc One's capacities, too; those folks need up to 32 mph of speed. In short, we might be seeing more and more of these babies around local waters, maybe even bearing the Red Bull logo; there's an idea for some expansion.

Now, where does that leave the little guy? Well, from what I've seen in the industry, $300K is a price that is sure to attract the attention of some of the middle class ($65K a year average). With some attention to how you spend your bucks, it's within reach. Heck, why not pool your cash together with a few friends and get in line for an Arc EV?

All that's left to do now is find one of these babies, take it out for a spin, and write that check—just a little something-something to think about.