I actually bought a $1,000 electric boat from China. Here’s what showed up
Ever since I helped my dad upgrade his fishing kayak with an electric motor, I’ve been angling for an electric boat of my own. And with some significant internet digging, a deep breath and, a leap of faith, I sent $1,000 off to China for an electric boat I found on Alibaba. A few months later, this is what showed up.
The timing was right.
I’d just gotten a fun electric mini-truck, I was often perusing Alibaba for more weird little electric vehicles for my weekly column on oddball EVs from China, and it had been a while since I made a major purchase that I worried about explaining to my wife.
After finding what seemed to be a nice little boat maker on Alibaba, I contacted the company, and the owner Frank showed me all the different models they produce.
There were some pretty neat options, but I ultimately settled on a nice little 14-footer electric boat with five seats and a beautiful front entry.
Price? US $1,080.00.
The only problem was that shipping was a fortune. I had to do LCL shipping (less-than-container-load), since I wasn’t about to fill a 40-foot container with these boats. I didn’t even really need one, let alone a dozen of them. LCL shipping meant I shared a container with other people and we each paid our share of the container. Except that sea freight last year was still insanely expensive, and my share would have come out to over $3,000.
Frank advised me to wait a bit, and over the next few months we saw the price slowly walking downward. Once it got to $2,200, I decided to pull the trigger. It was still twice the cost of the boat, but a five-seater electric boat in the US would easily be $10,000, so I was still coming out ahead.
I took a deep breath and sent Frank a bank transfer, then waited a few weeks until my boat was done. Frank and I had a video call so he could show me the boat, then he crated it up and got it on a bigger boat headed for Miami port.
Along the way, I had a customs broker file all of my import documents. I’d tell you how that process goes, but to be honest I don’t entirely understand the nitty-gritty details. That’s why customs brokers exist. They do all the legal stuff to make international commerce go smoothly.
I got hit with the Trump tariffs and a few other charges, adding around 30% to the boat’s cost before it even landed in Miami port. Then there were another $500 or so in arrival charges (basically a ransom you have to pay when your boat arrives), plus warehouse fees to release it from the warehouse that it gets unloaded into from the shared container.
The last little wrinkle before I could actually get my new electric boat released from the warehouse was that someone in China fat-fingered one of the many tracking numbers that goes into the import document filings on their side, meaning something didn’t match up. It was fairly complicated (house bill of ladings, master bill of ladings, AMS number, house IT number, ISF, other acronyms I don’t even remember), but my customs broker told me exactly what to say to the shipping company, word for word, and they sorted it out with the shipper in China. A few more stressful days later, something or other was re-manifested and my boat was clear.
Again, this was super complicated and I don’t claim to understand all the intricacies, which is why professionals generally handle this stuff. You can do it yourself to save a few bucks, but you better do your homework first to make sure all of your i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.
Then I had to have a guy truck the crate across Florida, which cost several hundred dollars more. Add in the customs broker fees and I was creeping closer to $5,000 for my $1,000 boat. Considering US-made electric boats that are closer to this size-class cost in the neighborhood of $40,000–$60,000, I figured I was still in good shape. And of course it’s nowhere as fancy as the awesome $300,00 electric boats I’ve been on, but it’s not exactly playing in the same league.
Sure, you can get a bare bones electric pontoon boat with an empty hull (add your own seats and, well, everything) for around $10K in the US, but this little five-seater Chinese electric boat was more or less complete.
I had the boat delivered to my parent’s ranch, where I intended to test it out in their 1-acre pond to ensure it was seaworthy before eventually putting it in a local river.
But first I had to unbox it. That process was a hoot, which you can see in my unboxing video here.
I even found a surprise inside, where Frank had included 10 free life jackets. Five were actually really nice and could easily be $50 life jackets in the US. The other five were compliance life jackets, and you could probably get all five for $50.
Still, $300 worth of free life jackets ain’t bad!
There was probably a solid $200-$300 worth of half inch plywood screwed onto the cage, all of which I was able to salvage and will surely come in handy in the future. The cage itself was welded with 2″ galvanized steel square tube. The whole thing was surprisingly-well made. You couldn’t have this crate built in the US for less $1,000, let alone the whole electric boat it was carrying.
I didn’t even have the boat out yet and I was already holding at least $500 in free material!
Sliding the boat out of the crate wasn’t easy, especially since it was loaded in from the top using a gantry crane in the factory. The boat weighs between 400-500 lb. (180-230 kg), and so it was a slide-one-end-at-a-time situation.
With the boat out of the crate, I finally got a chance to put hull to rule. It turned out that the 14-footer boat was more like 13’1″. That must have been quite a cold journey. Oh well, I’ll just round up.
Next I had to get the boat lifted up to the level of a trailer, and that was another lift-one-end-at-a-time situation while I slid wooden blocks under it to walk it up to approximately hip height. From that height, I was able to back the trailer under the bow and then my father and I pushed the boat the rest of the way onto the trailer.
Once on the trailer, I had to install the canopy and batteries. I chose to get the electric boat without the factory’s lead acid batteries so that I could install my own lithium iron phosphate batteries. The boat calls for 24V 100Ah batteries, but I decided to double that to get a solid 200Ah and around 5,000Wh of capacity. I figured I would never be in a situation where I wanted less battery, so more was better. I used EnjoyBot batteries, and they seemed like solid, good-quality batteries with good reviews.
The two 12V 200Ah batteries weigh around 50 lb. (23 kg) each, and would provide some good rear ballast down in the stern.
My parents’ pond doesn’t have a dock (yet) or a boat ramp, since we’ve just used it for kayaks. So I got a cool inflatable dock from a company called BOTE. Their Dock 10 is a 100-square-foot (10 square meter) floating dock that can be pumped up by hand in about 10 minutes. It’s amazingly rigid and the fake teak surface feels like real wood. There’s a tiny bit of bounce to it, but it’s weirdly solid-feeling. I know it looks like an inflatable mattress, but walking on it has you wondering if there’s a wooden or aluminum frame hidden in it somewhere.
Without a boat ramp, we just backed the trailer down the grassy bank and hoped the van didn’t go with it.
As if according to plan, my bright yellow electric boat slid nicely off the trailer and into the water. I don’t know why I was shocked that it worked so well, but I was.
I tied it off to the inflatable dock and did a quick water check by removing the rear bench seats to peer inside the hull. Everything was dry as a bone. Again, I don’t know why I was surprised, but it was a good feeling.
From there it was time for the maiden voyage. I took it out alone at first and found that I had a pretty good starboard list, though it didn’t seem to prevent me from navigating. My dad quickly joined me though and that evened out the weight.
The most apparent thing about this electric boat’s operation was that it just wasn’t very powerful. I didn’t expect a 500W (0.67 horsepower) motor to move a lot of water, and it didn’t. A GPS speedometer clocked us at 2 knots ( nearly 2.5 mph or 4 km/h!) on a speed run from bank to bank.
It was definitely more of a pleasure cruiser than a speedboat, but everything seemed to be working well!
An inspection of the propellor brought with it the realization that part of my speed problems were due to the inefficiencies of the prop design. Not only was it a cheap propellor, but it was sticking around 20% of the way out of the water. That meant I was sucking a lot of air down and had some serious cavitation going on. You can even see it in the photos.
Putting a passenger in the rear helped get more prop into the water, but it still wasn’t completely submerged. It could be that the electric boat was designed for heavy lead acid batteries, and my lighter lithium batteries weren’t putting enough weight in the rear. I can try repositioning the batteries further aft and may look into ballasting, but it’s not an ideal solution.
I may also replace the drive unit altogether. Many people have suggested that I put in a jet ski’s propulsion unit, which would be kind of fun. I may put a couple of thrusters on instead though, as that would likely be simpler and give me fewer worries about leaks into the hull.
Some folks have suggested a trolling motor off the stern. That’d be the simplest solution, but it’d look funny and I’d rather put a little more effort into a slightly more elegant solution.
I’ll definitely be holding off on putting it in the river though. At its current power level, I don’t think it’d be a safe. I’m not sure it can overcome a decent current. So I’ll be waiting until I upgrade the motor before I head for any moving bodies of water. But as a lake boat, it’s kind of perfect. It’s not fast, but it’s comfortable and easy to use. It’d be perfect for all the folks that live on electric-only lakes that don’t permit combustion-engine boats.
As far as fit and finish goes, the boat is actually surprisingly nice. There are a few places where the fiberglass is inexplicably thicker and thinner, and there’s some paint overspray on the taffrails in one section where someone was obviously too lazy to tape them off. But by and large, the boat is surprisingly nice for $1,000.
I know this is where some people are going to go all “It’S NoT a $1,000 DoLlAr bOaT bEcAuSe YoU pAiD $5,000 fOr It!” on me. Well, the electric boat cost $1,080, which is what I paid to the factory. All the rest went to the container ship, the customs broker, taxes, US trucking, and other associated costs. The factory built and supplied the boat for $1,080, and I’m frankly amazed at what they could do for that price. Maybe I’m still blinded by free life jackets, but I’m pretty happy.
It’s unfortunate that you have to spend so much extra on top of the price of the product itself during the process of importing. But I still think I got an awesome deal. The boat seats five people and will be tons of fun to take out with my family on the pond. Once I get a more powerful motor in it, I’ll be excited to take it to the river and perhaps do a little fishing off the bow. That front entry area is a great place to stand up outside of the canopy.
Oh, and speaking of the canopy, you can be sure it’s going to get a solar panel setup soon. I’ve been known to do that to my other EVs!
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Ride1Up has carved out a name for itself in the e-bike world by delivering sleek, well-equipped electric bikes that punch well above their price tag. Their latest model, the Ride1Up Vorsa, takes that formula and beefs it up into something more versatile… literally.
The Vorsa is Ride1Up’s answer to the growing demand for SUV-style e-bikes – those do-it-all electric rides that can handle your commute, your grocery runs, your kid-hauling trailer, and your backroad detours without flinching. And at $1,595, the Vorsa might just be the most affordable ticket into that category right now – at least for an e-bike that still includes a pile of interesting and high-value tech features.
To see what I mean, check out my video review of the Ride1Up Vorsa below. Then keep reading for the full details on this highly versatile ride.
Ride1Up Vorsa video review
Ride1Up Vorsa Tech Specs
- Motor: 750W and 95Nm rear hub motor
- Top speed: 28 mph (45 km/h) on pedal assist or 20 mph (32 km/h) on throttle
- Range: 30-60 miles (48-96 km)
- Battery: 48V 15Ah (720Wh) UL-certified with Samsung 50GB cells
- Weight: 65 lb (29.5 kg)
- Load Capacity: 440 lb (200 kg)
- Frame: Aluminum alloy 6061
- Brakes: Star Union hydraulic dual-piston disc brakes on 203 mm (front) and 180 mm (rear) rotors
- Extras: Shimano Acera 8-speed derailleur, new highly-detailed color LCD display, two frame styles of step-over and step-thru, semi-integrated rear rack with optional rack extender, and a wide range of other accessories
- Price: $1,595
Goes anywhere, does almost anything
E-bikes are getting more versatile, but the Vorsa takes versatility to the extreme.
This is already a powerful e-bike capable of 28+ mph Class 3 speeds (though ships out of the box with a Class 2 setting of 20 mph) from its 750W motor capable of a heart-thumping 95 Nm of torque. That means its a fast hill climber and ready for just about any challenge that a high-performance e-bike should be.
But then, on top of that, the bike’s design allows it to tackle very different styles of riding, from cargo needs with its semi-integrated rear rack to touring and trekking style rides with its 27.5×2.6″ Schwalbe touring tires.
That means the same e-bike you use to take the kids to school at in the morning can transform into your commuter bike to work and then into your single-track bike for weekend recreational riding.
And with a 720 Wh battery (UL-compliant, no less), you’ll have plenty of charge to do all of those things in the same day!
It’s par for the course at Ride1Up, something I learned when touring their factory last year and seeing firsthand just how important a combination of quality, practicality, and affordability are to the company. It’s obvious that the folks at Ride1Up want to give us riders as much battery, as much performance, and as much versatility as they can while keeping the price reasonable.
Packed with tech, but only the good stuff
It’s fun to see more tech enter the e-bike space, but some companies don’t seem to understand that more isn’t always better. It’s only a net benefit to me if it’s stuff I’ll actually use. Ride1Up has eschewed smartphone apps and other things that don’t add much usability and has now given us the stuff that actually matters.
For example, the new display on the Vorsa is much more involved, with more than just a higher-resolution color display. It shows metrics that actually mean something to me, like how much time I spend in different riding modes. This helped remind me to not only use the highest power modes but also drop the pedal assist down a few notches for more exercise.
There’s also built-in Apple FindMy tracking now, which is a HUGE added value for me. It’s not a guarantee that you’ll get your bike back if it’s stolen, but it’s a major headstart in recovering it. It may not be as helpful for you Android phone users out there, but for us iPhone folks who are held captive by Apple’s golden handcuffs, it’s a great system for finding just about anything, especially your e-bike. From my phone, I can see where my Vorsa is, and I can find it if someone tries to abscond with it.
Then there’s the new torque sensor from MiVice, which is honestly one of the most responsive torque sensors I’ve ever had the pleasure of pedaling. It’s fast, and it feels like my legs are just extra strong that day. Throttle-only riders won’t really benefit from it, and in fact may want to use the sensor selector option to put the bike back in cadence sensor mode to enable more of a ‘foot throttle’ feel, but most of us will prefer the torque sensor because of how impressively dialed in it feels.
Hardware design
That technology is nice, but it needs to complement good hardware, not replace it. In this case, the design of the Ride1Up Vorsa complements the tech, adding versatility and value without jacking up the price.
The semi-integrated rack is a really cool design that helps the bike achieve its 440-lb weight capacity. There’s even a rack extender that helps turn the bike into a longtail cargo bike, even if that tail sticks out in a slightly funny way.
Then there are the other nice upgrades over the usual suspects we see on $1,500-range electric bikes. Instead of plastic fenders, we get nice metal alloy fenders that look and feel better quality. Instead of a cheap 7-speed Shimano Altus derailleur, we get a nicer 8-speed Shimano Acera derailleur. Instead of a basic suspension fork, we get a longer travel 100mm fork. Instead of a compliance stem, we get an adjustable stem to dial in the handlebar angle to our liking. You name it, the upgrades are there.
The LED lighting, including the fender integrated lights, is also clearly higher quality than you’d expect on a value e-bike, making this an even higher value.
What’s not to like?
Don’t get me wrong, the Ride1Up Vorsa is great. It sets a new high watermark in what can be delivered at this price, especially considering the rampant inflation in e-bike prices brought on by new tariffs. But I can always complain about something, and so why stop now?
The Ride1Up Vorsa brings us a lot of cool tech and new hardware, but it comes at a cost, and that cost is weight. At 65-70 lb, depending on how many of the cool add-ons you install, the bike isn’t lightweight. You’ve got chunkier tires, a bigger battery, a more powerful motor, a more robust frame, a larger fork, metal fenders, and other parts that all add to the weight.
Next, Ride1Up has again played it incredibly conservatively with the color options. Your typical dark gray is there, then you get a fairly nice blue, and lastly, you’ve got a slightly confusing two-tone sage grayish-green option. There are no bright colors to choose from, which isn’t a departure for Ride1Up, but still a bit disappointing to me. Go wild, guys! Throw caution to the wind! Hit me with some color someday!
And lastly, Ride1Up continues to ship in smaller boxes that require the fork to be installed by the owner. This isn’t a complicated task when you’ve done it 100 times like it’s your job, which it is for me. But most people have done this zero times, and the ones who have can probably count the instances on one hand. This is an essential step in bike assembly and one that has very little margin for error, so most new owners would be advised to have a bike shop do it if they aren’t comfortable following Ride1Up’s clear and welcomed assembly video.
So I have my complaints like normal, but none are insurmountable. And to be honest, at $1,595, the price is so fair that I can overlook the limited color options and the longer at-home assembly. When it comes to the weight, that’s just the price we riders pay to have more performance and features included in our bikes.
I absolutely recommend the Ride1Up Vorsa to anyone looking for a ‘normal’ style e-bike (i.e., not a folder or a moped) but who wants the versatility to head in highly divergent directions, including everything from cargo hauling to recreational riding and daily commuting. It’s a winner and they stuck the landing on the Vorsa.
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Ford is sweetening the deal for EV buyers in the UK with free home chargers and more, just as its best-selling car, the Puma, gets an electric upgrade. The new incentives are part of Ford’s push to boost EV sales and gain market share overseas.
Ford is giving free EV chargers to buyers in the UK
The “Ford Power Promise” was initially launched in the US last October. It includes a free Level 2 home charger with any Ford EV purchase, including the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.
Ford will also cover the cost of standard installation, along with some other goodies to sweeten the deal, like 24/7 live EV support, roadside assistance, and an 8-year, 100,000-battery warranty.
The American automaker is now extending the offer as it looks to win back market share overseas. On Tuesday, Ford launched the Power Promise in the UK to help make owning an EV easier.
Ford’s promo includes a free wall box home charger (with standard installation), an up to 10,000-mile home energy bonus, and an 8-year and 100,000-mile battery warranty.
Other incentives include a free five-year service plan, free five-year towing assistance, and access to over 33,000 public charging stations across the UK through Ford’s Blue Oval Charge Network.
Saving time and money
The offer is available across Ford’s EV lineup, including the new electric Puma Gen-E. Ford’s electric car lineup in the UK includes the Explorer Electric, Mustang Mach-E, Capri EV, E-Tourneo Custom, E-Tourneo Courier, and the new electric Puma. If you already have a home charger, you can opt for a £500 ($650) cash bonus.
Ford EV buyers will also benefit from its partnership with Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest energy supplier. Using “Intelligent Octopus Go,” you can save up to 70% on energy costs by charging overnight (7p/kWh).
According to Ford, charging the new electric Puma Gen-E can cost as little as £3.23, or less than $5. Ford launched the Puma Gen-E, the EV version of its best-selling car in Europe, starting at just €36,900 ($38,800) in December. In the UK, the Puma Gen-E Select starts at £30,795 ($39,300).
Since launching the program, Ford has extended the offer to Canada. In the US (and Canada), Ford’s Power Promise runs until June 30, 2025.
According to Ford’s research, the 2025 Mustang Mach-E eAWD extended-range battery can save $26 compared to filling up a gas tank. The 2025 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat could save you up to $55 compared to a similar pickup.
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The US solar industry is used to tariffs, but President Trump’s latest round of tariffs is still expected to wreak havoc, like in many other sectors.
But homeowners still have time to go solar, thanks to developers building solar panel stockpiles in the US.
During his first term, President Trump imposed many tariffs that affected the US solar industry.
Since then, the industry has adapted with some domestic solar module manufacturing, but most solar products still come from overseas. Chinese manufacturers moved some of their factories to other Asian countries to adapt, but now Trump’s sweeping tariffs also target those countries, like Vietnam.
But solar developers, who have experience with tariffs, have been savvy enough to build stockpiles of solar panels in the US over the last year.
Some estimates put the current stockpile at 50 gigawatts, which is roughly what the US deployed last year. However, 50 GW does not include all the solar energy deployed in the US last year, residential, commercial, and utility-scale, and most of the stockpile is estimated to be equipment for rooftop solar.
Tariffs coming into effect tomorrow will certainly impact the industry, but the stockpiles are likely to reduce the impact and give homeowners more time to go solar this year without price increases or with smaller price increases.
The timing is good as US homeowners are increasingly turning to solar to reduce their energy costs, which are also expected to increase.
The trade wars started by Trump are increasing the electricity rates in states that get electricity from Canada.
The President is also expected to sign a new executive order boosting the nation’s coal industry this week. The order is expected to involve reductions in environmental requirements to help save coal plants due for retirement.
However, most coal plants are being retired because they are uncompetitive, not because of environmental concerns.
In addition to tariffs on solar panels and inverters imported from overseas, the new tariffs are expected to greatly increase the cost of home energy storage, which is often installed with rooftop solar power systems.
We previously reported that home battery packs, like Tesla’s Powerwall, use battery cells from China, which is about to be hit with massive new tariffs.
If you are interested in going solar, now is the time, and we suggest using EnergySage. It’s a free service that will enable you to get quotes and compare them without any hassle, and you only talk to someone when you are ready to move forward with your project. They work with a great number of solar installers and help you get the best price.
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