Low cost one-seater mini electric jet boat puts big thrills in a tiny package
There’s something oddly endearing about miniature-sized vehicles that can still carry adults. It’s true with electric micro-cars and apparently its true with micro-boats as well. But don’t take my word for it. You can be the judge with this fun looking mini electric jet boat!
This little vessel is a perfect candidate for this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.
It looks awesome. It’s definitely weird. And you can buy it directly from China. It literally ticks all of the boxes!
It’s rare that you can touch both the bow and stern of your boat at the same time and live to tell about it, but that’s just one perk of such a small vessel like the one we’re checking out today.
This mini electric jet boat is just 1.8 meters (5’11”) long, yet packs in enough power to hit speeds of up to 48 km/h (30 mph).
That’s thanks to a 15 kW (20 hp) electric motor that uses a jetski-like water jet drive. That’s a lot of power in a tiny package, so the motor includes water cooling to ensure that it can run continuously at high speeds.
The motor is mounted in a 35 kg (77 lb) hull formed out of ABS plastic.
A removable lithium battery powers the unit and weighs 22 kg (48.5 lb), or nearly as much as the boat itself.
The 3.88 kWh battery pack only lasts 30-50 minutes at peak power, though lower power run time is likely much longer. The battery is also rated for 800 charge cycles, so it should be there for the long haul.
There seems to be a battery compartment just aft of the cockpit, and I’m guessing there’s not much extra room in there for storing much else. I wouldn’t recommend keeping a life jacket in there anyway; you should probably already be wearing it.
There’s no rudder on this mini boat. Instead it uses directional thrust from the jet nozzle for quick steering.
There’s something of a swim platform on the fan tail deck, but at around 15 cm (6 inches) wide, in practice it’s more of a step than anything else.
A pair of stainless steel cleats adorn either side of the bow, and frankly they look like the nicest pieces of hardware on this boat.
There’s so much to love about this thing. In fact, there’s so much to love about just the image above.
The aesthetic choices for the boat’s colorway are brave and I love it. The alphabet soup on the side seems to have had some sort of direction or intent, at least originally, before being lost in the application stage. Was it once meant to say “NO RACE”? Or perhaps “RACE ON”?
The “Young ree urfing” seems to tell another story, maybe related to the dangling “S” on the side. But then what were the rest of the letters meant for? It’s like someone let their toddler play with the refrigerator magnet poem set for too long. What is going on here, people?!
Then there’s my guy wearing that two-hole ski mask like he’s going to knock off a bank on the way home.
This is the mini electric jet boat that keeps on giving! And boy does it give… just look at how fast these things can fly in the video below!
I’ve saved the best part for last: the price. This little slip costs a mere US $10,000, with shipping from China dubiously listed as another $263 when using “Seller’s Shipping Method 1”. I think there’s a nonzero chance that means the seller’s cousin knows a guy with a truck.
As usual with these Alibaba finds though, I don’t recommend anyone actually go through with this. Most of my fun and weird Alibaba purchases ended up costing around 4x the advertised price after I paid ocean freight, customs charges, broker fees, arrival charges, warehousing and local trucking, among other surprise charges.
In the meantime, there are plenty of other low-cost electric boats out there for at or under $10,000. Unfortunately none are quite as cool as this one, but that’s just the way it goes. China gets all the fun things. I guess that’s what happens when you lead the world in EV development and don’t have to play by the rules of conventional boat design.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
U.S. could reach deal with Canada that avoids oil and gas tariffs, energy secretary says
HOUSTON — The U.S. could reach an agreement with Canada that avoids tariffs on imports of oil, gas and other energy resources, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.
Wright said such a scenario is “certainly is possible” but “it’s too early to say” in response to a question from CNBC during a press conference at the CERAWeek by S&P Global. The U.S. is in “active dialogue” with Canada and Mexico, the energy secretary said.
President Donald Trump has paused until April 2 tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports that are compliant with the agreement which governs trade in North America. Trump originally imposed broad 25% tariffs on goods from both countries as well as lesser 10% tariffs on energy imports from Canada.
It’s unclear, however, how much of the oil, gas and other energy that the U.S. imports from Canada is compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Wright declined to provide specifics when CNBC asked how much of those imports are USMCA compliant.
“I’m going to avoid the details for now,” Wright said. The energy secretary said, “We can get to no tariffs or very low tariffs but it’s got to be reciprocal” in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan.
Canada’s energy minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, warned last week that energy prices will rise in the U.S. if the tariffs on energy imports go into full effect.
“We will see higher gasoline prices as a function of energy, higher electricity prices from hydroelectricity from Canada, higher home heating prices associated with natural gas that comes from Canada and higher automobile prices,” Wilkinson told CNBC’s Megan Cassella in an interview.
The U.S. has been the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world for years. But many refiners in the U.S. are dependent on heavy crude imported from Canada. The U.S. imported 6.6 million barrels of crude oil per day on average in December, more than 60% of which came from Canada, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Wright acknowledged that the tariffs are creating uncertainty in energy markets as negotiations continue.
“We’re in the middle of negotiations for where things are going to go with tariffs, so that feels frightening and gripping right now but this time will pass,” Wright said. “Deals will be made, we’ll get certainty and we’ll have a positive economic environment for Americans going forward.”
U.S. crude oil fell more than 1% Monday to close at $66.03 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent closed at $69.28 per barrel. Crude oil futures have pulled back substantially as Trump’s trade policy creates uncertainty and OPEC+ has confirmed that it plans to gradually bring back 2.2 million barrels per day of production beginning next month.
Apple is rolling out a notable update to Apple Maps EV Routing for Ford drivers. Starting today, Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers can use Apple Maps EV Routing via CarPlay to plan road trips that include Tesla Superchargers – or any station that uses the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector.
As I’ve explained before, Ford began shipping adapters CCS to NACS adapters that allow Mach-E and Lightning drivers to charge at Tesla Superchargers last year. Until today, however, Apple Maps was unaware of this change. This meant Apple Maps EV Routing would only route Mach-E and Lightning drivers to CCS charging stations, even though a route with Tesla Superchargers might’ve been more efficient.
With today’s change, Apple Maps via CarPlay will now include NACS fast charging stations, such as compatible Tesla Superchargers, in recommended route planning recommendations.
In a blog post, Ford explains:
Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay allows drivers to input their route and can view the estimated battery level they will have when they get to a destination, as well as suggested charging stations along the way if charging is needed. Previously, Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers would have to manually open another app, then enter a NACS fast charger as a destination to have it added to their route. Now, with the Apple Maps EV Routing and NACS fast charger integration, the experience will be more seamless.
How to Use Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay:
- Connect your Apple iPhone to CarPlay.
- Open Apple Maps, go to Settings, and confirm your preferred charging network(s) – make sure you select a NACS fast charging station, such as Tesla Supercharger. You only have to do this once.
- Enter a destination.
- Apple Maps will then calculate the estimated state of charge you will have when you get to a destination.
- If a charge is required, depending on the fastest route, it will automatically route you to a NACS fast charging station.*
This is a significant update to the Apple Maps EV Routing experience for Ford drivers. Next up on my wishlist is support for battery preconditioning when using Apple Maps EV Routing. Android Auto added this feature last October.
The new feature is available now to iPhone users running iOS 17 or later. No software update is required for your car.
Follow Chance: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, and Mastodon.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.
There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.
We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.
Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares last week and over $100 million in the last 3 months.
Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:
He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.
Murdoch was appointed to Tesla’s board in 2017.
He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.
For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.
Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.
It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.
But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway