Meet the Arc Sport – an electric wake boat with twice the torque and advanced software
Young and budding electric boat developer, Arc Boat Company, has just unveiled its second model – a mass-market electric wake boat called the Arc Sport. With a massive battery and no shortage of horsepower, Arc sees its latest all-electric marine product as a springboard into a segment in desperate need of modernization and intends to do so by offering “unprecedented performance.”
Arc Boat Company was founded in January 2021 as a venture-backed startup based in Los Angeles, California, currently operating on $110 million in funding to date.
In the past three years, its team of former rocket engineers and EV experts from companies like SpaceX, Tesla, Rivian, and Lyft has eclipsed 100 employees and successfully delivered its first product – the Arc One.
This limited edition all-electric cruiser launched (no pun intended) in June 2022 and less than 20 were built in total. That being said, it quickly sold out, and the final customer delivery was made this past January, rounding out the startup’s initial fleet. While production of the Arc One was limited, its creators consistently told the public to be patient because its second boat would be a game changer.
Today, we’ve learned what all the hype was about as the startup debuted the Arc Sport – an electric wake boat with more power, technology, and ballast than its predecessor.
The Arc Sport is an ultra-intelligent electric wake boat
Per a post by Arc Boat Company today, the Arc Sport electric wake boat is now available to reserve, and the development unit it will evolve from is “already ripping across the water at top speed.”
The startup describes its encore to the Arc One as “the most advanced wake boat to hit the water.” Blending aerospace engineering with EV tech and advanced software, the Arc Sport is as technologically advanced as it is powerful.
The electric wake boat begins with a 226 kWh battery pack that powers a 570 horsepower motor. Arc states the all-electric Sport can deliver more than double the torque of most premium wake boats on the market.
The company would not get into specifics about charge rates, but said the Arc Sport will support Level 1, 2, and DC fast charging and can replenish overnight on a Level 2 AC plug. On average, Arc says the electric wake boat should support 4-5 hours of active usage time, including plenty of towing, but can be used all day if cruising at lower speeds. Speaking of which, the Arc Sport’s optimal cruising speed is in the upper-20’s in mph but can reach a top speed of 40 mph (software-restricted.)
While we’ve seen the marine industry adopt electrification at an encouraging rate, those boats not adapting rely heavily on dated technology. To challenge this, Arc Boats has integrated the electric wake boat with advanced in-house software that can provide a holistic experience controlled through two displays at the helm. Better still, the software is capable of over-the-air (OTA) updates, allowing for continuous improvement. Per Arc Boat Company:
Unlike gas boats that start depreciating the day they’re built, the Arc Sport gets more intelligent — and more performant — over time. No other boat on the water today is capable of this.
Other premium features on the Arc Sport include a retractable hardtop tower with the push of a button, which can adjust the electric wake boat’s tow point to create a more comfortable ride during less-than-ideal marine conditions like wind or chop.
The boat has room for 15 passengers who can control the speaker system from JL Audio using a large entertainment screen that also allows for video playback and stats during wake boating. The bow and stern are equipped with thrusters to make docking more manageable, not to mention the Arc Sport is cleaner and quieter on the water.
The Arc Sport starts at $258,000 and is available to reserve now. Initial deliveries are expected to begin this year.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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