Small Electric Boats for Lakes: What to Buy, and What It Costs

The catalogue holds 67 electric boats under six metres that suit lake use, from 38 builders in 15 countries, and 31 of them publish a starting price. The cheapest is the GardaSolar GOGO 5 at EUR 9,890 and the dearest the Vita Power SeaDog at EUR 157,000 — but the money in this group sits low down: twenty of the thirty-one priced boats come in under EUR 30,000.

The price list comes first, because "affordable" is a word with nothing behind it until figures are attached.

What do electric boats for lakes cost?

Thirty-one of the 67 publish a price. Thirty-six do not, and that is not a gap in our research — it is what the builders themselves publish. A boat with no figure here is usually one the yard quotes per build.

Thirteen boats under EUR 20,000

Boat	Length	People	From
GardaSolar GOGO 5	3.3 m	5	EUR 9,890
GardaSolar GOGO Smart	3.3 m	5	EUR 9,990
Maxima 550 Elektrisch	5.3 m	7	EUR 11,250
GardaSolar Gogo 4	3.8 m	4	EUR 14,480
GardaSolar Gogo 6	3.8 m	6	EUR 14,980
JR-Boats Wide-E	4.4 m	not published	EUR 14,990
Helios Marine Sigma 4.5	4.5 m	not published	EUR 15,000
Silennis S010	3.95 m	7	EUR 16,613
ZuidWesterSloep ZWS 525	5.25 m	8	EUR 17,500
Pettersloep 450	4.5 m	5	EUR 17,545
Pettersloep 500	5 m	6	EUR 18,150
Maxima 600 Elektrisch	5.8 m	8	EUR 18,500
Pettersloep 530	5.3 m	7	EUR 19,965

Price does not track length, and capacity does not either. The ZWS 525 is 5.25 m and rated for eight at EUR 17,500. The Silennis S010 is 3.95 m and rated for seven, at EUR 16,613 — and it publishes a top speed of 4.3 knots on 1 kW, which tells you exactly what sort of boat it is.

Ten of these thirteen are Dutch or Italian. Fourteen of the 67 come from the Netherlands, which is the sloep tradition arriving on batteries, and Petter Botenbouw publishes a full ladder with a price on every rung — 450, 500, 530 and 570.

Twelve between EUR 20,000 and EUR 40,000

Pettersloep 570 at EUR 22,385 (5.7 m, eight people), then the two Italian Microwatt and Microwatt 2.0 at EUR 22,490 and EUR 23,990 — both 5 m, both 2 kW, both rated for seven. SloepYes E-sloep 530 at EUR 24,500 and E-sloep 580 at EUR 26,500 carry the smallest battery in the whole group: 0.64 kWh with a 1.1 kW motor, for eight people. That is a boat for pottering, and the builder is honest enough to print the figure.

Above them: Quadrofoil Q2S Electric at EUR 26,900, PEHN 530 at EUR 29,790, Vision Marine Volt 180 at EUR 33,275, MY-Tramonto at EUR 36,900, Spark Boats ST 330 Classic at EUR 38,000, Marian Eclipse 580 at EUR 38,700 and CANNA One at EUR 39,900.

Six above EUR 40,000

PEHN 595 at EUR 54,700, Faro5 at EUR 74,500, EJET 4x at EUR 97,860, Vision Marine Volt X at EUR 100,000, Zodiac Nautic 450 e-jet at EUR 140,800 and the SeaDog at EUR 157,000.

What the money buys, mostly, is speed. Only thirteen of the 67 publish a top speed at all, and every priced boat in the group that reaches 30 knots costs more than EUR 97,000. These are the seven priced boats that publish a top speed, all of it:

Boat	Top speed	Range	From
EJET 4x	30 kn	40 nm	EUR 97,860
Zodiac Nautic 450 e-jet	30 kn	36 nm	EUR 140,800
Vita Power SeaDog	30 kn	not published	EUR 157,000
Vision Marine Volt 180	26 kn	not published	EUR 33,275
Quadrofoil Q2S Electric	21 kn	not published	EUR 26,900
Spark Boats ST 330 Classic	20 kn	10 nm	EUR 38,000
Silennis S010	4.3 kn	not published	EUR 16,613

The 36 that publish no price

They are listed rather than quietly dropped, with every other figure their builders do publish. Ruban Bleu gives four hulls no price at all — Ace 2, Scoop 2, Legend and Most — and the same goes for Watt & Boat Obiboat, Sun Boat Sprint 525, Van Vossen E-Sloep, Eagle Force 550, Steiner Lisa 550, aquawatt 550 elliniko, Naviwatt Zephyr 540, e-Suvi 44 Cruise 12.0, Marine 16 eJon HD, VTS Flying Shark 4.2 Classic, Lérins 19 and LASAI 20 CR. Only the money is missing.

How big a boat do you need?

A 2 person electric boat is a fast one

Three boats here are rated for fewer than three people, and all three ride on foils. The Quadrofoil Q2A is 3.53 m with a 2.59 m beam, 5.2 kWh and 3.7 kW, two seats, no published price. The Q2S shares that 3.53 m length and 2.59 m beam and carries 10.4 kWh, 5.5 kW and a 21-knot top speed, for EUR 26,900. The Foilone Pegasus is a single-seater — 4.88 m long on a 0.95 m beam, 10 kWh, 14.9 kW, 30 knots.

So a 2 person electric boat in this catalogue means a sports machine. If what you want is a boat for two people to sit in and go slowly, the five-seaters are the cheaper place to look: the GOGO 5 starts at EUR 9,890. See hydrofoil for why the foiling ones are priced the way they are.

Four to six people

This is the bulk of the group. Gogo 4 at 3.8 m and 2 kW takes four for EUR 14,480. Pettersloep 450 takes five at 4.5 m. Kiebitzberg PonTOM Classic 5.0 is 5 m on a 2.5 m beam with 5 kWh and 6 kW for five. Kaebon EB EINS is 5.25 m, 5 kWh, 12 kW, four people. e-Suvi 520 Cruise 6.0 is 5.18 m, 5 kWh, 6 kW, 12 knots, four people. CANNA One is 5.5 m with 15 kWh and 6 kW for five, at EUR 39,900.

Eight and more

Capacity rises and power falls. Ruban Bleu Most is 5.9 m and rated for eleven on 3 kW. GardaSolar Ecowatt carries ten at 5.6 m on 10 kWh and 3 kW. Vision Marine Phantom is rated for ten at just 5.03 m. Kiebitzberg PonTOM Defender 5.6 takes nine, Ruban Bleu Legend nine, LASAI 20 CR eight on 29 kWh with a 9-knot top speed.

Eleven people on 3 kW is walking pace and nothing else, which for a lake is often the point. The cheapest eight-seater with a published price is the ZWS 525 at EUR 17,500.

How far will one go on a charge?

Three of the 67 publish a range: the Spark ST 330 Classic at 10 nm, the Zodiac 450 e-jet at 36 nm and the EJET 4x at 40 nm. That is the honest answer, and it is a poor one — 64 of the 67 publish no range at all, and we will not invent figures for them.

Twenty-eight publish a battery capacity, from 0.64 kWh on the two SloepYes hulls to 63 kWh on the SeaDog. Thirty-nine publish none. A capacity is not a range, and the reason so few builders quote one is that it changes with speed: the distance a hull covers at a crawl and the distance it covers flat out are not the same number, and none of these three figures says which it is. A useful figure is always a range at a stated speed, and that is what to ask a builder for.

Licence, berth and trailer

Licensing is national and sometimes set lake by lake, and the thresholds usually key off motor power and hull length. We publish both where the builder does — 47 of the 67 give a motor power figure — but we do not publish licence thresholds and will not guess at one, because a wrong number here would cost a reader a fine.

For trailering, the figure that decides it is beam. Forty-seven of the 67 publish one, from 0.95 m on the Foilone Pegasus to 2.59 m on the two Quadrofoils and 2.5 m on the Kiebitzberg PonTOM Classic 5.0. The catalogue does not hold a dry weight for these hulls, so towing capacity is a question for the builder rather than for us.

Why these hulls suit a lake

Many inland lakes restrict combustion engines, and some prohibit them outright — which turns an electric hull from a preference into the only way onto the water. That regulatory picture is set by local authorities and changes, so check the rule for your own lake before buying anything. It also matches what the figures in this group actually describe: slow, quiet, all-day boats rather than fast ones. The GardaSolar Microwatt is the shape of it — 5 m, seven seats, 2 kW.

Where to look next

The full list under six metres, with every published figure, is in the catalogue. The day-boat filter narrows it to open hulls meant for a few hours out; the tender filter covers the smallest of them. All builders covers the yards behind these boats, and the glossary explains the terms. Three builders here carry the sun in their names — GardaSolar, Sunsailer, Sun Boat — but what we hold for them is motor power and battery capacity, not panel output, so treat the name as a name and not as a figure. Our other guides cover the larger end of the range.