The Latest EVs Are Taking to the Water

The electric boat market, until now confined to specialty builders, is going mainstream. Just as some central cities in Europe and the U.S. are being closed to internal-combustion cars, so are some lakes and rivers requiring electric power—both for the quiet and the absence of pollution.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Brunswick Corp.’s Mercury Marine division introduced the Avator 7.5e electric outboard motor (US$3,250) for small boats, with 750 watts of power—the equivalent of a conventional 3.5-horsepower unit. Brunswick’s 13-foot Veer X13 boat (US$11,995) will pair with the 7.5e.

The 7.5e electric motor provides quiet and non-polluting cruising.
Mercury Marine photo

And at a New York boat show event Sept. 19 at Chelsea Piers, on Manhattan’s far West Side, the company showed off two larger variations, the 20e (US$8,792) and 35e (US$9,192), with 2,200 and 3,700 watts of power, respectively. The larger of the two offers the power equivalent of a 10-horsepower Mercury outboard.

“Electrification is going to be an important part of the future for marine,” says Dave Foulkes, CEO of Brunswick. “But I think we’ll need a portfolio of solutions, including alternative fuels. E-fuel (gasoline made from sustainably produced hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide) is certainly fascinating.”

Mercury Marine has so far sold 2,000 of its 7.5e electric outboards internationally, Foulkes says. “The 7.5e has only been on the market since April, so we think that volume is high in the marine space. We’re seeing lots of interest at regulated lakes in Europe and other locations.”

The motors are connected to the company’s lithium-ion batteries, made by the Mastervolt division. The 7.5e comes with a basic one-kilowatt-hour battery pack. On the 20e, which has a larger 2.3-kilowatt-hour pack, up to four units can be put together for a half-day of cruising. The 35e comes with a 5.4-kilowatt-hour battery.

Perissa Bailey, vice president and general manager at Mercury Marine, says that Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands are three countries with major buy-in for the electric outboards. The interest in the U.S. is growing a bit more slowly. “But a segment of the population is looking for more sustainable solutions, and they’re going electric in other parts of their lives,” Bailey says. “Rather than have those early adopters leave our brand we’re coming up with alternatives for them.” Bailey says that two new Avator products will be announced shortly, and that there’s interest in higher-horsepower electric marine motors.

Brunswick is also offering a Navico Fathom e-power battery pack that can replace the polluting generators on larger boats and, through a recent acquisition, the Fliteboard electrically powered eFoil surfboard. The US$13,195 Ultra L model, with a 14-pound lithium battery, can fly above the water at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour. There is 45 minutes of cruising and a one-hour recharge time.

The Avator 7.5e will power small boats, like these Quicksilver inflatables and 13-foot Veer X13 at Chelsea Piers.
Brunswick Corporation photo

The development of electric boats paralleled that of cars, and both had initial heydays around the turn of the 20th century. Wealthy people bought electric launches that were elaborately furnished with velvet cushions and stained-glass windows. The boats were for slow cruising on relatively still bodies of water, such as lakes.

At the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, 55 electric launches built by a company called Elco gave a million rides. Elco launched the Wenona in 1899; it was a 32-foot launch with five-horsepower power that quietly glided at seven miles per hour and could last eight hours on a charge. Wenona is still running on Lake George, and Elco is still in business making electric boat motors. The largest of its units produces the equivalent of 14 horsepower.

Battery advances have made larger electric boats practical. Norway’s MV Ampere ferry, with a one-megawatt battery, can carry 120 cars. Launched in 2022, the MS Medstraum is a zero-emission fast ferry that plies Norwegian waters. It reduces emissions by the equivalent of 30 operating diesel buses in a year.

With their large surface area, passenger boats can also host solar panels that increase electric cruising range. PlanetSolar, a catamaran yacht, circumnavigated the planet in 2012.

All this makes it seem that electric power for boats is imminent, but Tom Hesselink, executive director of the Electric Boat Association of America and a 30-year builder of EV craft in North Carolina, says that the industry is “very transitional right now. How fast it will transition is questionable. I don’t expect to see big changes in the U.S. industry anytime soon, though it’s moving much more rapidly in Europe—where there’s more environmental awareness.”

Hesselink adds that “there’s still a big power-to-weight advantage for gasoline. The motors are fine, but it’s the batteries that are the issue.” Foulkes echoes that sentiment. “Electric power is still not a solution for larger mainstream recreational boats,” he says.

Ben Broca launched a company last December that offers AI tools to entrepreneurs. He’s already added 10,000 paying customers and is on track to bring in $10 million in revenue this year.

One thing he hasn’t added: any other employees.

The 40-year-old is part of a class of entrepreneurs who are launching, and then often running, new companies on their own. Artificial intelligence tools answer Broca’s emails, help write and debug code, field requests from customers, sign up new subscribers and grant refunds when issues arise.

Broca relishes his ability to make whatever decisions he wants on his own, often from his sun-drenched Sausalito, Calif., living room. “I think compromises make lukewarm results,” he said.

Once upon a time, running a business of a certain size required a team. AI is turning that assumption upside down, and more aspiring entrepreneurs are going it alone.

Ben Broca sitting in his home office. — Tech has seen an explosion of solo founders in the past year. Broca said he likes being able to work at his own speed, unencumbered by a team. Jonah Reenders for WSJ

An analysis by the payments company Stripe shows there are thousands of solo operators on the company’s platform that are generating over $1 million in revenue, with their ranks doubling between 2023 and 2025. The number of solo operators crossing the $10 million threshold nearly tripled in that same span.

In the past, people without business contacts or particular savvy might not have known how to get their ideas off the ground, said Ernie Tedeschi, Stripe’s chief economist. “Now, AI can be a built-in business partner,” he said.

AI’s ability to handle various administrative tasks makes it potentially useful for launching solo businesses in many fields. But the technology’s ability to also handle key tasks in tech, like coding, make that field a particular hot spot.

Analyzing Census Bureau data, Bank of America Institute economist Taylor Bowley found that among all industries, new business applications in the information sector have seen the biggest percentage increase—nearly 45%—over the past year. At the same time, the rate of information-sector applicants saying they plan to hire workers has experienced the sharpest decline of any measured industry.

This Census dataset doesn’t track solo-operated businesses. But the numbers broadly show—in tech and beyond—that applications are flat among businesses likely to hire workers, but generally rising elsewhere. Economists say that’s a strong sign that solo operators are on the upswing.

“The bar for getting started has never been lower,” said Julian Weisser, who runs a San Francisco-based accelerator for solo founders working in tech. The accelerator—which offers founders seed money and mentorship in exchange for an equity stake—attracted 4,500 applicants for 10 slots made available in its most recent cycle, nearly five times the number it drew when it launched last May.

Going it alone with AI can still be surprisingly expensive. Broca said he was losing money on many customers’ accounts while paying to access Anthropic’s Claude to run his clients’ requests—that AI company, as well as others, charges based on usage. He has since switched to free open-source AI models from China.

Broca said he has raised $30 million from investors and, at the same time, has saved millions in salary since he hasn’t needed a team of software engineers.

Another risk: If it’s easy for one entrepreneur to launch an AI-assisted business, copying them can be easy, too. This creates anxiety for founders like Troy Johnston, who runs an AI-assisted business alone in Orlando, Fla.

“Everybody has the sword and we all have the ability to unsheathe Excalibur now,” said Johnston, 40, who used AI to code an app that helps people get the most out of credit card benefits. The company makes around $3,000 a month in profit, with no employees, and is continuing to grow.

Troy Johnston said AI’s power and ease of use is an incredible boon for entrepreneurs like him—and also a double-edged sword. Luann Koerper

What one-person businesses will mean for the labor market remains to be seen. Polling has shown Americans are worried that AI will replace jobs, and top economists are wrestling with that possibility, too. But AI is also creating lots of new jobs, and the go-it-alone entrepreneurs show how the technology can both open doors and limit employment opportunities.

“If everyone’s hiring less, but you get four times more firms, what does that do to head count?” said Rembrand Koning, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who studies entrepreneurship. He co-authored a recent study that found that among 50,000 startups the researchers examined, those focused on AI tended to operate with 25% fewer employees.

Koning also believes a soft hiring environment that’s left some people mired in long job searches has encouraged more to try their hand at launching businesses.

Some founders cite different motives. “It’s a perfect storm of post-pandemic burnout and a re-evaluation of one’s priorities, and also booming AI and a sense of what’s possible,” said Samir Ahmad, 39, who lives in Breinigsville, Pa.

Two years ago, Ahmad decided to leave the corporate job he had worked at Verizon for almost two decades to start a solo coaching and consulting business. He had been seeing social-media posts touting the ease and virtues of AI, which he used to chart a business plan and help with marketing. “It was like my chief of staff, a second in command,” he said.

The business ultimately petered out within months, though, and Ahmad is now back to a full-time corporate role with a utility company.

For Claire Vo, 41, AI helped her turn a passing impulse into a business. She was working full-time as a tech executive when she tapped AI in late 2023 to help code an app that would help her manage documentation and design for new products, with customers ranging from financial services to healthcare firms.

“I was copying and pasting from ChatGPT,” said Vo, who lives in San Francisco.

Claire Vo smiling into the camera while recording a podcast. — Claire Vo used AI to code an app that’s on track to make seven figures in profit this year. Claire Vo

She put the app online for $1 a month, and within weeks people downloaded it thousands of times. Nearly three years later, Vo’s company—which she ran solo for nine months before hiring an engineer—now has 100,000 users and is on track to make seven figures in profit this year. AI handles the company’s marketing, sales and customer support.

While AI is a shortcut, Vo said her network and credibility in the industry were key. “I think people over-index on how easy AI is and under-index on how much I did to get to this point,” she said.