“Developed to bring the Joy of driving to gliding.” German premium carmaker is pushing its brand beyond traditional vehicles into electrified leisure mobility and new uncharted waters: an electric stand-up paddleboard (SUP). And it’s premium too, as the €3,990 price tag suggests.
BMW is doing this with the help of Slovenian SipaBoards, a company founded in 2015 and based in Kamnik, which describes itself as “the first in the world to develop self-inflating electric SUP boards”, holding patents in the US and EU.
Carryin two people
A traditional SUP is a long, stable board (about 3 m to 3.5 m) that you stand or kneel on and propel with a single paddle: no motor, no electronics, no app. You paddle on one side, then switch sides every few strokes to maintain your straight line. This is a different beast altogether.
SipaBoards produces electric stand-up paddleboards (e-SUPs) with built-in electric propulsion (a jet motor) and self-inflating technology. But the input of BMW on this premium version that can carry two people and reach a speed of 4 knots (7,5 km/h) was substantial.
The BMW Tourer Electric board has dimensions of 3.65 m × 0.82 m × 0.15 m, and a weight (board only) of 10.9 kg, 14.9 kg including the electric motor. BMW Designworks handled the look. It uses a specially developed X-woven drop-stitch core, which gives the board “superb structural rigidity and stability.”
A miniature watercraft
Using BMW’s new electric paddle board feels less like launching a toy and more like starting up a miniature watercraft.
You unroll the board. Within minutes, the board self-inflates, the electric pump humming quietly as the hull firms up to riding pressure, no hand-pumping, no fuss. Click the motor unit into place, and press a button on the Bluetooth-linked paddle.
Once on the water, a gentle press on the paddle’s thumb control wakes the built-in 300-watt jet drive. It doesn’t turn the board into a speedboat, but it gives you an effortless push, just perfect for fighting wind or current, or simply cruising farther without strain.
The motor cuts out automatically if you drop the paddle or lose balance, and the companion app shows speed, battery level, and GPS position.
BMW pulled some strings
BMW was involved in designing the motor, propeller, and battery system. The board has a flexible energy system: battery modules are swappable in a few simple steps.
The base configuration is two 90 Wh modules (with approx. 1-3.5 h range), and from Spring 2026, an option of two 180 Wh modules promising a range of 3 to 7 hours.
BMW also designed the user interface (UI) built into the paddle, using Bluetooth remote control for activating the drive, an interface inspired by the BMW ‘Neue Klasse’ design language. There’s also a smartphone app which allows route planning, battery monitoring, and GPS tracking.
Under-board LED lighting
And you can add more cool stuff. BMW created an innovative mounting system on the e-SUP: multiple click and connect points for accessories like cameras, speakers, drinks bottles, waterproof bags, or even cool boxes.
And the icing on the cake is cool blue under-board LED ambient lighting for visibility at dusk, the same kind of feature you see on modern luxury yachts or premium motorboats today: soft ambient illumination that creates a glow under or around the ‘hull’.
If this has whetted your appetite for the new watersports season, hurry over to the BMW Lifestyle online store, select SipaBoards retailers, and bmw.sipaboards.com, where you can order the eSUP starting at €3,990.
Drawn to the sea
Although the closest sea to BMW’s hometown, Munich, is the Adriatic, at about 400 km away, it is roughly a 5½-hour drive, the carmaker has a long history with water.
It was once a renowned tech partner in the prestigious America’s Cup sailing race. It won the 33rd edition in 2010 with the BMW ORACLE Racing sailing boat, a multihull trimaran with a rigid wingsail.
BMW contributed high-tech automotive engineering: for example, virtual simulation tools (CFD, aerodynamics), composite structure methods, lightweight design, and high-load analysis.
The syndicate dates back to the early 2000s: the partnership between BMW and Oracle Racing started around 2002. The team owner was Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation. He is one of America’s most prosperous, even overtaking Elon Musk at some time in history, but is now estimated to have a net worth of over $393 billion in September 2025.
Fully electric foiling yacht
In 2023, BMW made another remarkable ‘water’ debut as BMW’s Designworks studio worked with German electric boat builder Tyde to develop a fully electric luxury 14-meter day cruiser called ‘The Open’.
That one is a slightly bigger watercraft than today’s eSUP, a 13.15 m battery-electric foiling yacht which uses BMW i high-voltage batteries. It is rated for a top speed of up to 30 to 33 knots and has a 50 nautical mile range at service speed, propelled by twin 100 kW motors and a 240 kWh battery pack.
