Porsche and Frauscher launch second electric sports boat version

Last year in October, we wrote that it “sits and feels like a Porsche, is utterly powerful, and blazing fast on the water, yet silent as a sailing boat, but it will cost you more than twice the price of the most expensive Taycan”: the Frauscher x Porsche 850 ‘eFantom’ Air. Now it gets a closed-foredeck version with a day cabin, Porsche-Frauscher’s second model.

After the open eFantom, named the best electric boat in November 2024 in the prestigious Best of Boats Award, the closed version Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom is now available as part of the limited First Edition of 25 units. It will have its world premiere in January 2025 at Boot Düsseldorf, the world’s largest indoor water sports fair.

Costing an arm and a leg

Like the first one, it will cost you an arm and a leg, starting at €572,934. It is manufactured at the Frauscher shipyard in Ohlsdorf, Upper Austria. Porsche supplies the 100 kWh high-voltage battery installed under the rear lounge deck and the drive system; the permanently excited synchronous motor can deliver up to 400 kW, including the control unit, as pre-assembled modules.

The basic technology is ported from Porsche’s most powerful variant of its all-electric SUV, the rear-axle engine of the Macan Turbo, which is directly controlled via a Z-drive. Porsche says the control units are housed in a waterproof box emblazoned with the Porsche logo.

Four driving modes

“State-of-the-art power electronics optimize the motor’s efficiency, and the use of silicon carbide in the pulse inverter enables particularly high switching frequencies.” The boat has four driving modes: Docking, Range, Sport, and Sport Plus.

The maximum speed in Sport Plus mode is 49 knots, or approximately 90 km/hour, but this will not take you far. Even at cruising speed—22 kn or 41 km/h—the range is limited to 45 km. When you keep it ‘civilized’ in Range mode, the battery allows a range of up to 100 km. Charging can be done at up to 270 kW (DC) – if available – or at 11 kW AC at its dock.

Energy efficiency

Electric boats tend to be much heavier than their diesel-equipped siblings, just like cars, due to the heavy battery. The eFantom has a dry weight of 2,800 kg, which comes at a cost in actual range on the water.

However, since electric boats often have a direct drive system where energy from the battery is converted almost directly to propulsion, energy efficiency is greatly increased, up to 90%+, resulting in less energy lost in the propulsion process and less cost per nautical mile.

Porsche already proposed collaborating with Austrian boat builder Frauscher in 2021 on a fully electric sports boat. Porsche initially considered electrifying Frauscher’s 1017 GT, a 9.99 m-long speedboat typically powered by two 430 bhp engines with a 520-liter fuel tank.

But this is a sea-going sports boat, and with its size, it would need a dual battery pack powertrain. Still, the range wouldn’t be enough to cover the sort of distance that users of larger powerboats want to do.

Up to seven passengers

Eventually, Porsche engineers and designers got a blank cheque to convert the 8,67-meter-long Frauscher’s 858 Fantom Air with a classic 430 hp MerCruiser 8.2 liter V8 inboard combustion engine into a state-of-the-art electric water toy.

Both electric versions are 8.67 meters long and 2.49 meters wide, offering enough space for up to seven passengers. This version has a closed foredeck, a classic look, a cabin under the bow, and a center helm with seating and lounging options on the bow as well.

The first of the 25 limited series, which will be presented at Boot Dusseldorf, is painted in the Porsche color Oakgreen Metallic Neo and equipped with padding in Truffle Brown with stitching package 930 in Orange.