Boat of the Week: Meet the Lightning-Fast Electric Catamaran That Just Shattered a Speed Record

ROBB REPORT - September 2, 2022 - JULIA ZALTZMAN

More important than the 109-mph record was an electric boat streaking by thousands of fans. It gave electric power instant street cred on the water.

Ten years ago, electric boats were mostly tiny barges that puttered for an hour around the marina. In the last year, they’ve moved fairly aggressively into the sportboat world, with dozens of new brands.

Earlier this week, a 32-ft. power catamaran blew past a crowd of thousands at 109 mph. That not only gave electric boats a spot in the high performance record books, but shattered the notion that electric vessels are all slow boats to China.

The Hellkat Powerboats V32 racing cat, designed to handle Vision Marine’s battery packs and twin 180-hp electric outboards, has rewritten the rules of electric boating, or at least enhanced its reputation in the larger boating world. Having five-time UIM champion and current F1 H20 World Champion Shaun Torrente at the helm certainly helped the V32’s record-breaking prospects.

The run took place at the annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, a bragging-rights event in go-fast circles, that attracts 100,000 spectators along with dozens of high-performance racers attempting to set new speed records. Each boat runs the three-quarter-mile course for a shot at glory.

On its first attempt

The V32 hit 104 mph but reached an even faster 109 mph on the second run. It shattered the previous 88-mph record set by Jaguar with its Vector V20E back in 2008. Torrente called the event “an amazing experience to push the boundaries of what people thought was impossible.”

The boat, called V32, was driven by Shaun Torrente, one of the most important personalities in Formula 1 boats. The boat has total measures of 9.75 meters in length and is equipped with 2 E-Motion 180E Electric outboard motors. It is, therefore, a structure that had some of the most outstanding technologies on the market. This, together with a hull produced with the lightest materials on the market, made it possible to obtain a record that is still an object of astonishment in the sector.