Diplo's Electric Slide!

🏄🏾‍♂️ Diplo’s Electric (Boat) Slide

We are GenXers at the eBoat Newsletter. So, who is Diplo?

Diplo (Thomas Wesley Pentz) is a Grammy-winning DJ-producer behind Major Lazer, Jack Ü, Silk City, and LSD, and the founder of Mad Decent (we don’t know any of these artists either).

Last week he dropped into a wakesurf set with pro wakesurfer Austin Keen behind the Arc Sport electric wake boat for a new Celebrity Surf Series episode. Keen interviews Diplo while he rides—something a gas wake boat cannot pull off because engine noise drowns out conversation.

The platform matters. Arc Sport brings a 226 kWh pack and about 500 hp in a 23-foot hull with seating for 15 and a three-tab surf system. Instant torque sets the wave clean, no tailpipe fumes hang over the swim deck, and the crew can talk at normal levels. That is a new template for on-water content.

Diplo’s reach gives the clip weight: about 7 million followers on Instagram and 2.3 million on X. When creators at that scale show up on eBoats, more people see the benefits in a single scroll than a month of dock-talk. That exposure moves adoption.

Keen’s series taps culture and sport in the same frame—past guests include names like Steve-O and Grant Cardone—so a quiet, conversation-first session behind an EV boat lands in front of audiences that do not follow marine tech. That is how new tech crosses the wakesurf rope and enters the mainstream.

Watch the session here: Link

⚙️ eTugboat Collaboration Announced

The Port of Los Angeles sits at the center of a shift. Arc, the Los Angeles electric boat builder, has a $160 million contract with Curtin Maritime to deliver eight hybrid-electric ship-assist tugboats, with Snow & Co as the shipyard partner. The companies describe the order as the largest commercial deployment of electric workboats to date, with the first four tugs slated before the end of 2027.

Arc’s boats target the core demands of harbor assist. Each tug carries more than 4,000 hp of electric propulsion and about 6 MWh of batteries, sized for typical port jobs and rated for roughly 60 tonnes of bollard pull. The design includes a small diesel generator for backup and extended range, but the system runs electric-first and will pair with megawatt-class shore charging in Los Angeles. Arc says the economics stand on their own, without subsidies.+1

This deal follows Arc’s push into workboats through a truckable tug retrofit with Diversified Marine. That pilot brought electric towage to Arc’s home port and set up the engineering, controls, and service stack behind a commercial fleet. The Curtin order expands that playbook from one vessel to a series build in a high-tempo harbor.

Ports need the shift. California’s Commercial Harbor Craft rule phases in tougher standards through the early 2030s and calls for zero-emission options where feasible. Early electric tugs show the impact. Crowley’s eWolf in San Diego carries a 6.2 MWh battery, replaces heavy diesel burn, and cuts nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and CO₂ over a ten-year window, backed by shore charging infrastructure at the berth. These programs reduce fuel costs and improve air near neighborhoods that sit next to terminals.

Arc’s move lands in a market with scale and growth. Analysts peg the tugboat market at about $1.26 billion in 2025 with growth toward $2.24 billion by 2032. Other estimates track a climb from roughly $533 million in 2024 to about $1.11 billion by 2032. In the United States, the workboat backbone includes nearly 4,000 tugboats and towboats with tens of thousands of barges, and more than 1,700 dedicated tug-type workboats in earlier counts. Harbor assist remains a steady service with short runs, high torque, and predictable duty cycles that fit batteries.

Performance parity has arrived. Sanmar and Robert Allan Ltd. field ElectRA-series battery tugs with 1.8–5.3 MWh packs and 70-ton bollard pull for ship-assist missions in Canada, Türkiye, and Europe. Crowley’s eWolf shows similar pull and transit speeds with ABB drives and Corvus batteries. Arc’s specs match that envelope, and vertical integration on powertrains points to fewer vendors, tighter controls, and faster iteration across a fleet.

The case for the Arc–Curtin collaboration is simple. Tugboats rack up fuel and maintenance under brutal loads, yet they work within a small radius and return to the dock between jobs. Batteries crush that profile. Electric drive gives instant torque, fine control near hulls and quay walls, and silent hotel loads while crews stage for the next assist. Shore charging slots into idle windows. Operators bank lower energy costs, less time in overhaul, and a cleaner deck. Regulators get measurable cuts in pollutants at the fence line. Shipowners get faster, steadier berthing and unberthing. A single $160 million fleet order signals that the sector has moved from pilots to procurement. As more ports build megawatt charging and as builders standardize hulls and drivetrains, this model scales from Los Angeles to every harbor that moves boxships, tankers, and bulkers.

Arc’s story began with fast electric runabouts. The new chapter sits at a tow bitt with a line under strain. Eight tugs on one contract turn an idea into infrastructure, and infrastructure reshapes a market. The wake from this deal will run across the marine sector.

Read Arc Boat’s blog post on this collaboration, here.

🏄🏾‍♂️ XFoil Escape - Crowdfunding

XFoil’s Escape e-foil is live on Kickstarter with an entry pledge of US$2,999 from PLX Devices in Fremont, California, the team behind XFoil 1 and XFoil 2. As of September 14, 2025, independent tracking shows US$392,647 pledged on a US$20,000 goal; campaign window Sep 2–Oct 17.

Key hardware stats: brushless AC 6,000W drive; 67.2V system; Standard Range 888Wh pack rated 60 min; Long Range 1,776Wh pack rated 120 min. The company also lists Gen2 “performance” packs at 1,184Wh (80 min) and 2,368Wh (160 min).

Battery construction details include aluminum enclosures, IP67–IP68 claims by model, 200A connectors, and listed weights of 6.4 kg (888Wh) and 11.5 kg (1,776Wh). Charger options show 300W and 600W units with active cooling and 110–230VAC input.

Visit the crowdfunding page, here.

🌊 Social Media Post of the Week

Keeping with the quiet theme of this issue, here is what 40 mph sounds like on the water.

🖌️ Weekly Scan of News, Events, and Promotions

• Wärtsilä → 2 all-electric high-speed ferries (Molslinjen): Incat-built catamarans to use integrated electric propulsion with waterjets. Great proof-point for fast e-ferries. (Link)

• Candela eyes Brisbane River water taxis: Talks to bring wake-free P-12 hydrofoil shuttles to Brisbane; aligns with city opening new river pontoons. (Link)

• ePropulsion GR63 Eco-Catamaran revealed: Luxury e-cat now fully built/operational; formal debut “in the coming months.” (Link)

• Flux Marine demo: Highfield Sport 660 with Flux outboard shown at Steelpointe Yacht & Boat Show. (Link)

• ZeroJet expands in France: New sales/service partnership with Pochon. (Link)

• Mercury Avator (U.S.): Up to US$750 back on 7.5e / 20e / 35e through Sep 30, 2025 (U.S. residents only). (Link)

• eFoil promo (Awake): Bundle deal Sep 9–15—buy RÄVIK Ultimate Jetboard System, unlock VINGA Ultimate LR eFoil for €3,990 / $4,990. (Link)