BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Members at the Champlain Fleet Club climb aboard, to experience a new kind of boat.
“Oh I think electric is great. Oh that boat looks fantastic, I would definitely give it a try,” said Champlain fleet club Member Matt Bieber.
Matt Bieber has been a member with the Champlain Fleet Club for many years, and he enjoys taking advantage of the boat use on the weekend with his family.
When he heard the fleet club could be going electric, “he thought what a great idea.”
I work for a company that does battery electric generators, cars, everything. So I think boating is kinda the next evolution. Plus you save a lot of time not having to go and pump gas,” said Bieber.
The boat is called the X-Shore Eleex 8000. It came all the way from Sweden.
It’s made from fiberglass and carbon fiber and can be fully charged overnight.
The boat on full charge lasts about two hours. The company X-Shore is hoping to have more of their boats in Vermont over the next few years.
“Burlington just makes a lot of sense for a whole lot of reasons. One is you guys just have incredibly clean energy production. There is a lot of focus on just the environment and being conscientious,” said X-Shore Cri Boratenski
Co-owner of the fleet club Philip Scott says if they decide to take on the Eleex 8000. They hope it can save more money for their members with gas prices being so high.
The fleet club wants to be the first to have an electric boat on Lake champlain.
“Since there is no motor, it’s purely electric. It is very environmentally friendly, and very quiet. We still have some concerns about how often or how quickly we can charge the boat. Because under our model, boats are going out constantly every day. Multiple users are taking the boats out,” explained Scott.
The Champlain fleet club is not sure when they are going to be adding the boat to the rest of the boats they have on the marina. But the owners say they would love to hear from their members about what they think of the idea.