Princeton team sets new electric boat speed record

Princeton University's Electric Speedboat team says it has broken the world speed record for electric boats. An average speed of 114 miles per hour (183 kph) was achieved on Lake Townsend in North Carolina.

Image: Princeton University Electric Speedboating.

A team of over 30 students and graduates from Princeton University in New Jersey worked on the electric speedboat. The electric drive has an output of 147 kW and is built into a customised speedboat chassis.

For the record attempt on Lake Townsend near Greensboro, Team Electric Speedboat had hired John Peeters, an experienced speedboat pilot. Peeters reached a speed of 111 mph on the first, one-kilometre section. For a valid record attempt, he had to turn the boat around and cover the distance in the opposite direction without intermediate loading to eliminate factors such as wind or current. Since he managed this at 117 mph, the average resulted in the new record value of 114 mph or 183 kph.

As the team’s only propeller shaft was damaged during the first record attempt, it remained with the one record attempt on that day. However, the team has already formulated further goals: After the repair, the goal is to break the mark of 120 mph (193 kph).

The previous record of 88.61 mph (143 kph) was set by a Jaguar Vector racing boat in 2018.

powerboat.world, electrek.co