{"id":40291,"date":"2023-01-13T09:03:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T14:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=40291"},"modified":"2023-01-13T09:03:49","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T14:03:49","slug":"ex-tesla-exec-starts-electric-solar-speedboat-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=40291","title":{"rendered":"Former Tesla Exec Launches Solar Electric Boat Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article comes to us courtesy of\u00a0EVANNEX<\/a>, which makes and sells aftermarket Tesla accessories. The opinions expressed therein are not necessarily our own at\u00a0InsideEVs<\/a>, nor have we been paid by\u00a0EVANNEX\u00a0to publish these articles. We find the company’s perspective as an aftermarket supplier of Tesla accessories interesting and are happy to share its content free of charge. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

Posted on<\/span>\u00a0EVANNEX on January 13, 2023,\u00a0by<\/span>\u00a0Charles Morris<\/p>\n

Quite a few former Tesla<\/a> execs have moved on to establish their own EV-related firms (see\u00a0Lucid<\/a>,\u00a0Proterra<\/a>,\u00a0Xcelerate<\/a>, et al). The latest alum to make his mark is John Vo, the former Manufacturing Chief at Tesla, who recently formed a company to manufacture electric boats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Above: Blue Innovation Groups R30 electric boat (Image:\u00a0Blue Innovations Group<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Blue Innovations Group<\/a>\u00a0has established a manufacturing site in Pinellas Park, Florida (part of the St Petersburg\/Tampa Bay metro area). The company demonstrated its hull, propulsion system and user interface at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Its plan is to begin production in October, and to start delivering boats by Q2 2024.<\/p>\n

BIG\u2019s first product, the R30, is a 30-foot electric power boat with dual motors that deliver a combined 800 hp (600 kW), a liquid-cooled 221 kWh battery pack, and extendable solar panels that can deliver up to 2.7 kW of solar power for recharging. Maximum speed is expected to be around 39 knots.<\/p>\n

Mr. Vo plainly means to apply some of the strategies and tactics he learned at Tesla. The R30, which is expected to carry a price tag of around $300,000, is very much a luxury boat, but it sounds like more mass-market models are planned for the future. \u201cTo really impact the environment, you can\u2019t build electric boats by the dozens,\u201d he told\u00a0Electrek<\/a><\/em>. \u201cIt has to be by the thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also spoken of using a structurally integrated battery as part of the boat\u2019s frame, and plans to use an LFP battery chemistry, which should deliver a longer lifespan than NMC or NCA. \u201cSo it\u2019s a little bit bigger battery with slightly lower energy density. I have the space\u2014it\u2019s a boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After Vo left Tesla in 2017, he went to\u00a0Lordstown Motors<\/a>, where he and several other executives drew some unwanted attention from the SEC for illegal short-term stock transactions. \u201cI like to forget about that,\u201d Vo told the\u00a0Tampa Bay Times<\/a><\/em>, adding that he lost $1 million on his investments in Lordstown.<\/p>\n

Vo chose to launch BIG in the Tampa Bay area instead of Silicon Valley because of its boating culture and changing demographics. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m speculating, but I see the transition of technology development in the Tampa area coming from tourists, retirees, and how the people from different geographies are changing the type of economy,\u201d Vo told the Times. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect place to market a boat because people here will buy a boat. And it\u2019s going to be much more competitive with cost of living versus San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in\u00a0Charged<\/a>. Author:\u00a0Charles Morris<\/a>. Sources:\u00a0Electrek<\/a>,\u00a0Electrive<\/a>,\u00a0Tampa Bay Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

===<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article comes to us courtesy of\u00a0EVANNEX, which makes and sells aftermarket Tesla accessories. The opinions expressed therein are not necessarily our own at\u00a0InsideEVs, nor have we been paid by\u00a0EVANNEX\u00a0to publish these articles. We find the company’s perspective as an aftermarket supplier of Tesla accessories interesting and are happy to share its content free of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}