I’ve been immersed in driving the Arc Sport electric boat

I didn’t go to Consumer Electronics Show 2025 Aiming to plunge into the cold waters of Lake Mead in January. But when she found out that Los Angeles-based boating startup Arc was bringing its new sport boat to Las Vegas, she thought it was worth the risk. It was.

The Arc Sport was fun to drive, even on a 30-minute stroll on a choppy lake. It moved like a heavy jet ski, a weight that helped it feel stable. I’ve driven a lot of heavy electric cars, trucks, and SUVs where the weight was a liability. In this case, I was happy to have a little weight underneath us.

Like its boats, Arc moved quickly as a startup. bracketFounded by former SpaceX engineers, He came out of stealth in 2021 Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital. It raised a $30 million Series A a few months later, led by Eclipse Ventures partner and former Tesla executive Greg Reichow. The startup shipped its first Arc One boats worth $300,000 in early 2023, and has collected the last $70 million in the same yearand is slated to run on an Arc Sport worth $258,000.

In keeping with this pace, Arc delivered its first sportboat to a customer late last year. “This is a really fast development time,” founder and CEO Mitch Lee told TechCrunch as we walked around Lake Mead. This was only possible because Ark took the time to learn how to make the one limited-run boat before moving on to something with a little more mass appeal, according to Lee.

“The Arc One for us was that (Tesla) Roadster. The first step was let’s make this boat. Let’s do it on a small scale, and let’s learn what it means to have these boats in the field with customers,” he told TechCrunch in an interview. In November “We’ve had boats going through hurricanes now. The boats have been launched on water as hot as 95 degrees. These lessons are incredibly valuable.”

When I arrived, Lee was shivering in the winter breeze next to Lake Mead, but clearly still happy to show off the Arc Sport and what it can do. We boarded the ship and hit the water.

It’s an impressive boat even before you step on the throttle. The fit and finish on the boat I sampled, which was still technically a production-purpose vehicle, was eye-catching, especially since CES isn’t known as a place for polished prototypes.

However, there are elements that might make people wonder. There was a Tesla-style horizontal touchscreen with smart, smooth software that didn’t scream “old manufacturer.” There’s a second screen behind the steering wheel at the helm, showing speed, battery level and a view from the front camera.

The Sport is quieter than a typical gas boat. It’s not silent. I can still hear the engine running beneath our feet; But it was easy to hear Lee, his colleagues and another journalist on the plane. It was no louder than the wind and its wake as it whipped up behind us, a hallmark of Arc Boats compared to many other hydrofoil electric boat startups.

When you combine that with the other quality of life improvements the Sport offers over some other gas-powered competitors – like no fumes, powerful software that updates over the air, dual thrusters that make it easier to turn and park the boat, a rigid canopy that lowers for protection from the elements, and no… The need to prepare for the winter – it is logical that water sports enthusiasts will pay a high price for this boat.

Boating is not necessarily difficult to drive. The real learning curve comes from knowing how to navigate and behave on the water. Driving the SUV on empty Lake Mead, even in choppy water, was no challenge. Put your hand on the wheel, lift the lock on the throttle handle, and push it forward for 500 horsepower of fun.

The 226-kilowatt-hour battery pack kept the boat planted, and also helped the relatively short 23-foot frame make quick pivots while I turned the wheel. These turns were the most dangerous part of the experience with the wind and chop. Sure enough, we got slapped by a wave, splashing us with the icy blue water that the Colorado River supplies to Lake Mead.

It was worth it, though. Everyone should be able to have a lot of fun.

On the way back to the dock, as I was toweling off, it was hard not to notice the draining of Lake Mead. A powerful combination of seemingly endless drought and human activity has reduced the reservoir level to just 27% of its total capacity, according to NASA. In every direction I could see where the water line was, a phenomenon known colloquially indicated Known as the “Bathtub Ring”.

This has had a direct impact on boaters who use the lake recreationally — exactly the type of people Lee hopes to sell to. Lake Mead has had to close many boat launches and ramps over the past few years. According to the National Park Serviceand extend the remainder in order to reach the newer, lower level of the lake.

I didn’t ask him whether the evaporation of freshwater lakes poses a risk to Arc’s target market – that’s a bleak idea I’ll be sure to bring up next time. What I do know is that Lee said his goal is for every watercraft to convert to electric. This includes looking beyond extreme sports, and perhaps even to government and defense – an idea that fundamental investor Andreessen Horowitz loves these days.

When I asked Lee about this in November, he demurred, but left the door open.

“We cannot afford to get distracted too early, because if we do, we will fail as a company,” he said. “The reason we were able to develop Arc Sport so quickly is because of the work we did on Arc One. I could go on this long list of all the migrations and intellectual property, but the same goes for commercially, going into government sectors, and certainly our aspirations “As a company moving into that, we’re not quite ready to discuss anything there yet.”