I got soaked driving the Arc Sport electric boat

i didn’t go CES 2025 Aiming to soak in the cold January waters of Lake Mead. But when I discovered that Los Angeles-based boat startup Ark was bringing its new sport boat to Las Vegas, I thought it was worth the risk. It was.

The Arc Sport was a joy to drive, even for a 30-minute outing to a choppy lake. It steered like a heavy jet ski – the weight helped it feel stable. I’ve driven plenty of heavy electric cars, trucks and SUVs where the weight felt like a drag. In this case, I am happy to have a little allowance below us.

Like its boats, Ark moved quickly as a startup. Arkwhich was founded by former SpaceX engineers, Came out of hiding in 2021 With backing from Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Saker from LowerCarbon Capital. It raised a $30 million Series A a few months later, led by Eclipse Ventures partner and former Tesla executive Greg Richo. The startup shipped its first $300,000 Arc One boat in early 2023, raising another $70 million the same yearAnd the $258,000 Arc Sport is ready to go.

Keeping up with that momentum, Ark delivered its first sport boat to a customer late last year. It’s a “really fast development time,” founder and CEO Mitch Lee told TechCrunch as we zipped around Lake Mead. And that was only possible because, according to Lee, Ark took the time to learn how to build the limited-run One Boat before moving forward with a slightly more mass appeal.

“Ark one for us was this [Tesla] Roadster. The first step was, let’s build this boat. Let’s do it on a small scale, and we learn from what it’s like to put these boats in the field with customers,” he told TechCrunch in an interview in November. “We have now passed the boats through the hurricane. We launched the boat in 95 degree water. These lessons are incredibly valuable.”

When I arrived, Lee was shivering in the winter wind beside Lake Mead, but clearly happy to show off the Ark Sport and what it can do. We climbed aboard and hit the water.

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

However, there are some elements that may surprise people. There was a Tesla-style horizontal touchscreen with smart, fluid software that didn’t scream “legacy manufacturer.” A second screen sat behind the helm wheel, showing speed, battery level and a view from the front-facing camera.

Sport is much quieter than a typical gas boat. It is not silent. I can still hear the motors working under our feet; But Lee, his two colleagues and another journalist on board were easy to listen to. It wasn’t much louder than the wind and wake noise that was thrown behind us – a distinguishing feature of Ark’s boats compared to hydrofoil-based electric boat startups.

When you combine this with other quality-of-life improvements the Sport offers over some other gas competitors – like no fumes, powerful software that updates over-the-air, twin thrusters that make the boat easy to maneuver and park, a Strong awnings that offer little protection from the elements, and the lack of winterization required – explain why watersports enthusiasts may pay a premium for this boat.

Boating doesn’t have to be difficult. The real learning curve comes from knowing how to navigate and behave in the water. Sporting an empty Lake Mead, even in choppy water, was no challenge. Put one hand on the wheel, lift the lock on the throttle knob and push it forward to enjoy 500 horsepower.

The 226 kWh battery pack kept the boat planted and helped make quick pivots on the relatively short 23-foot frame as I turned the wheel. These turns were the most fulfilling part of the wind and chop experience. Sure enough, the waves splashed 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 that much fun.

On the way back to the dock, toweling off, it was hard not to notice the degradation of Lake Mead. A powerful combination of seemingly endless drought and human activity has reduced the reservoir to just 27% of its total capacity, according to NASA. In every direction I could see where the water line was, a phenomenon conventionally known mentioned As “bathtub rings”.

That has a direct impact on boaters who use the lake for recreation – exactly the kind of people Lee hopes to sell to. Lake Mead has had to close several boat launches and ramps over the past few years. According to the National Park Serviceand expand those that remain to reach the new, lower level of the lake.

I didn’t ask him if freshwater lake evaporation is a risk to the Ark’s addressable market – that’s a scary idea I’ll be sure to bring up next time. What I do know is that Lee says his goal is to have every vessel switch to electric. That includes looking beyond power sports, even into government and defense — a concept that seed investor Andreessen Horowitz is quite fond of these days.

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

“We can’t afford to get distracted too soon, because if we do, we will fail as a company,” he said. “The reason we’ve been able to develop Arc Sport so quickly is because of the work we’ve done on Arc One. I could go down this long list of all the carryovers and IPs, but the same thing applies to moving into the commercial, government sector, and our desire as a business certainly carries that. We are not ready to discuss anything there yet.”