Nestled in the fjords of Norway a quiet Norwegian electric boat motor company
posted an understated, yet outrageous claim on its website - that they had a
boat capable of doing 60+ knots. Most watercraft can barely manage half of
that, and yet this company claimed to have done it, and had it built in 2021 -
almost two years from present day, when most electric boat startups were
floating in the ether of the founders imaginations.
I immediately picked up the phone and dialed the number listed on their
website. “Halo” in Norwegian, said a man name Trond, who happened to be their sales manager.
Yes he confirmed, the boat could in fact do 60 knots, and they would be in Amsterdam in 3 weeks, and would
Goldfish X9, with Evoy Hurricane Inboard
like to come and meet them there?
I immediately booked a flight - wanting to believe their claim, but also slightly
skeptical since I had only ever heard of gas powered boats with multiple engines
and over 1000hp be able to reach that kind of speed.
Three weeks later, I met with Trond at the Hybrid Electric Marine Expo in Amsterdam, and asked if I could test this wonder boat, and film it for the Aqua Lectric YouTube Channel. Karete, their marketing manager arranged for me to film the boat the following week in Oslo. Standing on the walkway in Aker Brygge, the waterfront district of Oslo, I spotted the Goldfish X9 instantly.
On the water in the X9
It’s relatively long 9.5 meter hull, sitting low in the water buoyed by its inflatable
gunnels, gave off a much different impression than the electric boats I had seen
before. The majority of electric boats up until this point were made to troll
around harbors in calm waters. Something the family could jump on and
leisurely enjoy an afternoon slow cruising around the local canals or harbors.
But this was different. It sat there, oozing capability and almost yearning to be
taken offshore in some rough waters allowing it to do what it was built to do:
navigate the rough coastal waters of Norway.
The first day Evoy’s sales manager Tomas took me out in the X9. Once we got
away from the Harbor in Oslo, he opened it up. From about 10 knots, he
smoothly pressed the throttle to the maximum forward position. The boat let out
a muffled but powerful mechanical roar and the boat surged forward with a force
I have never felt before on a boat. The initial push felt like it had triple outboards
on the transom instead of a single outdrive. I was pressed against the backrest,
X9’s duel displays with battery and range indicators
and within seconds water was whipping by us on both sides. A quick glance at
the plotter read 55 knots, after jumping up to that speed in 10 knot increments
as the electronics failed to keep up with the acceleration. He throttle back,
made a turn and punched it again in the opposite direction. I immediately
noticed how stable the boat is at high speed. The length, combined with the
extremely low center of gravity, and the weight and balance of the battery pack
makes the boat extremely poised in turns, and downright immobile during high
speed straight runs. The boat seems to love speed, and just devoured the small
chop inside the fjord near Oslo no matter how much throttle we gave.
I was there to film an episode, and so we came to a stop and launched the
drone. Capturing the arial shots with the drone was a challenge, because
although it can fly 20 kts, the boat at a slow cruise kept wanting to walk away
quite easily, and so I was constantly asking Thomas to turn the boat back
around so I could pick it up again in the camera.
The gold fish gets its immense speed from a 300kw motor coupled to two 400v
batteries wired in series to delivery 800v to the motor. The higher voltage allows
weight savings by using thinner cabling throughout the boat.
The X9 hull is made of composite material featuring multi-axial glass matts to
give it an incredible strength to weigh ratio.
Partnering with Goldfish, a staple Norwegian boat builder resulted in an
incredibly capable boat. The Norwegian police use the gas version of the X9 as
their response boats. The downsides to this boat are the same that plague any current electric boat: range. At cruising speed, this boat can deliver about 25 nautical miles, or 46 kilometers. Surprisingly, the boat delivers the exact same range at 35 knots as it does at 25 knots, likely owing to the efficient hull design, and propulsion system. Nevertheless, I love this boat. Its hard to describe why, but the best I can do is to say that it makes me dream of the possibilities. The boat screams action. It makes me want to get out and do. With such a machine, anything is possible. It’s like the tough friend you take with you for backup into the unknown, because if you get into trouble you know it can get you out of it again. Electric harbor cruisers are nice, but they don’t inspire the way this boat does.
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