Why it matters to you
We’ve seen hydrofoil surfboards before, but never like this one, which has an electric motor to do the work for us.
The world may not be ready for the level of cool that is this electric surfboard. Meet the new eFoil from Puerto Rico-based company Lift Foils. It’s an electric-powered hydrofoil surfboard, or in layman’s terms, a flying surfboard. So if you thought surfing couldn’t get any more dope, think again.
The eFoil depends upon a submerged hydrofoil to lift the actual board of the surfboard completely out of the water when you’re going at speed. And what’s more, these boards actually have an electric motor in the hydrofoil itself so that you can just ride the water without actually doing any work. Think of it as an electric skateboard, but instead of shredding pavement, you’re shredding the glassy surface of the water.
eFoil’s battery packs quite a punch at two kilowatt hours, and it ought to get you a solid 45 minutes of hang time. Recharging the battery is also relatively speedy at two and a half hours.
Riders control the eFoil electric hydrofoil surfboard by way of a wireless handheld controller, which is connected to the board by Bluetooth. And if you drop it, don’t worry — as long as you’re not in the midst of any treacherous waves, you should be able to find the controller just fine as it’s designed to float above the water’s surface.
Capable of reaching top speeds of up to 25 miles per hour, the eFoil board comes in two sizes: the standard E1 eFoil and the E1 Sport model. “The standard eFoil is more stable with the bigger deck, while the smaller board is more nimble and turns quicker,” Lift Foils founder Nick Leason told New Atlas. No matter which model you choose, you can select from four colors — carbon black, carbon free, carbon blue, and carbon purple.
Despite the steep $12,000 price tag, the waitlist for this new age surfboard is already threatening to outpace production capacity. Lift Foils will begin producing these boards in September, and volume is expected to increase in October.
“We’ll be scaling up production one step at a time, and I’m currently bringing on additional suppliers for each of the components and we’ll continue to scale up production across 2018 in preparation for manufacturing a broader range in 2019,” said Leason. “The aim is to have a couple of different price points and a couple of boards with different construction materials. I’m hoping for a linear growth in our production capacity over the next few years.”