Last September, Canada's Taiga Motors hit the water with a sexy US$24,000 carbon-bodied electric Jet Ski named the Orca. Now the company has put two more models up for pre-order, with prices starting at $15,000.
For that price tag you're looking at the two-person Orca Sport edition, which features plastic composite construction and is the lightest of the bunch at 242 kg (533 lb). It has a 90-kW Taiga Radix powertrain for a top speed of 90 km/h (56 mph) and its 20-kWh battery is reckoned good for up to 50 km (31 mi) of per charge range at 45 km/h. It comes with a 6.6-kW charger for a 3-hour charge time, but can be optioned up to a 9.9-kW flavor that will shave an hour off, and it can be made DC fast-charge capable too, which will top up the batteries in 30 minutes.
Adding another $2,500 to the starting price will get you the Performance edition. Again rocking a plastic composite hull, but weighing in at 267 kg (588 lb), this model shares the bigger battery and more powerful direct drive electric impeller of the now renamed Orca Carbon. That translates to 130-kW of grunt, a top speed of 104 km/h (65 mph) and a 25-kWh battery for up to 60 km (37 mi) of range at 45 km/h. Though this model is also a two person watercraft, it can be optioned up for three.
"Orca is the result of years of testing with hundreds of users across lakes, rivers, and oceans to provide the best possible riding experience," said the company in a press release. "The advanced plastic composite hull construction and compact design has enabled a lightweight watercraft that can accelerate to plane faster than any other PWC while remaining efficient and agile."
All three models in the range are 3.1 m (10.1 ft) long and 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide, have 57 liters (15 gal) of storage to the front, and there's a 7-inch HD color display front and center, GPS speed and mapping, and LTE/Wi-Fi firmware updates. Bluetooth connectivity, user configurable power/acceleration/speed modes, and a brake and reverse system round out the given specs – though the Performance and Carbon editions also cater for user-operated trim adjustment.
The Sport and Performance Orcas are currently up for pre-order in a choice of three colors, with deliveries set to start in the (northern) summer of 2021. The video below from last year shows the kind of fun you can now have for less.
Source: Taiga Motors
