After honing its craft on land, Brooklyn-based Tarform is looking to drop the fast, exhilarating spirit of its Luna electric motorcycle into the water. It takes its cue from the manta rays that have been gliding through oceans for millions of years in designing a water toy that's as much a piece of art as it is a sporty, zero-emissions ride. The Raye PWC takes on the form of a piece of molten metal poured and cooled into a sleek, slippery vessel with up to 120 hp on tap.
If the name doesn't tip you off immediately, the Raye's sea life inspiration shines through in virtually every square inch of its surface – the wide, creased nose, the eye-like front lights, the smooth, natural curves throughout, and the tail-like design of the seat. After laying eyes on it, we thought for sure it was merely a design rendering with no future on actual water, but Tarform does in fact plan to bring it to life. It notes the current iteration is in the conceptual stage, though, and the production version may ultimately change in appearance and spec.
For now, plans call for an all-electric water jet propulsion system that offers immediate torque and acceleration up to a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h). Tarform will release two different power/range variants, offering between 70 and 120 hp and one to two hours of battery runtime.
The Raye will also carry over intelligent features from the Luna motorcycle, gaining the same style of circular digital display, integrated sensors, machine learning and over-the-air updates. The Luna uses a round 3.4-in display with 4G connectivity to inform users of driving metrics and maintenance diagnostics while connecting them to cloud services.
Tarform plans to offer the Raye with buyer's choice of recycled carbon fiber or plant-based composite bodywork. It estimates price at a cool US$68,000 but points out that a launch timeframe has not been set. It took a little over three years and a stutter start for the first Luna motorcycles to arrive in driveways, so we'll see if the Raye follows a similar trajectory.
The video below takes a quick one-minute journey from live manta to electrified Raye.
Source: Tarform
