Water lovers with a few thousand dollars in their pockets rejoice. A Quebecer has just created an electric board that offers all the advantages of a boat, “without the disadvantages”.
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Audric Hartmann Karsenti is a 34-year-old athlete from Abitibi. Lakes, he knows them. He sailed some, younger, with his friends, during days of wakeboarding on a rented boat that burns $500 of gasoline in the time to say it.
He studied mechanical engineering, but went into business after college. E-surf Sport is the second company of Audric Hartmann Karsenti, a kind of homecoming for this lifelong handyman.
PIERRE-PAUL POULIN/THE MONTREAL JOURNAL/QMI AGENCY
“It’s fun, but it’s expensive, a boat. Worse, it pollutes our lakes”, believes this hyperactive entrepreneur who has worked 110 hours a week since the launch of his second company, E-surf Sport, in 2021.
The adopted Montrealer enjoyed the water every day this year, balancing on the board he designed himself. Minus the pollution, it returns to childhood each time it speeds up to 55 km/h on the river.
“I’m going to Verdun beach, it’s really fun,” says the 34-year-old mechanical engineer with a smile.
With the battery, which fits in the middle of the board, the whole thing weighs 41 kilos (90 pounds).
Screenshot from a promotional video of E-surf Sport
Best of the best
The Race-X, which he designed in 2020, is his company’s only product. Made of carbon fiber, it houses a motor, an axial turbine and weighs 20 kilos. The lithium-ion battery – another 21 kilos – comes from Sony.
“We choose the best materials, we don’t want something cheap,” the engineer-entrepreneur cannot help repeating.
Its team of 10 employees manufactures the boards in a small industrial premises in Rosemont, where offices and computers are piled up as well as tools and materials.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars have flowed out of his pocket since the start, enough to buy and maintain a nice big boat.
“12 months ago I convinced three partners to invest their time and money in the business. They believe in it, they help me with accounting, marketing, lots of business. But we still need investors,” he admits candidly.
At a retail price of $14,950, the Race-X comes with a battery, charger and wheeled carry bag. The board is so “compact”, insists its inventor, that you can easily fit two of them into a small car.
screenshot from an E-surf Sport promotional video
That will be $15,000 plus tax please
Objective: to sell 100 Race-X by the end of the summer at a price of $14,950, battery and charger included.
“It is a unique and innovative product. We developed everything here. We manufacture 100% here”, enthuses the inventor, eager to follow in the footsteps of Armand Bombardier.
Bike, motocross, mountain bike, car: our roads are already electric. With his board of almost 100 pounds, Audric Hartmann Karsenti wants to electrify our water.
“When you do, you want to do more. It’s relaxing, and at the same time it’s exercise, “he says on 220.
A boat easily costs $15,000 a year to maintain, argues the man who left Abitibi in 2007 to study engineering in Quebec. Whether you have one or not, he has taken it upon himself to cobble together an alternative – without gas – with the sweat of his brow.