Electric paddle boats are a wonderful way to experience the beauty of the outdoors and being on the water in perfect leisure. There are many people who love rowing and other forms of exercise on the water. But there are also many who don’t want the effort. A relaxing time on the water should be that just – relaxing! That’s where electric paddle boats are perfect. Electric paddle boats are easy to set up and take care of – no complicated maintenance! They don’t require messy fuel, since they are fully electric. The motor is built in, and the simple controls are located right between the two seats, so either of you can be the captain. The boat is so simple to control that even a child can do it, and the seats adjust for maximum comfort. No matter how short or tall you are, taking an electric paddle boat on the water will be simple and stress-free. You can still paddle if you want to – but now, you don’t have to!

If you consider that any recreational small craft was a predecessor to the eventual creation of the paddle boat, the history of electric paddle boats can go all the way back to the last two decades of the 19^th century.  It was around this time that the first great round of experimentation with electric vehicle innovation took place.  Before the world knew about gas or the internal combustion engine, people tried to make vehicles that could run on electricity.

For rich thrill seekers, there were even individual small craft available that could comfortable seat 2-5 people.  These were not well known and most of them were notoriously unreliable.  The best of them were only trusted on small segments of shallow rivers so that in the case of breakdowns or capsizing the inhabitants could easily swim to shore.

The first actual electric paddle boat by today’s standards would likely have been created in the 1970s or 1980s however.  The 1970s was a time of innovation due to the necessity brought on by the oil shocks in that decade, but the 1980s saw people experimenting with electric vehicles that had not been tried in the previous decade.

The first real affordable electric paddle boats were created in this decade however and even then there is still work to be done on bringing the prices down.

As far as functionality is concerned, you can get an electric paddle boat today that is way better than any combustion-based boat of the same kind.  This is because people that want engines on their paddle boats are people that want something that is easy to start in case they don’t feel like paddling anymore.  For that particular purpose, electric engines are better than combustion engines.  That is why electric paddle boats are already highly functional in their particular niche market.

When you take a look at the cost effectiveness of an electric paddle boat, what you will see is that they are far more expensive than gas powered boats for doing the exact same thing.  This is largely a function of the fact that electric paddle boats have yet to really figure out the best way to put a battery on board ship.  This is a larger problem in the push for electrification, but current trends in the electric paddle boat industry seem to show that this is the next thing to be fixed for electric paddle boats to gain more market share.

In spite of this rather significant drawback, electric paddle boats continue to remain competitive with their combustive counterparts.  In this market at least, it appears that though electrification of the most popular vehicular models is proceeding ahead of schedule.