At first, you might not even know whether or not the electric Duffy Boats gliding across Lake Minnetonka are even running, but for Ryan Lloyd and his business partners at Electric Shores, that quiet whirring noise they've been hearing since June is the sound of another successful business venture.
Electric Shores, located in downtown Excelsior, just off the shores of Lake Minnetonka, began renting out a fleet of electric boats in June. By season's end, they expect at least 450 groups to have rented the boats.
"For a tourism play, these boats really check all the boxes. When you look at the boat, it's really a stylish, handsome boat," Lloyd said. "They're really easy to drive compared to a pontoon as well. They cherry on top is that these electric boats are so quiet. You can hear everybody in the boat, you can hear the music, and because it's a slower boat and quiet, it's really nuisance proof."
The Duffy Boats, which can fit up to 12 people at a time, top out at 6 miles per hour, enough to break a wake.
While it's their first season chartering electric boats in Excelsior, Lloyd and his business partners have been doing so in Milwaukee for five seasons.
They estimate nearly 5,000 groups will rent the boats in Milwaukee this season, with around 450 groups renting the boats in Excelsior. A canopy over the boat, along with zip-up windows surrounding it, allow for a weatherproof outing.
"We're very happy with how it came out," he said. "We thought people would like this style of boat, but we're kind of blown away by how it's adopted and what our rental revenue has become."
Electric boats are also popular because the worry about filling up with boat gas goes out the window. While many boaters face steep prices and long lines at the gas pump, that concern goes out the window on an electric boat.
"A 22-foot pontoon boat would use two to three gallons of gas per hour of runtime. These 22-foot Duffy Boats use 75-cents of electric charged electricity of runtime."
Some may wonder about the safety of keeping electric boats charged while docked. The Electric Shores docks have extremely sensitive breaker that are wired to break even at the slightest sense of water.
"That's what you want, but it shoots us in the foot sometimes," Lloyd said. "During a storm it will break and we'll come and we will have dead boats the next day, so might have to cancel a few tours. It's definitely a good safety mechanism and we're cognizant of it ourselves."
Getting space to open a boat rental business on Lake Minnetonka does not come easy.
Lloyd says the City of Excelsior granted them a permit and expressed excitement about the environmentally-friendly aspect that boats presented to the lake.
Typically, the boats can last 9 hours on a single charge before needing to charge overnight.
"We're lucky because it's hard to start a boat rental business out here," he said. "A big part of the electric versus gas is the fact a lot of boat gas ends up in the water through spills. In 2021 we did 2,600 hours in the water in Milwaukee and this year we'll be over 10,000. When you think about the amount of gas we're not using, 25,000 gallons, it's kind of hurts your brain to think how dirty that could be as a commercial operator."
Prices and time slots vary at Electric shores. They include an $89 early bird offer between Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and time slots vary from an hour, to an entire day.