MORE MAGGIORE, Italy — Maserati‘s Trident logo is triple inspired by the famous Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, where the car manufacturer started in 1914 before packing up and moving to Modena. And a symbol that symbolizes mastery of the water is appropriate for the fully electric motorboat that takes us around Italy’s Lake Maggiore in style.
The Tridente, moored at the quay, is a 10.5-metre superyacht tender, the boat that will take you to a larger boat. But it’s also great for chic solo cruising on lakes or ocean coasts, with a range of around 50 to 70 kilometres (31 to 43 miles).
The design collaboration between Maserati and Vita Power, a marine technology company founded in 2017, features a fast DC charging system that Vita claims is an industry first. To make it practical, Vita has created charging infrastructure at key locations, including along the French RivieraSan Francisco Bay, New York and a plug here in Lake Maggiore, about an hour north of Milan.
We hop aboard the Tridente, the aforementioned logo adorned on a bow deck formed from ribbed composite. The Very good powerboat has a carbon fiber hull that helps carry a total weight of about 5 tons. As with cars, that’s clearly more mass than a comparable ICE-powered boat, thanks to a 250-kWh battery package large enough to hold a Hummer EV blushes.
We leave the harbor and head for Beautiful islandan island floating a 17th-century palazzo — a summer home for the aristocratic House of Borromeo, which produced several cardinals and a pope — and a Baroque Italian garden of over-the-top splendor. I settle into a wide, comfortable daybed at the stern and experience the main talking point of any electric vessel: a welcome lack of diesel or petrol stench wafting over passengers – notoriously amplified if you experience seasickness – and the ability to have a conversation without shouting over a deafening maritime ICE powertrain. Of course, that also means no rainbow oil slicks floating in your wake plundering the marine environment.
Our pilot makes sure I hold on before pressing the throttle, backed by a pair of generous screens displaying everything from navigation maps to Netflix. Despite its weight, the Tridente is a spicy beast. A dual propeller arrangement and proprietary control software allow anywhere from 100 to 600 horsepower. Vita Power claims a 10-80% charge in less than an hour with a maximum speed of over 200 kilowatts. But even without DC Charger In port, boats have a built-in advantage over electric cars, namely shore power, which is readily available at almost every marina in the world – and boats often sit unused for days or even weeks between trips.
The handsome hull cruises smartly at around 28 knots, with a maximum of 40 knots, potentially outpacing paparazzi on their way to a celebrity yacht lunch in Monaco. The rumble of props dominates the sound, the electric motors themselves completely undetectable. There’s a swim deck aft with a freshwater shower, twin head seats that swing around to create a conversation area, a cleverly appointed cabin with head and shower, and a concealed built-in fridge for bubbly or other beverages.
Vita Power is responsible for the powertrain design. But the boat itself is actually the work of Hodgdon Yachts, the Maine builder and procurement specialist that has been around for more than 200 years, even longer than Maserati. If you’re interested, look them up and prepare to pay around $2.7 million. A lot of money, but a pittance for people who can afford the superyacht it’s attached to.