Electric speedboat is powered by AMG

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38-foot Cigarette AMG Electric Drive Concept has 12 138kW electric motors for total of 1656kW and 3000Nm, serious numbers even by offshore powerboat racing standards.

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As you read this, visitors to the Miami international boat show - on until 18 February - are getting their corneas curled by this very loud yellow 38-foot racing hull with black trim and AMG badging.

Yes, Cyril, this is the latest collaboration from Mercedes-AMG of Affalterbach in Germany and Miami-based Cigarette Racing, a partnership that dates from 2007.

The 11.6 metre-long ‘Cigarette AMG Electric Drive Concept’ is finished in ‘AMG Electricbeam magno’ - the matt chrome paintwork exclusively reserved for the SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive - and uses lots of components from the electric gullwing.

But where the car has two 138kW liquid-cooled permanent-magnet synchronous electric motors on each axle, the cigarette has no less than six of them coupled to each of two drive units, for a total of 1656kW and 3000Nm, making this the world's most powerful electric speedboat and, at 158km/h, the world's fastest, according to Cigarette.

2.2 TONNES OF BATTERIES

The liquid-cooled 400V battery in the SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive weighs more than half a tonne; it has 12 modules, each comprising 72 lithium-ion cells, giving it an energy content of 60 Kilowatt hours, and an electric load potential of 600 Kilowatts.

The electric Cigarette has four AMG batteries - that's 48 modules, containing 3456 cells! - for a total of 240 Kilowatt hours and an electric output of 2400kW.

Their 2.2 tonnes has been carefully placed as low as possible in the centre of the hull for stability and responsive handling when changing direction.

The boat has two 22kW on-board chargers from the SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive, with their hardware adapted to accept the cables used in most American marinas. Plugged into two power supplies at the same time, they'll charge the batteries from flat in about seven hours - or you can bring two more chargers on board, plug into four domestic sockets at the same time (at some risk to the electrical infrastructure of the average marina, it must be said) and charge up the electric Cigarette in less than three hours.

AMG INFLUENCE

There's more AMG influence visible in the cockpit, with various carbon-fibre trim elements matching the signature Cigarette sports seats. The instrument faces are finished in AMG Electricbeam mango, with AMG logos and, just as in the car, reflect speed, motor output, voltage and battery charge level.

Mercedes-AMG and Cigarette Racing have been collaborating since 2007, and the first result was the 46-foot 'Rider inspired by AMG' in 2010, its technology, design and equipment based on the SLS AMG gullwing.

Two years later, the 50-foot 'Inspired by AMGBlack Series Marauder' followed, a seagoing interpretation of the C 63 AMG CoupéBlack Series.

Whether on land or water, performance is what unites Mercedes-AMG and Cigarette Racing; both companies owe their roots to racing and are still dedicated to this passion.