Artemis Technologies has launched what it says is the world’s first fully electric hydrofoil pilot boat. The 12-metre EF-12 Pilot is in sea trials, with customer deliveries expected in the coming months.
The vessel uses the company’s eFoiler system to lift the hull clear of the water and cut drag. Artemis quotes a cruise speed of 28 knots, a top speed of 32 knots and a foiling range of up to 45 nautical miles. The boat is designed to foil in seas of up to 2.5 metres significant wave height and to operate in displacement mode in seas up to 4 metres.
It is built to Lloyd’s Register Special Service Craft pilot-boat classification. An active flight-control system is meant to keep the platform stable when a harbour pilot steps across. High-power charging is specified to refill the pack in under an hour. Early customers named in trade coverage include Brabo in Belgium, the Swedish Maritime Administration, Noatum Maritime in Abu Dhabi, and the Port of Tyne.
From race foils to harbour work
Pilot boats run in traffic, at night, and in weather that cancels a wing session. If a foil system survives that brief, the technology has left the lake. Artemis is separately partnering with Seattle yard Delta Marine on walk-on e-foiling passenger ferries for Puget Sound. Kitsap Transit has been developing an electric foil-ferry prototype since 2020.
Sport riders do not buy pilot boats. They do live with the reputation of the word hydrofoil. Every quiet ferry that flies past a swim zone changes how harbours write rules for e-foils and wing traffic.