Design-led vehicle startup Tarform is applying its Luna electric motorcycle know-how to the electric watercraft segment, testing the market waters with the Raye concept it revealed today. The new vehicle’s design was inspired by the manta ray, which has glided effortlessly for over 120 million years in the silent oceanic world.

“While we are fulfilling the deliveries of the bespoke Tarform Luna motorcycle, we are excited to unveil the concept design of our second vehicle—the Tarform Raye, an all-electric watercraft,” said Taras Kravtchouk, Founder, CEO, and Head of Design at Tarform. “Translating the experience of an electric motorcycle onto the water was the most natural extension to our vehicle lineup.”

The company’s biomorphic design approach is rooted in observing and learning from the way nature creates. The manta ray’s graceful movements and unique body structure with high propulsive efficiency inspired the design of Raye’s organic lines and flowing curves.

Tarform is Swedish for “taking form,” reflecting the company’s philosophy of continuous evolution—and the owner’s homeland. Kravtchouk grew up in Stockholm, Sweden.

Last year the company began delivering its first Luna bikes hand-crafted in Brooklyn, NY. Taking two weeks to assemble, the company plans on making “50 to 60 bikes this year and a couple of hundred next year,” Kravtchouk told Futurride, just before Raye’s reveal.

 

Mobility company goals

While known for its Luna motorcycle, Kravtchouk has bigger plans for Tarform. From the beginning he wondered, “how do we build a mobility company that creates vehicles for all terrain?” he said. “It was basically my high pie-in-the-sky approach to say, what is it in the adventure space lacking?”

One element was design aesthetics.

“If you look at traditional motorcycles, there’s nothing appealing to [them], in my mind,” he said. “If you look at recreational watercraft, they follow the same outdated principles.”

He wanted to do what Apple did in the tech space, bringing in an element of “refinement elegance.” That was the pull to do something in the mobility space, and “electrical opens a wide range of designs.”

The second product in Tarform’s evolution was not always going to be an electric watercraft. That thinking evolved a few years ago when his team looked to capture the essence or experience of riding a motorcycle but doing it on the water.

“It was an exploration,” he said. “We have this powertrain, all this battery development, and operating system. What can we do to demonstrate the modularity? It just felt like a natural extension. Why don’t we build a motorcycle on the water and reuse basically everything we spent five years developing, repurposing it to a certain degree?”

The team then began doing a pre-study to validate if it made sense and if it met the proper performance requirements.

“We began the initial concept design phase and said, this actually works,” he said. “Let’s show everyone who’s following us that it’s not just about the motorcycles, but how we look at mobility as an ecosystem for all sustainable vehicles.”

 

Leveraging the supply chain

The Raye shares its biomorphic design, plant-based materials, and modular technology approach with the Luna, demonstrating the versatility of Tarform’s vehicle architecture. Plans call for it to use most of the Luna’s technology and powertrain, leading to a quicker development cycle and a “seamless user interaction between vehicles.”

“What would it feel and look like to ride a Tarform Luna on the water?” said Kravtchouk. “This was the first question we asked before beginning the design of the electric personal watercraft. Many of the existing

are heavy, loud, and hard to maneuver, spilling gasoline into the water. We wanted to create a lightweight watercraft that is nimble and quick with a smaller footprint that would provide motorcycle-like handling on the water with an agile ability to carve corners and provide balance and stability at higher speeds.”

With the addition of a watercraft to Tarform’s range, he expects most of the challenges will come to the surface during prototyping.

“Obviously it requires a certain degree of variability in parts because the motorcycle is a motorcycle and the watercraft is a watercraft,” he said. “We need to design a composite hull, but we can reuse a lot of the materials that we developed for the motorcycle like the plant-based composites.”

Kravtchouk is confident that the Tarform powertrain will make the transition to water well.

“We’ve already water-proofed and vibration-proofed everything for the motorcycle,” he said. “The motorcycle is the vehicle that gets beaten the most on the road, more than a car because you’re essentially exposed to all the elements. [The Raye is] going to be easier to build because there aren’t as many regulations for watercraft.”

Kravtchouk is clear-eyed about potential development and production hurdles to come. He mentioned COVID was a tremendous challenge during Luna’s development, but the biggest hurdle now is the “incredibly fragile” supply chain, with increased component lead times, increased pricing, and part shortages.

 

Production possibilities

The Raye is currently in the initial design stages, so technical details are limited, and its visual appearance and specifications are subject to change.

“This year we’re going to start doing prototype development, so basically converting it from a CAD model into a physical, rideable prototype,” said Kravtchouk.

However, the company does say that the watercraft will be engineered to provide an optimal balance of high performance, handling, and build quality. In addition to Tarform´s proprietary plant-based composite, its bodywork could be specified by the customer in recycled carbon fiber. The Raye body is composed primarily of three massive composite pieces.

The targeted top speed for the two-rider watercraft will be around 50 mph (80 km/h), with promised instant torque and acceleration via an electric waterjet propulsion system. The model will come in two power and range configurations, with output from 70 to 120 hp (52 to 89 kW). The range is estimated at 1-2 h, with Level 1 and Level 2 charging available to accommodate most marinas and yachts.

Raye’s Tarform Operating System will enable over-the-air updates, machine learning, and sensor technology for predictive maintenance, battery health, and ride statistics.

Production has not been set. That depends on “a bunch of other factors like how much interest we are going to get and what volumes we’re looking at,” said Kravtchouk. If given the go-ahead, Tarform will “begin the path of going from prototype to a manufactured vehicle in 2024.”

The targeted starting price is $68,000 with a wide range of customization options.