See-through electric boat motor receives €5.5m funding

Zparq, the Swedish start up that has developed a hollow core ‘see-through’ electric boat motor, has received €5.5m (UD$ 6.6m, £4.9m) of combination grant/equity funding from the EIC Accelerator program to finalize development and scale industrial production of its Z10 electric drivetrain platform.

At the core of the drivetrain is…well, nothing. Cuteness aside, their patented Hyperflow Cooling technology has the motor built around a hollow cylinder that allows it to be cooled by water flowing not only outside the system like many electric pod motors, but also through the inside core.

The cooling allows the rotor to spin at higher speeds and pack more power into a smaller overall space as the flow-through core reduces weight, lowers drag and increases efficiency. The Z10 has a a propeller speed of 2600 RPM to generate 10 kW of power. The company claims it is “The World’s lightest 10 kW Outboard Motor”.

“What we have done is entirely redesign the power supply in a motor that is 10 times smaller than anything else on the market, compared to the power output that we get,” said co-founder and CEO Jonas Genchel. When packaged into a full outboard that can be mounted to a boat, the Z10 weighs only 17 kg (37 lbs), excluding battery.

See-through electric motor modular, scalable

They worked with Propeller Design of Sweden to integrate their motor technology with a sleek outboard configuration designed to be sustainable throughout its entire life cycle. Propeller (their name has nothing to do with marine products), is an expert in sustainable industrial design and  helped optimize both the form and function of the Z10 to reduce material use and increase energy efficiency.

The outboard has gathered acclaim at Hello Tomorrow Deep Tech Pioneers and the Swedish Design Awards, was a Finalist in the 2023 Grand Award of Design and winner at Sweden’s Allt för Sjön boat show and the 2024 Big See Product Design Awards.

Zparq was founded in 2020 by Jonas Genchel, Mikael Sundberg, and Sebastian Thune who brought deep expertise in mechanics, electromechanics, and marine systems to a collaboration with the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH).

Multiple configurations

The company’s mission to challenge the dominance of traditional internal combustion engines in marine propulsion has already attracted backing from InnoEnergy, the Santander Climate Fund, and Almi Invest Greentech. For the EIC funding they were selected as one of 40 startups from more than 1,000 applicants.

The Zparq drivetrain integrates advanced battery management, control and safety systems developed and designed in-house. All components have been designed with modular, scalable forms that can be combined to serve a wide range of propeller-driven vessels – from leisure craft to commercial and rescue applications.

The motors can be configured not only as outboards, but also as bow thrusters with enclosed propellers, inboard/outboard stern drives, and rotatable azimuths and saildrives. The scalable technology can be adapted for a range of motors from a few kW for small recreational boats up to megawatt powertrains for large ships.

See Zparq Z10 in the Plugboats Guide to Electric Boat Motors Over 5 kW

“We are honoured to be selected as one of only 40 start-ups for this major EU funding,” said Genzel. “It is a powerful validation of our team’s hard work, our Z10 platform, and our mission to drive the decarbonization of the marine industry.”

With EIC Accelerator support, Zparq will now ramp up industrial production and expand its global partnerships with commercial rollout happening in 2026. You can register for a Z10 outboard now on the company’s website.

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