Launches
Elco was founded in 1893 when the company propelled dozens of 36-foot launches using electric inboard motors and batteries to ferry more than a million passengers at the World’s Fair in Chicago without smoke, soot, ash or open flame. But that May morning wasn’t the birth of Elco; it was the beginning of practical, safe motorboating. The only other choices back then were dangerous external-combustion steam or naphtha engines.
Elco continued to build classic launches for decades that cruised at a leisurely 7 mph or so for about eight hours before recharging — batteries were nickel iron plates immersed in glass jars of potassium hydroxide. Going fast hadn’t been invented yet. Boaters enjoyed being on the water, rather than just rushing over it to the next activity.
Launches fell out of favor with the bustle of the 1920s, but their easy-going nature and easily propelled hulls helped Elco, in 1987, reintroduce electric propulsion back into recreational craft, first with electric-powered launches, and later with electric inboard and outboard motors.
Today, Elco offers four classic launch designs ranging from 19 to 36 feet, all powered by our newest electric motor technology.