Maserati’s First Electric Boat Delivers Style and Fun on the Water—We Took It for a Spin

There are few dream scenarios for a yachting writer than a sea trial of a sporty Italian dayboat on Lago Maggiore. The large lake nuzzles its way deep down among the jagged and snowy alps, straddling the border of Italy and Switzerland. While Lake Como has become touristy thanks to a certain movie star who has been filmed at the helm of a Riva, Lago Maggiore retains an air of low-key cool. It was a fitting place for the debut of the first boat built by Maserati, the 34-foot, five-inch Tridente. We were invited to do the first sea trial of any global media.   

The all-electric Tridente is nothing if not dashing. It joins other electric boats affiliated with sports car marques, including the Frauscher X Porsche 850 Fantom Air and BMW-designed Tyde foiling electric boat. The Maserati has a much more conventional look than the other two.

The Tridente debuted alongside the car manufacturer’s newest electric vehicle, the Grancabrio Folgore, meaning “lightning bolt” in Italian. Maserati’s head of design, Klaus Busse, was on hand for both launches. Busse, a genial and strikingly tall German, had this to say about Maserati’s design approach, and Italian design overall: “If you look at the design of the Porsche 911, for example, you can see the Germans evolved it little by little over time—as if they are on a road to the idea of perfection. But with Italians, every ten years or so, they break everything and start with something fresh and new.”

Somewhat ironically, the Tridente seems to pull more from the German school of thought. Sleek and classic looking, there is nothing groundbreaking about the aesthetics. The boat has the familiar design language of an old Riva runabout—gently cambered bow deck, tumblehome in the after section—though built with modern materials and colors, and adorned nearly everywhere with the Maserati emblem.

But when the Tridente first pulled into view beside the lake’s breakwater, and the dark-blue water shimmered off its steel-gray hull, for a moment the machine looked almost surreal. It was stunning.

Beyond exhibiting a good eye for a design that is aesthetically pleasing, Maserati showed taste and wisdom by tapping Maine’s Hodgdon Yachts to build the boat. America’s oldest family shipyard is known for producing some of the most advanced composite sailing yachts and highest-quality tenders in the world, making them the right yard for the Tridente. Maserati is marketing the vessel as a tender first and dayboat second.

The boat is built around a carbon-fiber hull for rigidity and weight savings, and the fit and finish meets the standards one might expect: soft leathers, tight stitching, and a general feeling of solidity to the seating. This model seats eight comfortably, with wraparound seating at amidships and a scooped-out section aft that is, in effect, a giant sunpad. The cabin is tiny, but could fit a child who needs a nap out of the sun.

Maserati enlisted Vita Power, the EV marine company, for Tridente’s electric propulsion system. The boat is powered by four batteries that weigh 3,200 pounds, which explains the choice of lightweight carbon fiber for the hull. The entire boat displaces 11,400 pounds, about 2,000 pounds less than a Riva Aquariva 33. That light weight, paired with the equivalent of 600 horsepower, lets the Tridente accelerate like a proper sportscar.

When I pinned the throttle I felt real G forces pressing me into the captain’s seat—common for a high-performance raceboat, but rare for an electric vessel. The helm is a simple setup: a center touchscreen and two throttles. The reported top end is 46 mph, but I saw 42.6. At a 25-knot cruise, the Tridente has a 43-mile range, more than enough to get from Monaco to Cannes on a single charge.

Maserati says the batteries can be topped off in under an hour via a fast-charging DC connection. Running at cruise, the Maserati manifested the nimbleness requisite of a boat in this class, slicing cleanly through S turns and hard overs.

There were no waves, but I did send the Tridente through its own wake and was pleased with the way the hull split the chop. In the end, it proved a very fun boat to drive and looked exceptional with the lake and mountain backdrop.

All this engineering, construction, and design prowess doesn’t come cheap. Base price for the Tridente is a steep $2.66 million. Maserati intends this to be a series of at least 10, rather than a custom one-off.

The price may well be a bit much for most boaters to swallow, even if it’s the coolest superyacht tender on the planet. But if you want what is arguably the world’s most advanced and best-constructed electric boat, the Tridente fits the bill, an evolutionary leap for a classic-looking Italian runabout.