Sometime in 2019, Nico Sell, a technology entrepreneur and extreme sports enthusiast, had a vision: an all-electric jet ski that could safely tow her into the world’s largest waves for surfing, while not disturbing marine life.
Sell had to imagine it because an all-electric jet ski did not exist.
Two years later, it does — and it’s calling Miami home.
It’s a $500,000, two-seat watercraft that is not only electric, but also self-driving. It can hit top speed of 70 mph and navigate surf as high as 100 feet. The price tag may seem eye-watering — but wealth these days in Miami is now such that the team anticipates brisk sales. And once manufacturing — which will also take place in Miami — starts in the first quarter of 2022, the price will come down. The standard model electric watercraft will sell for $150,000.
The Maverick represents another chapter in the promising and intriguing Miami tech story.
Sell, who founded the Wickr secure messaging service that sold to Amazon earlier this year for an undisclosed sum, said that as she developed her vision of the watercraft, it became clear there was demand beyond big-wave surfers. The electric watercraft is named after the Mavericks, a marine preserve and surfing area near Half Moon Bay, California, where Sell resides, for now.
In particular, Sell is anticipating orders from search-and-rescue operations, as well as military and special operations teams, who will require long battery life. More than 100 orders have been taken so far, mostly for the $150,000 option.
“The reception has been mind-blowing,” she said. A prototype of the electric Maverick is on display at TheArsenale in Miami’s Design District.
Sell said the craft’s 200 kilowatt-hour battery can power an entire home for a week. Not surprisingly, it is the ski’s most expensive feature. The other central feature of the Maverick is the driverless function, an element Sell said will improve safety for users, while also sparing marine life. And the Maverick can be controlled from an iWatch.
The company’s Miami connection came about thanks to Sell’s work at Wickr with Halvorssen, who first met her at the Oslo Freedom Forum, a series of global conferences run by the New York nonprofit Human Rights Foundation.
“It’s a real treat to bring this back to my hometown, the boating capital of the world,” Halvorssen said.
Halvorssen connected with Milito socially, and together the trio decided that they could build the watercraft, about 10 at a time using carbon-fiber parts, in a warehouse off the Palmetto Expressway.
“We realized this was the market,” Sell said of Miami. “The super yacht crowd — they all have Jet Skis and tenders on their boats and docks, and especially with a yacht, it’s obnoxious to have a smelly, loud jet ski around. And they can afford it.”
The initial production team will be about 10 workers. When production ramps up, T3mp3st anticipates the figure will climb to as many as 50 people.
While T3mp3st’s corporate headquarters will, for now, remain in California, the spirit of the company is all Miami.
“It’s about the flash, the imagine, it’s about portraying your style,” Milito said. “It’s showing you’re willing to go outside the box and make yourself stand out. What better than a bespoke ski.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 6:00 AM.
