Pulse 63

Who it suits

The Pulse 63 is best understood as a working boat that happens to be beautiful. As the first production-ready electric planing RIB from the British yard RS Sailing, its natural buyers are sailing clubs, training centres, race committees, harbour authorities and superyacht owners wanting a quiet tender — operators who run many short, repeated trips from a fixed base with charging on hand. That duty cycle is where electric propulsion wins outright. A private owner covering long open-water distances is a poor fit.

What the numbers mean

A 46 kWh pack and a 40 kW RAD Propulsion motor produce a 23-knot maximum and a quoted 100-nautical-mile range, and those two figures cannot be achieved at the same time — the range figure will be a slow-speed number, and a buyer should ask RS Sailing for the range at 15 and at 20 knots before ordering. The optional additional 23 kWh pack is the obvious box to tick for any operator with a real duty cycle. The RAD system's enclosed drive, with no exposed propeller, is a meaningful argument for coachboat and man-overboard work.

The price, around €97,000 converted from £82,800, looks high beside a comparable petrol RIB and needs re-verifying at current rates; it makes sense on fuel and maintenance only with heavy annual use.