ENGINEERING THE FUTURE
As I ambled out of the Vier Jahreszeiten hotel in Starnberg, Germany, a young guy stood next to a little BMW i3. His hand was on the front door handle, there was a broad grin on his face and a big orange Torqeedo logo embellished the car’s rear door. Torqeedo, of course, is the upstart German company whose name these days is synonymous with waterborne E-Mobility around the world.
I jumped into the passenger seat. I’m no stranger to hybrid-electric vehicles but this was my first fully-electric car. And we were looking at a long haul, my driver explained. Torqeedo’s manufacturing facilities were located in the hinterlands of Bavaria.
“But don’t worry, sir,” he added, “we shall go quite swiftly.”
As the roadside evergreens began whizzing past, I eased back in my seat to take stock. The day ahead was the centerpiece of Torqeedo’s “Electric Days” celebration, an annual event featuring a dozen or so journalists and a veritable fleet of electric boats. The festivities would begin with a tour of the facilities we were zooming towards. Then, after returning to Starnberg and lunch at the Munich Yacht Club on Lake Starnberg, an afternoon of sea trials would follow, some energized
