The top speed of an electric surfboard is usually between 40 and 60 km/h, with some high-performance models exceeding 65 km/h. Speed is affected by factors such as battery capacity, wind and wave conditions, board length and weight. For example, a board with a 5 kW motor can reach 55 km/h, while stronger winds or waves will reduce speed.
Top Speed Capabilities
Most electric surfboards in the mainstream market can go up to a speed of 40-60 km/h, and a few high-performance models are even able to run over 65 km/h. The average speed of new electric surfboards released in 2024 globally reached 47 km/h, an increase of 12% compared with that in 2022.
A 15 kg board with a 5 kW motor can be taken up to 55 km/h, while similar entry-level products work at just 42 km/h with the same 3 kW motor. Higher-power motors seem to have faster acceleration-powered with the same charge, reaching 30 km/h from 0 in just 3 seconds-however, it reduces the runtime of their batteries by about 10% to 15%.
At a wind speed of 20 km/h with waves over 50 cm, the electric surfboard's top speed is 15% lower. Geographical location does matter too: on freshwater lakes, it goes about 5% faster than in the ocean.
The 72V 60Ah high-density lithium battery helps the surfboard run for 45 minutes, even at a speed of up to 50 km/h, with a running distance of approximately 37 km. Battery packs with small capacities—for instance, 48V 40Ah—will not support more than 20 minutes of high-performance running.
The theoretical maximum speed for a 70-kg rider with a high-performance board can be up to 95%. For a rider over 90 kg, there is a roughly 10% drop in speed. Because the water resistance coefficient was reduced by 0.05 due to this optimized streamline design, the maximum speed was increased by nearly 7%.
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Battery Power Impact
A 72V 50Ah lithium battery will go for about 40 minutes at 50 km/h, covering a distance of approximately 35 km. In contrast, using a 48V 30Ah battery at the same speed reduces runtime to 25 minutes and the distance to only 18 km.
In test runs, the acceleration from 0 to 30 km/h took 3.5 seconds with a 5 kW motor and a 72V lithium battery combination, while with a 48V battery, the same acceleration took 5 seconds. A 72V 60Ah battery costs in the range of $800-$1000, while a 48V 40Ah usually costs in the range of $500-$600.
A 72V 60Ah battery weighs over 15 kg, while the smaller battery packs weigh in the range of 8 to 10 kgs. When the ambient temperature falls below 10°C, the lithium battery output power drops by about 15%, while above 35°C, the internal resistance increases and reduces charging/discharging efficiency.
The standard 48V 40Ah battery takes about 4 hours to fully charge with a standard charger, while the 72V 60Ah large-capacity battery can be charged in 2 hours with a fast-charging system. The energy density of solid-state batteries is as high as 400 Wh/kg, up by 25% from that of current mainstream lithium batteries.
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Board Design
From 160 cm to 180 cm, the length of surfboards is representative of a balanced design that can provide stability and speed. The less-than-150-cm-long boards are applied mainly in professional racing mode, which increases the speed up to 12%; such enhanced flexibility comes with a price in terms of reduced stability when the wave height is over 50 cm, where the risk of tipping increases by 15%.
Thus, by having a thickness between 8-10 cm, the buoyancy is increased by about 18%. More buoyancy means there will be less sinking pressure at slower speeds; hence, it fits for riders with weights of 70 to 80 kgs. While much thicker boards, over 12 cm, can result in a highly increased buoyancy, water resistance increases with about 10% bigger volume.
Some companies have demonstrated a surfboard in a double concave form that successfully reduces the water resistance coefficient from 0.32 to 0.28. Under the same power conditions, the speed surged to 52 km/h from 48 km/h. The double concave design is outstanding in stability during acceleration and, in particular, performs best within a range of 0-30 km/h by reducing side drift by 20%.
Carbon fiber materials are featured with high intensity, light in weight, and up to 500MPa of resistant impact, twice as high as fiberglass. However, the prices will be higher than that. Generally, a regular carbon fiber surfboard will probably cost about $2000-$2500 dollars. Fiberglass material is relatively cheap; it will only cost around 800-1200 dollars but with lower durability, especially at high-frequency use. The average usage life of surfing will be just 3-5 years or so.
ISO-certified safety surfboards would have their surface coated for slip resistance with 90% probability. This provides a friction coefficient of 0.7 in slippery conditions, which is 35 percent higher than regular coating. Surfaces of the board getting slippery at over 50 km/hr speed increases chances of falls by 20 percent.
While the entry-level models tend to weigh from 25 to 28 kgs, their high-end lightweight products weigh under 18 kgs. In one public test, while the 25-kilogram surfboard took 6 seconds to accelerate to 40 km/h, the lightweight model reached the same speed in just 4.8 seconds.
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Rider Weight
It is worth noticing that for every 10 kg increase in the rider's weight, the maximum speed of the surfboard decreases by about 5-8%. For instance, in experimental conditions, a rider weighing 70 kg reaches a speed of 50 km/h, while the speed of a 90 kg rider drops to approximately 45 km/h.
Most efficiently, a 5 kW electric surfboard is able to carry a rider under 70 kg with an average acceleration time of 4 seconds to reach 30 km/h. If the rider weighs up to 85 kg, the acceleration time already extends to 6 seconds. In return, high-performance models feature a 7-kW motor that at 90 kg can still manage a 4.5-second acceleration time.
Most electric surfboards sold in the market are 8-12 cm thick, with buoyancy ranging from 100 to 140 kg buoyancy units. A 10 cm thick board can maintain stable buoyancy at a 90 kg load. If the load is heavier than this weight, the board will sink 20% more.
It is able to support, for an 80-kilogram rider, a stable speed of 45 km/h in calm lake conditions. While in ocean waters with waves higher than 40 cm, the speed it can provide will be less than 40 kph. Moreover, for wind speeds greater than 20 km/h, heavier riders are likely to be blown by crosswinds, and the tilt angle of the surfboard increases, resulting in increased difficulty of control.
A high-end surfboard released in 2024 uses a dual-motor system with a total power of 8 kW. This system can still maintain a speed of over 50 km/h at a 100 kg load.
According to a report from the U.S. Water Sports Accident Investigation, if riders weigh over 90 kgs, there is a 15% chance of falling down, compared with those weighing 70 kgs. Because of this reason, some firms equipped their high series with intelligent anti-slip systems, with nano-coating technology, which increase the friction coefficient up to 0.8.
According to the actual data, when set at a 70 kg load, the battery-a 48V, 40Ah-basically allows for about 35 minutes of runtime. However, upping the ante and increasing the load to 90 kgs reduces said runtime to 28 minutes. This concern has made others upgrade to the 72V 50Ah big capacity battery. The price for this, however, normally reaches from $900 to $1200 per piece.
More than 60% of users would go for surfboards with a width greater than 70 cm to provide stability during gliding. These wide-body boards improve the anti-tilt capability by about 18% during rough wave conditions, effectively reducing side slip.
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Water Conditions
With wind speeds of less than 10 km/h, and wave heights of less than 20 cm, electric surfboards can maintain near top speeds in lake environments, typically reaching 50 to 55 km/h. However, with increased wave height over 50 cm, their speed usually drops by 15% to 20%.
Since the average water flow speed is between 3 and 5 km/h, the surfboard speed can increase by 5% to 8% while going downstream, but decreases by 10% to 15% when upstream. Research showed that when the water flow speed hits 10 km/h, the peak speed in a downstream direction can even go higher than 60 km/h.
For every 15°C water temperature, lithium batteries decrease the output power by about 10% to 12%, reflecting about a 2-km decrease in speed. The temperatures go above 35°C, the motor overheats and thus reduces its output efficiency. Under the same power conditions, the surfboard can achieve a speed of 55 km/h on freshwater lakes. Its speed decreases in seawater environments to 52 km/h maximum.
If the frequency is over 10 waves per minute, the rider in most cases has to change his or her balance often, reducing speed to 5 - 8 km/h, and when the wave height has exceeded 70 cm, increasing impact force seriously causes a lightweight board to have an increased probability of tilting up to 15%.
When the wind speed exceeds 20 km/h, the speed of an electric surfboard decreases by about 12% while tacking. During a water sports event in 2024, some participants faced a strong wind of 25 km/h and saw their top speed decrease from 48 km/h to 41 km/h.
When the concentration of floating algae exceeds 10 grams per cubic meter, the speed may reduce by as much as 20%. The speed can vary by 8 to 10 kph in tidal flow areas with a speed of 5 kph.
In most cases, when the air pressure is less than 1000 hPa, there will be strong winds and big waves, which is very bad for maintaining the surfboard's speed performance. If the humidity goes over 80%, the air density will be greater, which reduces the cooling efficiency of the motor by 2% to 3%, easily triggering the overheating protection and limiting the maximum speed.
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Motor Power
Among them, electric surfboards with motor powers ranging from 3 kW to 7 kW are the most popular, and 5 kW motor models account for 45% market shares. In the case of the 5 kW motor, equipped under laboratory conditions, an electric surfboard reaches 0-30 km/h in 3.8 seconds, while such a high-power motor as 7 kW manages to shorten this time to 2.9 seconds with a 24% speed increase.
The basic models are entry-level electric surfboards, powered by a 3 kW motor, whose top speed does not exceed 40 km/h. The version with 5 kW can already run at 55 km/h and is 37% faster. In professional races, many competitors use high-performance surfboards with 7 kW or even 8 kW motors whose top speed is in excess of 65 km/h.
Thus, with a 5 kW motor and a 48V 40Ah battery, he should be able to sustain a speed of 50 km/h for about 30 minutes, whereas with a 7 kW motor and the same battery capacity, it reduces to 25 minutes with increased power consumption by about 16%.
Taking a typical 5 kW motor, its weight is around 8 to 10 kgs, and a 7 kW motor will weigh around 12 to 14 kgs. So, with such a load, if the overall weight of the electric surfboard exceeds 25 kg, the delay, compared to the acceleration response time of a standard lightweight model, will be around 0.8 seconds.
In environments below 10°C, the copper resistance inside the motor increases by 3% to 5%, which means a power loss of about 2%. At temperatures above 35°C, due to enhanced thermal effects, the temperature of the motor may rise to 90°C and trigger the overheating protection mechanism, reducing the power output by 10%.
In 2024, one tech brand launched a double-motor system that could maintain 60 km/h under the load of 90 kg by the rider, way above the limit of single-motor systems. Besides that, its torque output has reached as high as 120 Nm, 30% higher compared with single-motor designs.
Because of this, some companies have managed to employ such technologies as a brushless DC motor that allows one to achieve an efficiency above 90%, while traditionally used brushed motors normally operate with an efficiency of 75-80%. According to the market analysis made, due to such extensive use of brushless motor technology, the average service life of electric surfboards increased by 20%.
Board Length and Width
Among them, the boards, which are between 160 cm to 180 cm, occupy 60% of the market share. Experimental data show that a surfboard with 175 cm in length and 65 cm in width, with high stability, is able to maintain a running speed of 50 km/h, and its tilt angle is controlled within 5 degrees. By comparison, a short board less than 150 cm can have a tilt angle as large as 12 degrees.
In general, the short boards less than 160 cm are called racing boards, suitable for professional users in pursuit of high speed. A 150 cm short board driven by a 5 kW motor can accelerate from 0 to 30 km/h in just 3 seconds, which is 20% faster compared with ordinary boards. However, such a short board is easy to have a tail drift when the wave height is more than 50 cm, resulting in a decline of about 10% in speed.
The main purpose of the boards longer than 180 cm is for electric surfboards of cruising type, with widths from 70 to 75 cm to carry more buoyancy. Long boards perform very well at 70 cm wave height at a speed of 40 km/h, with a drop in speed of only 5%. The turning flexibility of these boards is low, with the turning radius lying in the range of 2.5 to 3 meters, about 30% larger than that of short boards.
More than 70% of beginning users prefer to have boards more than 65 cm wide, but for very narrow boards-less than 60 cm in width-users weighing over 80 kg start to sink, creating a tilt angle of the board over 10 degrees, which highly increases the rate of falling.
The electric surfboard, which usually runs 3 to 5% slower under the same power conditions, normally runs over 70 cm in width. For lakes of calm surface, the height of waves is below 30 cm, and fluctuation of speed will be less than 2%. However, on open seas, especially when the height exceeds 60 cm, short and narrow boards will face a rise in the speed loss to 10%-15%.
The hardness is higher but they are highly expensive. The average cost for a standard carbon fiber board falls within $2000 to $2500 while for a fiberglass, this may lie within the range $1200 and $1500. Within this ratio of length to width-2.5 to 3:1 boards assure better maneuverability.
Thus, surfboards measuring 8 to 10 cm in thickness present more buoyancy and, therefore, are ideal for beginners. But those much thicker, over 12 cm, while creating far greater buoyancy, reduce the speed by 5%