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A Seattle manufacturer of electric boats plans to build its forthcoming pontoon boat model at the site of a former steel plant in West Virginia, state and company officials announced.
Pure Watercraft selected an 80,000-square-foot facility in Beech Bottom, West Virginia, to make the Pure Pontoon Boat, an electric vessel currently under development with General Motors. The automaker acquired a 25% stake in Pure last year. The $5 million project is expected to create more than 100 jobs in West Virginia’s northern panhandle by the end of 2025. Company executives hope to begin building boats and fulfilling customer orders early next year.
Pure founder and CEO Andy Rebele credited state officials and “their ability to make decisions quickly to support our plans” for the company’s move to West Virginia.
Pure, founded in 2011, developed an electric outboard propulsion system — powered by a lithium-ion battery — that can be dropped into any existing gas-powered boat with an outboard motor between 25 to 50 horsepower. It also sells its own electric boats directly to consumers.
Beech Bottom Industrial Park occupies land along the Ohio River that was redeveloped after the closure of the Wheeling Corrugating steel plant.
Image Credit: AVN Photo Lab / Shutterstock.com
