Why Are eFoils So Expensive?

eFoils are the most expensive electric surfboards on the market today.

The average e-Foil can cost anywhere from $4,000 – $12,000 even up to $25,000 for the newer generations of models. 

Did you fall out of your chair yet?

Five Reasons eFoils are So Expensive

The major brands of eFoil board makers have a mini-monopoly on the market today but that balance is changing fast as a wave of new players dip their toes in this new water sport.

The technology is far different than traditional surfing, the electric hydrofoil surfboard is changing the game of water sports.

Below are the five main reasons that e Foils are so expensive:

• Cost of material –  All 500 parts of the eFoil must be able to handle the corrosion of saltwater.
• Carbon fiberglass – Not all eFoil boards are made of carbon fiber but if they are it ain’t cheap.
• All eFoils are handmade – The big brands that produce eFoils only make a few thousand per year.
• Supply and demand –  There are few hydrofoil makers and even less eFoil makers. Tons of demand.
• New design – With each generation of eFoil boards the designs frequently are changing fast making it difficult to achieve mass production volume.

For example, instead of buying an expensive eFoil you could buy a brand new SeaDoo Jetski (personal watercraft) for between $6,000 – $8,000.

This price may seem intimidating but if you’re still interested even after looking at the price tag we have some alternatives to purchasing eFoils without spending your money upfront.

Can I Still Buy an eFoil If I Don’t Have Enough Money Upfront?

Buy Now, Pay Later has exploded with popularity since the pandemic.

Luckily, some eFoil board makers offer Buy Now, Pay Later, a type of financing that allows you to purchase the eFoil board and pay later.

Buy now, pay later divides your total purchase into a series of interest free installments due every two weeks. Financing can also be done with monthly installment plans but will be subject to interest. 

This type of financing plan has been available for years but it exploded in popularity due to the pandemic as more shoppers were pushed online

Buy now, pay later has been helpful for shoppers dealing with inflation eroding the purchasing power of the average consumer. However, there are risks involved. If you’re unable to pay at the time you agreed, you could be on the hook for some late fees.

Since most people don’t have $15,000 in their bank accounts, Buy Now Pay Later is a good option for riders to afford the best eFoils on the market.

Things to Consider Before Financing Your eFoil

Affirm and Klarna are two of the most popular and easily available options for financing. However, there are other BNPL options such as Splitit, AfterPay, and Uplift. Even Paypal offers financing split between four interest free payments. 

If you’re still unsure how Buy now, pay later works when purchasing your hydrofoil or eFoil check out Affirm’s interest rate calculator for monthly installment plans

How the Pandemic Made eFoils More Expensive

The pandemic bogged down global supply chains which caused inflation to surge the last few years certainly isn’t helping with the price tag and quality of eFoils.

The average price of shipping containers skyrocketed from $1,540 in February 2020 to $10,361 at its peak in 2021! With costs rising like that it’s no wonder eFoils were backordered!

Macroeconomic factors are not helping the price of eFoils from becoming any less expensive.

Editors Note 5/2023: The speed and quality of the supply chain is improving to create and distribute more efoil boards but still looking pretty sluggish.

Will eFoils Cost Less Soon?

Assembly-line production is not yet feasible for eFoils and Hydrofoils, both are handmade. 

Workers must be skilled to produce these boards, the cost of training and time spent to produce adds a weight to supply woes. Similar how surfboard shapers were exclusively handmade before machines came into the picture.

Lift Foils were the first company to make eFoils available commercially . It will be interesting to see if the Father Son duo will be able to innovate to an assembly-line production level to mass produce electric hydrofoil boards with excellent. Or another company could corner the market and mass produce hydrofoils and eFoils at scale.

With a monopoly on the eFoil market there isn’t a particular rush to do so. Plus the surf community is not always receptive to the innovation that comes with automation. This is not to say surfboard production is poorly done when automated, quite the opposite actually. 

Assembly line production technology could improve the price of hydrofoil and eFoil prices but with the high cost of materials and labor needed to produce these boards it may not be enough.

Are Inflatable Foil boards Cheaper?

One would think inflatable eFoil designs would be cheaper than traditional efoil boards but that’s not the case. These types of foils can cost the same if not more than a regular eFoil because of their portability.

How Hard is it to Learn How to eFoil?

If you’re an experienced surfer, snowboarder, or skateboarding there’s no reason you can’t figure out how to use one within an hour session. 

If you’ve never picked up any of those boards it’s still possible to learn to fly on an eFoil board. eFoils are very user friendly for novices that have never surfed since paddling and dropping into waves are not required. However, it will be more difficult and take more time to get adjusted.

You may want to pump the brakes and get a performance demo first to see if you will actually enjoy the power and performance of it before making the investment in an eFoil.

Get a Demo Before you Buy an eFoil

At Epic Foils, we strongly suggest you get a demo before pulling the trigger on an eFoil.

eFoiling is definitely more user friendly for novices but way easier to break, which can be an expensive repair. The electric motor can have you gliding on ocean waves or speeding through fresh water on a lake.

Hydrofoiling is very difficult and better suited for advanced surfers. Riding a hydrofoil is fun but needs the wind and water conditions to cooperate in order to fly.

At the end of the day, there’s a metal blade strapped to the flat bottom of your board while you’re hurtling up to 20mph powered by a lithium-ion battery or getting towed behind a boat.

There’s always risk involved in water sports. But hey, that’s why you’re here looking at eFoils because you’re not afraid to have fun and try something new and fun.

eFoils are Expensive for Now…But For How long?

Riding a eFoil is an incredible experience but in order to play you gotta pay. It’s a heavy price to pay for a board, we get it.

If you’re on the fence about purchasing one, get a demo first at a nearby location and see if it’s a good fit for you. You can check out Lift Foils’ map of participating demo locations

eFoils are expensive for many reasons but the big three reasons are the cost of materials, the cost of labor, technology and the massive demand that simply cannot keep up with supply. The pandemic only exacerbated this with bottlenecks in the supply chains, jacking the price up of already expensive materials.

On a ten year time horizon, eFoils could come down in price (and hopefully not quality) considerably in the future but don’t hold your breath.