Lake of the Ozarks Shootout fans, not to mention University of Michigan alumni, current students, faculty members and boosters across the country were naturally disappointed when the student-led team scratched its electric boat from the 2024 top-speed competition on the Central Missouri waterway. But the folks behind the 22-foot Liberator vowed to return, and that’s exactly what they plan to do come August 20-25.

The University of Michigan team is hoping to put on an electrifying performance at the upcoming Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

Outfitted with a canopy from Skater Powerboats—another Michigan-based powerhouse—the 22-footer is powered by double-stack electric motors capable of producing 1,150 hp. An 800-volt, 67-kilowatt-hour lithium battery custom built by the University of Michigan team is the boat’s power source. An Arneson ASD 7 surface drive will put the power to the water.

“In the heat, we are limited to a couple of minutes at full power,” explained team-member Nick Robbins, who will be a senior business major this fall at the University of Michigan and was exposed to college electric-boat projects and competitions by his brother, Andrew, who was part of the Princeton University team. “At cruise speed, it will run for 20 to 30 minutes.”

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From any angle, the boat looks speedy.

A driver for the boat has yet to be named. “We were planning on having (tunnel-boat racer) Rusty Wyatt in the cockpit but he has a race that weekend,” Robbins said. “So right now that is to be determined.”

In addition to competing on the Shootout’s new three-quarter-mile course, the University of Michigan raceboat will be displayed during the Wednesday evening Shootout On The Strip Street Party and Exhibit presented by Waves and Wheels.

The current Lake of the Ozarks Shootout electric-boat top-speed record of 116 mph was set in 2023 by Shaun Torrente of STR Racing piloting a 32-foot S2 catamaran powered by E-Motion 180E outboard motors from Vision Marine Technologies.

Established in 2023, the two-pass American Power Boat Association electric-boat kilometer record of 114.20 mph was set by the Princeton University team on North Carolina’s Lake Townsend. The 14-foot tunnel-boat ran 111.08 on its first pass and 117.50 mph to reach its kilo mark.

A sticker on the 22-footer thanks key contributors to the project.

Scrapyard Media has been working on a documentary video that chronicles the University of Michigan electric-boat development effort. The video will air on the Speed On The Water YouTube channel following the Shootout.