Riding river swell off throttle on a LiftX eFoil at sunrise in the Gorge

One Board, Three Batteries:
How We Run the Lift5 and LiftX in the Gorge

By T.J. Gulizia

Lift’s latest newsletter summed it up nicely: the Gen5 for the long days, a LiftX battery for the quick ones. We’ve been doing just that in the Gorge all season. Here’s which pack we grab, when, and why. We also worked out the rig weights Lift doesn’t publish.

Lift now makes three batteries. With the $299 LiftX Battery Adapter, a Lift5 or Lift5 F can run any of them. One board, three setups, no tools.

The Three Batteries

	Gen5 Full Range	LiftX Battery	LiftX Light Battery
Capacity	2.2 kWh	1.0 kWh	0.54 kWh
Battery weight	30.5 lbs	16.8 lbs	12.4 lbs
Lift’s ride time at full throttle*	90 min	70 min	35 min
Fits	Lift5, Lift5 F	LiftX; Lift5 / Lift5 F w/ adapter	LiftX; Lift5 / Lift5 F w/ adapter
Shop	$3880	$3880 or $4179 w/ adapter	$2995 or $3294 w/ adapter

*Lift’s figures. Ride time counts time on power only. Time spent riding swell off the throttle doesn’t count, and in the Gorge that changes everything.

My LiftX: Which Battery for Which Run?

Upwind/downwind laps at the Hatchery. Drone: Dan Gavere.

I ride a LiftX Florence 4’7, and I switch batteries depending on the session.

LiftX Florence 4'7 eFoil on the Columbia River shoreline in the Gorge

Upwind/downwind laps at the Hatchery:

Standard LiftX battery

One Board, Three Batteries: How We Run the Lift5 and LiftX in the Gorge

When I’m doing laps, I motor upwind and ride bumps back down, again and again. The upwind legs are all throttle, so I want the range. The standard LiftX gives me the extra time to keep stacking laps without watching the battery.

Point A to point B downwind runs:

LiftX Light battery

On a true downwinder I’m off the throttle most of the time. The motor gets me up and onto the next bump if one dies, and that’s it. I don’t need the range, so I take the 4.4 lbs off instead. With the Light, the Florence is around 40 lbs fully rigged and noticeably more nimble. It’s quicker rail to rail and easier to pump, and it feels closer to a prone foil than an eFoil.

Bottom Line: The more of your session is on the throttle, the more battery you want. The more you ride swell, the lighter you can go.

Lift5 Owners: Lighten It Up With the Adapter

A lot of our Lift5 customers have been adding a LiftX battery and adapter. Their reason is the same every time: the Gen5 has more range than they’ll actually use in a session. Most people aren’t riding 90 minutes straight. They’re out for 30 to 60 minutes before work or after dinner, and they’re carrying a 30.5 lb battery to do it.

The LiftX Battery Adapter is a 2.3 lb press-fit sleeve. It seats either LiftX battery flush in the Lift5 or Lift5 F battery bay and lifts out by hand. You don’t change anything on the board, and the Gen5 goes back in for the long days. It fits every current Lift5 and Lift5 F, but not Lift4 or older boards.

Lift doesn’t publish full-rig weights for the Lift5 with the smaller batteries, so we did the math on the 4’9 Lift5 Sport:

Lift5 Sport 4’9: Full Rig Weight by Battery

Board + propulsion + wing + battery (+ adapter for the LiftX packs)

Gen5 Full Range (2.2 kWh): 67.5 lbs

LiftX Battery + Adapter (1.0 kWh): 56.1 lbs (-11.4 lbs)

LiftX Light + Adapter (0.54 kWh): 51.7 lbs (-15.8 lbs)

Lift5 Sport 4’9	Gen5 Full Range	LiftX + Adapter	LiftX Light + Adapter
Board	21.0	21.0	21.0
Propulsion	11.0	11.0	11.0
Wing	5.0	5.0	5.0
Battery	30.5	16.8	12.4
Adapter	n/a	2.3	2.3
Full rig (lbs)	67.5	56.1	51.7
Lighter than Gen5	n/a	17%	23%
Battery capacity	2.2 kWh	1.0 kWh	0.54 kWh

Weights in lbs from Lift’s published 4’9 Lift5 Sport and battery/adapter specs. The wing weight is worked out from Lift’s 67.5 lb full-setup figure. For reference, a LiftX 4’8 is 45.1 lbs with the LiftX battery and about 40.7 lbs with the LiftX Light.

That’s 11 to 16 lbs off the rig. You’ll notice it carrying the board to the water, and you’ll notice it more once you’re flying. The board carves quicker, carries better between turns, and feels a lot livelier underfoot.

So Which One Should You Get?

New rider, bigger rider, or you want to cruise as long as you like: Gen5 Full Range in a Lift5. You can ride all session without thinking about the battery.
Lift5 owner who rides 30 to 60 minutes at a time: the LiftX Battery + Adapter bundle ($4179). Your rig is 11 lbs lighter, and you keep the Gen5 for long days. You also end up with two batteries.
Lift5 owner who wants the lightest, most surf-like setup: the LiftX Light Battery + Adapter bundle ($3294). It takes almost 16 lbs off.
Upwind/downwind laps on a LiftX: the standard LiftX battery, for the range.
Point-to-point downwinders on a LiftX: the LiftX Light. Off the throttle, you don’t need the range.

The Off Throttle Factor

Every ride-time number above counts only time on power. On the Columbia, most of a good session is spent riding swell with the motor off. Someone using the motor to get up and link bumps gets far more river out of a battery than someone holding full throttle on a lake. That’s why I pick a battery by the session, not by the spec sheet.

Related: Sunrise Laps on the LiftX Florence 4’7, my full write-up on the board, with miles per battery and Waterspeed tracks.

T.J. Gulizia is a co-owner of Big Winds in Hood River, Oregon. Come talk eFoils at 207 Front Street or call 541-386-6086.