Plugboats

Vita Power continues to expand their fleet of electric workboats in California with the purchase by Berkeley Marina of a VITA Seal that will be used for everything from debris removal to emergency response.

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The marina joins the City of Newport Beach near Los Angeles, the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) and West Point Harbor near Silicon Valley as pioneers in bringing zero emission workboat...

With an energy density of 245 watt hours per kilogram, a solid state marine battery from Italy’s Sealance enables electric boats and ships to pack more electricity storage into less onboard weight and space.

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A solid state battery uses a solid material as the electrolyte – the material that allows electric charge to flow from one electrode to another. Most electrolytes now are either li...

Chinese electric outboard manufacturer ExploMar is joining forces with Kimple Boats on a high performance electric bass boat, the E498, that will use the ExploMar WAVE 70+ electric outboard (70 horsepower / 50 kiloWatts) with a 60 kWh battery pack.

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Founded in 2021, ExploMar first came to attention in the electric boat world at the 2022 METSTRADE show when it displayed its highest power...

The first World Yachting Summit (WYS) took place April 15 – 17 in Monaco and I had the honour and pleasure of participating as Moderator for a number of sessions on improving sustainability in yachting.

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The Summit, organized by Monaco Marina Management (M3), covered a variety of aspects of the yachting business, not just sustainability. There were sessions on the effects of ...

World Boating Day, a collective celebration of leisure boating launched last spring, is scheduled to return this May 24 with events planned at dozens of shipyards, marinas, yacht clubs, sailing schools, and other sites across 20 countries and three continents.

While the official day is May 25, it includes any event being held from May 18 to 25. The aim is to make the leisure boat and yachting industry more accessible and engaging b...

Plugboats WAVES (Watts, Amps, Volts, Electrons) is a regular collection of electric boat and boating news items that we have written about before and are updating, or items we are going to write about but are waiting for more information / developments – or items that are just tidbits we think you might find interesting.

Here is WaVeS #27, with electric boat and boating news about:

1. Australia’s Surf Lifesavers looking at ...

The E1 Series of electric speedboat racing has added two new races and relocated another to fill out the schedule for 2025, also adding new media partners that make the events available to over 1 billion potential viewers worldwide.

This is the second year of the Series, which was launched in January of 2024 featuring teams owned by high-profile celebrities like NFL GOAT Tom Brady, Hollywood actor Will Smith and tennis legend Rafae...

Norwegian Startup Pascal Technologies has announced that two new electric vessels, the NABCREW Zero AirBlue 1240 and the Hugin DC, will both be integrating the company’s energy efficient AirHull technology.

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The AirHull technology brings three elements together to reduce energy consumption of a boat by as much as 50%.

• First, the hull has sort of a ridge around the outer rim that me...

Sunreef Yachts, which introduced its revolutionary Solar Skin solar panel hull material 2022 and improved it in 2024, has again boosted efficiency and performance with the launch of Solar Skin 3.0.

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Solar Skin 1.0 was a game changer, essentially making the entire boat an electricity generating solar panel by embedding photovoltaic cells right into the composite used to build a boat’s h...

JOOOL is the name of a new turnkey hybrid and electric propulsion system for sailing yachts. It was developed and manufactured in France by the team behind Alternatives Energies, who have over 25 years of expertise in marine electrification.

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The three boats with JOOOL at La Grand Motte International Multihull Show:

• Fountaine Pajot Aura 51: the largest non-flybridge sailing catamar...

Aqua superPower and its consortium partners have announced the completion of The Electric Seaway project that delivers marine charging infrastructure along the south coast of the UK.

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The chargers are available to any electric leisure and commercial vessels under 24m (≈ 80 ft) and are part of the UK’s Maritime 2050 decarbonization targets. The system is projected to prevent significant ...

The air and water are getting cleaner in yet another city as Barcelona launches the Ecocat Tres electric ferry that will carry passengers from the popular Las Ramblas district to the almost as popular Barceloneta Beach.

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While electric hydrofoiling ferries and water taxis from companies like Candela, Artemis Technologies and Vessev are making lots of headlines for new services in Stockh...

Flux Marine is a US innovator in electric propulsion that first attracted attention when they won two awards, including ‘Best Green Product’, at the 2021 Newport Yachting Festival.

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It is led by CEO Ben Sorkin, COO Daylin Frantin and CTO Jonathan Lord . Sorkin and Frantin have been friends since growing up boating together in upstate New York, where Sorkin would pilot remote control boa...

Hovercraft, the Slovenian company that created the popular Electricat inflatable houseboat, has launched a new model that incorporates all the learning and customer feedback from the past five years.

The Electricat 16 name reflects its size – 16 square metres (175 square feet) of deck space – that can accommodate up to 10 people for fun on the water, with 6 m² (65 sq ft) of space on the roof that can be used for sunbathing or remov...

Last November electric speedboat specialist Voltari launched their Patrol 26 RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat), a cutting edge patrol vessel designed for government, military, and security applications.

In December, ISED Canada (Innovation, Science and Economic Development) acquired a Patrol 26 CC for testing by the Canadian Coast Guard in the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia. Now the Coast Guard has taken delivery of a P...

Plugboats WAVES (Watts, Amps, Volts, Electrons) is a regular collection of electric boats and boating news items that we have written about before and are updating, or items we are going to write about but are waiting for more information / developments – or items that are just tidbits you might find interesting.

Here is WaVeS #26, with electric boat and boating news about:

1. Dockmate and Molabo collaborate on remote control sys...

VIVIC Yachts of Taiwan and ACEL Power of Canada have entered a Joint Development Agreement for electric yachts that brings together ACEL’s innovative electric propulsion technology with VIVIC’s boatyard expertise.

VIVIC will be responsible for yacht design and construction technology while ACEL is tasked with the research, development, production, and integration of the electric propulsion systems.

Brings together individ...

In addition to the articles on Plugboats, we also send out a newsletter by email that is a collection of the articles from the preceding weeks.

We have also found that some people like to listen to the newsletter rather than read the newsletter, so it is also available as a podcast.

You can listen to the podcast of the March 16 newsletter below, and subscribe to the podcast through any of the links under the player.

If your favour...

This Plugboats Podcast features a conversation at the world’s largest Boat Show in Düsseldorf, Germany, with Tom Dowdell, Head of Marketing for Williams Jet Tenders and Josh Stoddard, Head of Engineering at EVOA Propulsion, a US developer of high power electric boat drive systems that was contracted by Williams to do an all electric version of their EVOJET 70.

The EVOJET 70e was a Finalist in the 2024 Gussies Electric Boat Aw...