The Colombo 25 Super Indios E is an electrified version of the builder’s elegant 25-foot offering. It has a protected cockpit, a C-shaped settee and a sun-worshiping deck. The boat is propelled by two 35-kilowatt electric motors powered by a 72-kilowatt-hour battery; this combination yields 20 to 90 miles of range, depending on the skipper’s throttle-control habits.

Whom It’s For: Anyone who values near-silent and emissions-free boating.

Picture This: You’re entertaining friends at your summer place in Bar Harbor, Maine, and they’ve never seen Mount Desert Island. So, you load up your Colombo 25 Super Indios E and quietly cruise Somes Sound, stopping at Beal’s Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor for lobstah rolls. You show off Otter Cliffs on the way home before delivering a safe and memorable view of Thunder Hole.    

Take the next step: colomboboats.it

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Italian yacht builder Rossinavi announced the launch of the M/Y Seawolf X, a hybrid-electric power catamaran capable of cruising in full electric mode for 100 percent of the time on one-day trips.

In a press release from the company, Rossinavi announced the innovative yacht carries the BluE label designating the shipyard’s new sustainable philosophy. Seawolf X has a 140-foot length overall, 45-foot beam and is an all-aluminum vessel that combines sleek design with environmentally friendly solutions.

The press release notes that the catamaran can cruise in full-electric mode for 100 percent of the time on day trips and 90 percent of the time on multi-day trips. Rossinavi also states that the vessel is capable of making transatlantic trips while in electric mode 80 percent of the time. 

The Hibernation mode, kicking off when the power catamaran is moored, reduces consumption to a minimum and the energy generated can be given back to the dock or a private property. Rossinavi boasts that the Seawolf X supplies enough energy to charge up an entire villa. The ship’s two diesel generators can quickly recharge its batteries on shore power in five hours.

“After years of study and construction, it is now a source of satisfaction and pride for us to witness the launch of project Sea Cat, now Seawolf X, the first hybrid-electric multihull vessel,” said Rossinavi COO Federico Rossi in a press release. “This yacht showcases remarkable technological innovations in both power management and propulsion technologies, marking the beginning of a new chapter in next-generation vessels.”

Yacht of the future

Rossinavi’s BluE label hybrid-electric yachts are propelled by batteries and solar panels with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions. Energy collected by these solar panels during the day is stored in advanced batteries and released at night, creating a bioluminescent effect similar to glowing plankton.

On top of its environmental perks, Seawolf X also includes an onboard artificial intelligence system developed by Rossnavi. Rossinavi AI constantly analyzes the operation of the vessel and acts as a brain that can learn from observation and predict the needs of the guests on board. Rossinavi AI is able to talk with crew members and monitor the battery pack to keep it in a range of 20 to 80 percent –the ideal range to ensure better battery pack lifespan.

The boat’s exterior architecture is by Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design, while New-York-based practice Meyer Davis Studio designed the interiors. The Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design team came up with a sleek and low-profile silhouette, reminiscent of a sports car.

The yacht has three distinct spaces for outdoor living: a lively cockpit centered around a pool, a large sundeck with sunbathing and living spaces, and a bow area featuring a hidden pool and convertible home theater. The yacht design team accurately integrated solar panels into the vessel, ensuring plenty of surface space for energy recovery.

“We set out to envision the boat of the future, unbound by convention yet grounded in feasibility with cutting-edge technology for minimal environmental impact,” said Fulvio De Simoni, founder of Fulvio De Simoni Yacht Design, in a press release.

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The C-8 is candela’s second-generation, all-electric foiling boat. Stepping aboard, I felt more like I was aboard something from the aerospace industry than the marine sector. Weight, after all, matters greatly when takeoffs are involved. The C-8’s hydrofoils and computer system lift it clear off the brine once the foils are exposed to 16 knots of flowing water.

This vessel is built from carbon fiber, which keeps its dry weight at 3,527 pounds. Different center-console and day-cruiser configurations are available. I ran an open-top day-cruiser model, which has three helm seats, aft seating, a basic cabin and a head. Power came from Candela’s C-Pod drive system. This quiet, efficient 50-kilowatt electric motor is fitted inside a narrow torpedo-shaped pod that’s attached to the rudder’s outboard end. The system’s contra-rotating propellers are spun by dedicated inline motors. Fixed hydrofoils extend horizontally from the C-Pod’s fuselage, and a dedicated actuator controls rudder (and, therefore, hydrofoil) pitch.

In addition to the rudder foils, the amidships C-Foil system is part of the lift package. C-Foils are composed of two vertical struts and an 8.5-foot horizontal hydrofoil wing. The struts are attached to actuators on their inboard ends, and to the hydrofoil on their outboard ends. These actuators can simultaneously trim the foil’s angle of attack and twist 100 times per second.

Lifted vessels are inherently unstable, as their centers of gravity are above their lifting points. To counter this, C-8s are equipped with networked sensors that constantly measure ride height. Accelerometers, a GPS and a gyroscope measure the vessel’s movements across three axes. This data is fed to the flight-control computer, which generates foil-actuator commands.

This flight-control system also protects the vessel from poor user decisions, as I discovered while at the helm off Vancouver, British Columbia. When I attempted a rate of turn greater than 12 degrees, the system (wisely) moderated the boat’s speed to eliminate the chance of ventilating the foil and stalling. And it delivered a smooth, stable ride. There was nothing scary about the experience. Driving felt intuitive. When it was time, the flight-control system ensured a smooth transition back to displacement mode.

Most impressive was the C-8’s efficiency. According to Candela, at 20 knots, the vessel consumes 0.8 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which, the builder says, is the equivalent of just 0.026 gallons of gasoline.  

Take the next step: candela.com

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Sirena Yachts in Turkey has unveiled a hybrid version of its entry-level motoryacht, the Sirena 48.

The Sirena 48 made its debut at the 2023 Cannes Yachting Festival. Now, the builder is adding an option for buyers to outfit the engine room for silent power on demand without exhaust emissions.

Most of the same styling and features remain from the original Sirena 48, including three staterooms for guests. Sirena Yachts added a coupe-style coachroof where the original version of the boat had an open-air flybridge, for a couple of reasons. First, to create a sportier exterior, and second, to reduce the yacht’s weight and windage so performance and range can be enhanced for the electric propulsion.

The coachroof has solar panels set into it, adding more power for the yacht to use under electric operation.

“The hardtop design is particularly well suited to the hybrid drive system, and offers a remarkable solution in terms of aesthetics while maximizing the number of solar panels,” Sirena Yachts CEO Cagin Genc stated in a press release. “At Sirena Marine, we have been working hard to integrate a robust, meaningful hybrid option for some time. And though we are starting with our latest 48-foot yacht model, we are able to implement the solution on any of the yachts in our range, which runs up to 88 feet.”

The Sirena 48 hybrid has twin 213-kilowatt electric motors for a reported top speed of 14 knots. In silent electric mode, it can draw power directly from the battery bank to cover up to 30 nautical miles before switching on the variable-speed generators.

Sirena Yachts says one typical use case for that setup is a boat owner who wants to make a low-profile departure from the harbor or anchorage without the noise and emissions of a diesel system.

For longer range and more speed, the two generators produce electricity to drive the boat and recharge the batteries. Unlike a diesel engine, these generators can be positioned independently of the yacht’s propellers, reducing noise and vibration on board. When the boat reaches its destination, the batteries should be full again, allowing owners to overnight in total silence. There should be no need to start the generators for more than eight hours, even with the air conditioning on and the galley or audiovisual systems in use, according to the shipyard.

“By integrating hybrid solutions from e-Motion, Sirena Marine is bringing many new benefits to its yachts,” Genc added. “Not only can they offer quieter and more comfortable cruising at anchor and underway, we estimate that a hybrid system can reduce fuel consumption by up to 35 percent and cut maintenance costs by 10 to 15 percent.”

Can owners still choose layouts and styling with the Sirena 48 hybrid version? Yes. And the hybrid propulsion option is now available across all of the shipyard’s models.

Take the next step: click over to sirenayachts.com

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The Icon is BMW and Tyde GmbH’s first foray into the world of electric hydrofoil yachts. The Icon flies above the brine on three hydrofoils. These lift-generating appendages work in concert with the vessel’s twin rudders to balance gravity and centrifugal force while executing turns to yield what Tyde terms “coordinated curve control.”

Christoph Ballin, Tyde’s co-founder and managing director, says the toughest challenge his company faced when creating The Icon involved assembling the right team. While BMW initiated the project’s development and build, and is responsible for the yacht’s luxe interior and exterior design, Tyde’s crux involved bringing cutting-edge marine expertise—including forward-leaning companies and individuals with deep experience with hydrofoils and flight-control systems—to the design table. The magnet? “The concept was convincing,” Ballin says.

Flight control is handled by a centralized foil-control system that Tyde developed with Oceanflight Technologies. The system’s algorithm crunches incoming data from the vessel’s sensors 100 times per second, and it leverages custom-built actuators to articulate the vessel’s hydrofoils.

Power Play

The Icon is powered by dual Torqeedo Deep Blue electric motors that each spin a dedicated contra-rotating propeller. Hull and hydrofoil design was tackled by America’s Cup-winning naval architect Guillaume Verdier; as such, The Icon’s hull contributes to smooth takeoffs and landings. The Icon achieves a (ballpark) 50-nautical-mile range at its 24-knot cruising speed. Top speed is 30 knots. 

Take the next step: tyde.one

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Engineering efforts to electrify boat-propulsion systems took a sizable step in late November when ePropulsion announced an X Series of outboard engines.

The X Series includes the X12, X20 and X40, all of which are part of what company CEO Danny Tao calls “an intelligent and integrated platform” that boaters and boatbuilders can use to achieve a quieter, cleaner boating experience.

This series of engines is far from the first one that ePropulsion has produced since the company was founded in 2012. Its product range includes inboard and outboard electric motors, along with a pod-drive motor and a motor for standup paddleboards.

But the X Series is the most powerful version of an electric outboard that ePropulsion has produced to date, with its Spirit and Navy Evo models maxing out at 6 kW (equivalent to about 8 horsepower). Tom Watson, president of ePropulsion USA, said the X Series provides “incredible power.” The motors have a reported total powertrain efficiency of 88.2%. The X12 has 12-kW power, while the X20 generates 20 kW of power and the X40 delivers 40 kW of power (equivalent to almost 54 horsepower).

The research and development team at ePropulsion created an algorithm for X Series propellers, using more than 20 metrics to optimize hydrodynamic performance. The X Series also has frequency resonance isolation and vibration dampening technology, which should mean less vibration than aboard boats with comparable, traditional outboard engines.

According to ePropulsion, the X Series models also can weigh 36 percent less than traditional motors. The design places electric steering, power trim/tilt, an electric control unit and the controller within a single assembly, simplifying installation and minimizing intrusions into onboard space.

Also part of the X Series is ePropulsion’s Smart System Architecture, or eSSA. It is designed to allow for simple system configuration while supporting the integration of renewable energy systems.

And, speaking of evolving technology, the X Series has a digital helm and smart throttles that provide instantaneous feedback. The team at ePropulsion says this setup “opens the door to advanced driving assistance systems that improve safety and redefine aquatic navigation.” Features include position hold, heading hold and 360 motions to make maneuvering easier for skippers at the helm.

The ePropulsion Connectivity Service lets boaters access real-time boat and system status with monitoring, reporting and tracking.

How long will the X40 hold up? It’s built to the IP67 waterproof standard with projections of a 5,000-hour minimum service life, according to ePropulsion.

Take the next step: head over to epropulsion.com

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At the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October, ePropulsion premiered its X40 Electric Outboard.

ePropulsion says the X40 weighs 20 percent less than traditional motors while generating 40 kW of power, with 88.2 percent total powertrain efficiency. The design integrates electric steering, power trim and tilt, an electric control unit and a motor controller into a single unit.

The X40’s electric steering system eliminates the need for hydraulic components, and its built-in Connectivity Service offers real-time status, advanced monitoring, and reporting- and trip-tracking. Frequency resonance isolation and vibration-dampening technology are also part of the X40, for what ePropulsion says is less vibration than comparable outboards.

“We are always looking to innovate, not just to match what is available for standard internal combustion outboards but to move beyond their capabilities and provide real, enhanced performance while also providing a quiet, clean and powerful alternative for propulsion,” Danny Tao, CEO and co-founder of ePropulsion, stated in a press release.

How is the X40 built for the marine environment? It is reportedly IP67 waterproof with a minimum service life of 5,000 hours.

Take the next step: Go to epropulsion.com

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John Vo knows nil about boats. He says it’s ideal for an e-boat builder. “People ask us what experience we have, and I say, ‘Zip. Nothing. Zero,’” says Vo, whose team at Blue Innovations Group is preparing to launch its first electric boat, the R30, this autumn. “But you can’t use the same people from the same industry to revolutionize themselves.”

Vo, the former head of manufacturing for Tesla, is just one among many minds trying to bring electric-powered boats into widespread production. So many longtime boatbuilders are transitioning from internal-combustion to electric power, and so many other builders are popping up anew, that the president of the American Boat and Yacht Council says his agency’s safety experts are being “bombarded” with requests about technology that’s changing by the day. E-boat prototypes and launches are coming from long-standing marine brands such as Chris-Craft (the Launch 25 GTe) and Four Winns (the H2e) at the same time that newer brands are promising everything from an electric dayboat (the Blue Innovations R30) to a catamaran with world-cruising capability, but without generators or fuel tanks (the Zen50).

And as the boats get bigger than about 30 feet length overall, trying to understand all the different ways they can work becomes even more of a challenge.

“I expect, in the nautical industry, we will have full-electric propulsion, but we can expect hybrid energy,” says Michael Jost, founder of eD-TEC, an electric-propulsion system that will be on the Silent Speed 28 tender at the Cannes Yachting Festival this autumn. “There will be smaller boats that can run fully electric, and the bigger boats will have fully electric propulsion but hybrid energy.”

Before joining the marine community, Jost was a manager at Volkswagen, helping to lead its transition to electric power in vehicles. He says the recreational marine industry today is where automotive was decades ago: filled with ideas and trying to learn what the broader marketplace solutions will be. The difference between automotive and marine, he says, is that with marine, you can go from displacement to gliding to foiling.

That’s right: Foiling technology that lifts boats off the water’s surface is also part of e-boat thinking today—so are wing sails, which most boaters recognize as part of the high-tech builds used for America’s Cup racing. And, of course, there’s ever more ways to install solar power, which can help recharge the banks of batteries that make electric boats go.

Every possible idea is on the table, Jost says, because the way cruising boats have always been built just isn’t efficient enough for the switch to e-power, which includes heavy batteries that weigh boats down. “The boats of today are not true,” Jost says. “If you have a bad boat, you don’t see it. You put more power, more gasoline inside, and then you are happy. But if you go electric, you are not happy because you don’t get the range. The boat has to be much more efficient than an internal-combustion boat—and the boat business does not want to change the hull. That’s why we are looking to support builders working with the hydrodynamic foils.”

Vo says his team at Blue Innovations Group is also trying to think differently about boat design: Forget about the hulls that traditional molds were built to create, and wonder instead about what might be possible from scratch. “In the old days, anybody who came to Tesla with a long automotive resume, we threw it in the trash,” Vo says. “Otherwise, you’ve got these people with a lot of experience, and they can overwhelm you. Instead of building your vision, they will try to assimilate you, and you revolutionize nothing. You just add another mediocre company. It’s difficult but necessary for us not to hire anybody with boat experience until we reach a critical mass and launch the product. At that point, we’d be stupid not to incorporate their experience into our process.”

Then again, brands with marine experience are also trying to lead. At Mercury Marine, vice president of e-solutions Perissa Bailey—who previously was director of technology at Ford Motor Co.—says it’s understood that electric boats are still in the phase of early adopters, with companies trying to figure out exactly what consumers want. One thing they know for sure at Mercury Marine, she says: “They don’t want to compromise the time they spend on the water. In the early electrification days in automotive, there were a lot of questions about range anxiety. It forced consumers to think about how many miles they drive a day and what’s the cost of ownership for an electric vehicle for that many miles. We’re going through that same learning curve in marine. Customers are saying, ‘If my leisure boating activity typically consists of this many hours on the water, I don’t want to compromise that just because I go electric. And if there’s a series of activities I do, if I’m [riding on a PWC] or fishing or whatever I do, I don’t want to compromise those either if I go electric. I don’t want to have to adapt my usage pattern to a technology. I want the technology to adapt to that usage pattern.’”

The trick is that the technological solution for a boater who wants to cruise to dinner and back is likely to be far different from the solution for a boater who wants to cruise off the grid for months, says Julien Melot, CEO and designer at Zen Yachts, which is preparing to launch the Zen50 catamaran. It has solar power, along with a wingsail, with the latter adding the long-distance range that previous models lacked. “The last boat was great for coastal cruising, but I would not have sold it to a family that wants to cross the Pacific. If it gets cloudy or overcast, the laws of physics apply, and you won’t have enough power to escape the storm,” Melot says. “On the Zen50, with the addition of the wingsail, that problem is solved.”

As with some of the other brands in the e-boat space, Zen Yachts is seeing early adopters who don’t necessarily fit the profile of traditional boaters. “Our client base is not experienced sailors,” he says. “They are more attracted by the fact that you are self-reliant. If the world collapses one more time, they know they can take their boat out, and they’ll be fine.”

And some leaders in this space are already thinking past the boats. They’re focusing instead on where boaters will want to go, as more styles of e-boats take to the water. Silent-Resorts, which is affiliated with the catamaran builder Silent-Yachts, is now creating destinations to harness electric power and make recharging easy for all types of boats, no matter what comes next. The first location, in the Bahamas, is scheduled to finish construction later this year, with build-out starting on the second location, in Fiji, around that same time. “We’re talking with all the builders,” says Victor Barrett, CEO of Silent-Resorts. “We’re setting up in areas where cruising is popular, and we’re setting up the micro grid that connects the marinas, facilities and residences. If you have a house that’s not occupied, all that power is going into the central grid so the boats can plug in, charge fast and go. The boats can feed power into the island as well. We’ll be the first company in multiple locations to have Silent-Marinas ready to accept electric boats.”

All these advancements, of course, are far from inexpensive. The cost of a Blue Innovations Group R30 is about $300,000. The Silent Speed 28, Jost says, is likely to retail for about 500,000 euros (that was about $550,000 at press time). “The batteries are expensive,” Jost says. “You need new software. You have to develop it. And you have to make it lightweight. It might take about five years for the price to come down.” Until then, expect to pay as much as $440,000 to $660,000 for e-boats up to about 30 feet length overall, he adds. “It’s double what you pay for an outboard system, but the scale of combustion comes from the automotive industry, so if that industry loses scale by going electric, you will also lose that scale for the nautical industry on combustion.”

And the people buying e-boats right now often care more about innovation than prices. Melot says four Zen50 catamarans have been sold. The first and third are going to the East and West coasts in the United States; the other two are headed to Europe. Three of the four clients are Tesla shareholders. “Typically, the clients already have an electric car, they already have solar panels on their home, and the next thing they can buy is an electric boat,” he says, adding that for these folks, electric power is the top consideration. “They don’t want to hear about a yacht that has diesel on board.”

Deep Blue

Torqeedo’s Deep Blue 100i 2500 is an inboard system that provides 100 kW of continuous power for planing powerboats. It’s made with the same type of lithium batteries that are now found in some cars, but with components that are waterproof and that come with monitoring to guard against short circuits. The company offers a nine-year warranty for boats in private use, with the hope that the long guarantee will help customers feel secure about the type of power. Torqeedo also markets Deep Blue as low-maintenance and emission-free.

Taking Orders Now

Blue Innovations Group is taking reservations for the R30, which is expected to cost about $300,000. Customers who put down $5,000 can get one of the first 100 hulls. For $1,000, customers can be next in line after that. As of this writing, more than 50 reservations were in hand.

For Day Cruising

While some e-boat builders are trying to solve design challenges for long-distance cruising, Blue Innovations Group is starting with a dayboat. The 30-foot R30 will have the capacity to carry 12 people with an estimated run time of eight hours and a top hop of 39 knots.

Even Stronger

Swedish e-boat builder X Shore recently announced a partnership with the German company Bosch Engineering to improve the performance and efficiency on the drive system aboard the 21-foot X Shore 1. Bosch’s background is in passenger cars, commercial vehicles, RVs, rail, ships and other industries. This partnership marks Bosch’s first foray into the world of e-boats for leisure use. The goal of the partnership is to share series production experience as well as proven high-performance components from the automotive world.

Floating Solar Concept

The team working on creating Silent-Resorts is talking with government officials in Fiji about deploying a floating ring that collects rainwater and generates solar power as an eco-friendly way to address two of the biggest challenges that hamper island development. Eventually, a similar system may also launch in the Bahamas.

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Aqua superPower is the first company to supply AC and DC charging stations for electric yachts to select marinas at no cost. Aqua superPower manages the grid connection and the installation process, and then the company owns, operates and maintains the stations, as well as the back-end network, mostly via the cloud. Each charging station is connected to Aqua superPower’s office, and customers pay Aqua superPower directly for usage. Aqua superPower seeks installation sites that are popular with commercial or recreational marine traffic, and geographic areas with higher rates of adoption of electric-powered vessels.

Safety is always paramount when dealing with high-voltage electricity. “We explored various charging protocols and adopted the universal electric-vehicle Combined Charging System, which uses connectors to provide power up to 350 kilowatts,” says Alex Bamberg, CEO of Aqua superPower. “This plug is particularly suited for marine applications, as it doesn’t go live until it has made an electronic handshake with the battery. If it’s dropped into water prior to connection with the boat, it’s not live.”

Aqua superPower’s app can help customers find charging stations, check availability, provide real-time charging management and tackle billing. As of now, most charging stations are in the United Kingdom or other areas of Europe; however, Aqua superPower is making US inroads.

Supercharged

Aqua superPower’s charging stations deliver AC power (up to 22 kilowatts) and DC power (up to 350 kW; their typical output is 150 kW). While recharging 80 percent of a typical electric boat’s battery takes eight to 10 hours on the AC charger, the amount of time needed reportedly can be reduced to 20 to 60 minutes using the DC supercharger. Aqua superPower station equipment is IP65-rated.

Take the next step: aqua-superpower.com

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Sunreef Yachts is preparing for the debut of the 80 Sunreef Power Eco at the upcoming Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

The yacht, christened Sól, is built with what Sunreef says is “the industry’s biggest battery bank in the category of leisure crafts up to 24 meters.” That battery bank, in conjunction with solar panels that are built into the yacht itself (including on the hullsides), reportedly gives the 80 Sunreef Power Eco the ability to cruise for close to 300 nautical miles.

Sunreef will be displaying the 80 Sunreef Power Eco alongside the Sunreef 80, which is a sailing version of the catamaran that the yard says is one of its best-selling models.

Will the 80 Sunreef Power Eco Sól be available for charter? Yes. It’s part of the Regency fleet and will be heading to the Virgin Islands for the upcoming winter charter season, after the boat show in Fort Lauderdale.

Take the next step: Visit the Sunreef Yachts website at sunreef-yachts.com

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