Metstrade 2024
Electric boating overview: higher power and new outboards By Jeff Butler,
plugboats.com
The three-day METSTRADE show, the world’s largest B2B exhibition for the leisure marine industry, wrapped up last November at Amsterdam’s RAI Convention Centre after recording its highest ever attendance: nearly 1,600 exhibitors and 20,000 attendees representing 134 nationalities.
What is also growing is the presence of electric boating exhibitors at the show, reflected not only in the sheer numbers, but also in the prominence of some stands which are not only significant in size but also in key locations throughout the show. Another indication is the addition of ‘sustainability’ as a major factor in deciding the winners of the show’s prestigious DAME Design Awards.
Dutch Electric Breakfast
Perhaps the best indication, though, is the ‘Dutch Electric Breakfast’ which was first organized in 2023 by Jamie Marley of Marine Electrification as “a gathering of like-minded industry friends involved in the electric and hybrid propulsion revolution”.
Jamie worked as Torqeedo’s Senior Field Service Engineer from 2014 to 2018, then started Marine Electrification to provide independent advice and custom electric propulsion installs. Aside from being one of the most knowledgeable people on the topic, he is also one of its most enthusiastic cheerleaders.
In 2023, maybe 20 people gathered at a small café across the street from the massive RAI Centre for a coffee, a bite and to talk electric propulsion. This year the staff of the De Uitsmijter was kept hopping for a good hour and a half as more than 50 showed up.
The crowd included Adria Jover, President of IEMA (International Electric Marine Association), Christoph Ballin (founder of both Torqeedo and TYDE boats), Clive Johnson of Vita Power, Dan Hook of RAD Propulsion, Nathan Steele of Seabird Technologies, Neil Mans and Mark Robotham of
New Zealand’s ZeroJet and many more representatives from major electric propulsion companies.
UK’s Helix motors stepped up to pay for the event and Senior Principle Designer, James Edwards, had placed a small item on one of the tables, a motor literally the size of a postcard: 102 mm in height/diameter and 165 mm in length (4″ x 6.5″). Good things do indeed come in small packages, as that little unit is capable of producing 120 kiloWatts of power.
It was a sign of the kinds of things that would be at the show across the street. High power electric motors would be one of the big themes of the electric METS, along with the introduction of some impressive outboards and other motor types like pods and saildrives.
There were other notable products and services, of course, but I would say ‘high power and outboards’ were my two biggest general takeaways from three days of exploring dozens of booths. The most common question traded by everyone in the electric boat industry at METS is ‘What have you seen that is interesting?’ So, this article is an attempt to answer that. There are short paragraphs below about each of the products.
84 | ISSUE 111 | MAR 2025 | THE REPORT
Image credit:
EVOY public media © Copyright Axopar
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