ELECTRIC DREAMS


WE ALL UNDERSTAND THE NEED TO HELP PROTECT AND REGENERATE THE OCEAN, AND WITH THESE ELECTRIC TENDERS YOU CAN MAKE A VERY REAL DIFFERENCE WORDS: ADAM FIANDER


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f there was one word that best describes boat design and the different ways in which people use their boats, that word would have to be ‘compromise.’ Whether it’s simplicity over complexity, range over speed, or comfort over inconvenience, a compromise can be found in almost every aspect of boating


and boat design. One area where the customer is having to compromise less and less is within the field of alternative, ‘clean’ power sources, with hybrid and full-electric propulsion leading the charge.


Electric driven engines are now a very real and practical choice for eco-minded boaters and the technology is particularly apt for boats used as tenders or small runabouts that are not normally required to operate for long periods of time.


Let’s take a look, therefore, at some of the more intriguing and progressive zero-emission electric boats with tender potential. First up is the British built Pixii SP800, an aluminium hull boat, launched at the Green Tech Boat Show in Plymouth, UK, earlier this year.


Named after Frenchman, Hippolyte Pixii, who invented the first bona-fide electric generator in 1832, the Pixii SP800 can be used either with one or two electric motors linked to waterjet drives and a 150kWh battery pack. The SP800 claims a max speed of 40 knots, and 22 knots for 1.5 hours, or 8 knots for an extended 100-mile cruising range and you’ll notice that 40 knots is the highest speed listed in my entire report.


As a first attempt, it’s an extremely eye-catching design, although I am not convinced the raised T-Top would fit in too many stern garages at this point in time. An interesting technical innovation is a remote anchoring system, enabling you to beach the boat, jump off in a state of relative dryness, then send the boat back


48 | SUMMER 2022 | ONBOARD


out into deeper water for deploying the anchor until you need to summon it back to shore to pick you all up again.


Equally intriguing are two new boats from Pixii, still on the drawing board but coming soon. The Hippo is a more ‘workboat orientated’ design and the Pixii 6 will be a scaled back version of the SP800, using a 75KWh battery, perfect for ‘lighter’ duties, such as marina work, or as a cool superyacht runaround.


With very little waste created during the construction process, and a boat that claims to be 90% recyclable at the end of its usable life, the company behind the Pixii boats is making a very real and conscious decision to become as environmentally friendly across the board as possible.


Bucking the trend that says all new technology must be expensive, the incredible value for money Margonis WAVE e-550 range from the Barcelona head quartered company is a 5.5m well-made boat, with a choice of four ‘off-the-shelf’ electric engines, split between Torqeedo and MAG Power, ranging from 6kw to 30kw power output.


The smallest WAVE, the Torqeedo 6.0 RL, starts at just €32,025 ex VAT, which I find amazing considering if you draw a parallel with the car industry, which still sees electric cars, even small ones, as prohibitively expensive for many.


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