Four electric boats from Kerala have made it to the list of finalists in the Gussies Electric Boat Awards 2022. They are the sole contenders from India.
They include Water Metro ferries that the Cochin shipyard built for Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and three vessels built by Navalt Solar and Electric Boats, Kochi. India’s first solar ferry Aditya that was built by Navalt for the Kerala State Water Transport Department (KSWTD) had bagged the award from among 12 such ferries across the globe, in 2020. It was the sole entrant from Asia.
The Gussies Electric Boat Awards, the sole exclusive awards for excellence in electric boats, were instituted in memory of Gustave Trouvé, a French electrical engineer and pioneer in electric cars and boats and a prolific inventor having over 75 patents. He had developed a five-metre-long prototype electric boat in 1881.
In three categories
The four vessels from India are competing in three of the six categories. Members of the public can participate in the online voting, to chose the winner in each category.
A fleet of 78 ferries has been envisaged under the ₹747-crore Water Metro project for operating in the Greater Kochi area, of which four ferries were handed over to the KMRL. The project will be the largest water transport system in the world under a single command and control system.
The ferries that are 25 m long and 6 m wide will link 38 terminals spread over 76 kilometres. Each 50-seat ferry will have generator back-up for emergency situations, metro sources said. They can attain speed of up to 10 knots (18 km per hour) and have aluminium alloy catamaran hull which creates minimal waves. The vessels, each priced at ₹7.30 crore, can be tracked from the operational control centre, while their batteries can be charged in 10 to 15 minutes, they added.
100-seat luxury vessel
The other three contenders are from the stable of Navalt, which has a boat yard at Aroor, near Kochi. ‘Indra’ is a 100-seat luxury vessel which can be used as a ferry or as a cruise boat. The vessel, 25 m long and 7 m wide, is full air-conditioned, like the Water Metro ferries and is competing in the same category. “In addition, its upper deck can accommodate 100 passengers. A unique element is that it has a frameless solar panel roof and can attain speed of up to 8 knots (15 kmph). Priced at ₹3.5 crore, it has low operational expenditure,” said Sandith Thandassery, founder CEO of the firm.
Its second vessel that has made it to the finals, ‘Srav’, is a solar-electric catamaran meant primarily for fishing. The boat has been designed to minimise its operational expenditure at sea, optimising fishers’ revenue. The third vessel in the fray, ‘Avalon’, is a luxury solar-electric catamaran designed to offer passengers a right mix of comfort and adventure. It can accommodate up to 15 passengers, he added.
