Plugboats Newsletter April 1, 2025

Author

Plugboats
April 02, 2025

Welcome to the world of electric boats and boating. This is the newsletter that regular readers of the Plugboats website receive. If you find it informative, I hope you’ll sign up. I also hope you will explore Plugboats.com, which has a lot more to offer than the simple newsletter. It is the world’s only international website dedicated 100% to electric boats and boating and has all the latest news as well as electric motor buying guides, an international directory of over 800 electric boat suppliers and a marketplace of electric motors and boats for sale, rent and charter. I hope you enjoy the newsletter and invite you to sign up - FOR FREE - and / or discover more at Plugboats.com

Regular Subscriber Newsletter

Once again there is a podcast version of this newsletter. Some people wrote to say they liked the option of listening rather than reading, so we’ll keep it going. Also, I have done individual podcasts of all the new stories -you can listen to them from the page on Plugboats or on any of the places where the Plugboats Podcast is carried.

Stories in this newsletter:

  • When I was at the Miami Boat Show I was out on the Aurora electric boat by E-Force Marine.

  • ACEL Power and Taiwanese Yacht company VIVIC Yachts are building electric catamarans together

  • Hovercraft, who are famous for their very popular electric / solar / inflatable houseboat have a new model

  • Voltari boats have delivered the first high speed electric RIB to the Canadian Cast Guard

  • and there is another WaVeS collection of short news items (at the bottom of the newsletter.)

    Oh, and by the way - as is noted in the WaVeS #26 article - all pleasure boats in Amsterdam now have to be electric or fossil fuel free as of the first of the month. And that is no April Fool’s joke!

    Thanks for your support of Plugboats and I hope you enjoy this newsletter.

    Jeff Butler,
    Editor / Publisher
    Plugboats.com

LEISURE BOATS   |  MOTORS 

Al Haghayegh retrofitted his family’s ICE powered dayboat and realized it could do 90% of what the old fossil fuel version did, but without the noise, smell and fuelling costs. He quickly saw the potential of electric propulsion and founded E-Force Marine to build electric boats for others.

The Aurora started out as a Tiara 3200 with twin 350 hp gas inboards. Al is a lifelong boater who traded in the family sailboat for a powered model so he and his then young family could better enjoy the waters in and around their Miami home. “A sailboat with two small kids is no fun” Al chuckled as we were getting ready to go out on the electric Aurora during the 2025 Miami International Boat Show.

CATAMARANS   |  MOTORS  |  YACHTS

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.

Sponsored Content

INFLATABLES   |  HOUSEBOATS  |  SOLAR  

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.

RIBS   |  COMMERCIAL  |  HIGH POWER  

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. Now the Canadian Coast Guard has taken delivery of a Patrol 26 RIB unit that will be patrolling the waters at the other end of the country of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

MOTORS   |  ELECTRONICS  |  FERRIES | COMPETITIONS   |  REGULATIONS

Plugboats WAVES (Watts, Amps, Volts, Electrons) is an occasional 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 system

  2. Two electric ferries for Spain – Morocco route

  3. As of April 1, all pleasure craft in Amsterdam must be fossil-fuel-free

  4. Gussies Winner taking part in Venice e-Regatta and Monaco Energy Boat Challenge

  5. Germany takes delivery of its first all-electric ferry

  6. Damen chosen for two electric ferries in Toronto, Canada

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the newsletter

As always, if you have any suggestions about what you would like to see covered in Plugboats, or have a lead on an interesting story, drop me a line! (hit 'Reply' or click on the email icon below.)