Plugboats Newsletter July 29, 2025

Author

Plugboats
July 29, 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

Here’s the Regular Subscriber Newsletter which you would have received in your mailbox on July 29

This is a bit of a different kind of electric boats newsletter in that it deals with only three subjects, but each of them two times. The first is the Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo, which was in Europe late June. In this newsletter there is the pre-show overview and then the post show article about the winners in the Awards presented at the show.

Then there are two articles about the E1 Series of electric speedboat racing. The Lake Maggiore leg was in late June, and then only three weeks later was the event in Monaco. This is really shaping up to be an exciting series, with only 1 point separating the top two teams chasing the championship (125 points to 124) and two other teams only slightly back of that. The Series takes a break until October and then the final races take place in early November.

The Monaco Energy Boat Challenge (MEBC) is the ‘grandaddy’ of electric boat events, started in 2014 and celebrating its 12th anniversary with this July’s meet. This is a fantastic event all around, for engineering students, commercial e-boat companies and electric boats in general. Again, there are two articles highlighted in the newsletter. One gives an outline of everything taking place during the Challenge along with a full list of competitors. The second provides the results afterwards and notes on some very interesting technologies being proven there.

What you’ll see in the newsletter after this and in Plugboats in the coming days is some of the things that were taking place at those events.

  • On the E1 Series, you can’t notice them on the video coverage of the races, but there are electric Orca jetskis from Taiga on the course working with the emergency and officiating crews. The company is getting on a bit of a roll and I’ll be writing about that.

  • Then there is the Competr outboard developed by one of the university teams that has been participating in the MEBC for the past 6 years and now have the motor available commercially.

  • Also at Monaco was the Dhamma Blue electric / hydrogen boat, and Molabo now has their 48 volt electric motor on two exciting projects – an F4 electric racing boat hull with the Yacht Moteur Club de France that was there this year and the Malizia sailing yacht that was there two years ago.

So aside from racing and other competitions, there is lots more on electric boats coming up. Stay tuned, thanks for your support of Plugboats and I hope you enjoy this newsletter.

Jeff Butler,
Editor / Publisher
Plugboats.com

SHOWS | CONFERENCES | MOTORS

The Electric & Hybrid Marine Expo Europe returned to the RAI Center in Amsterdam June 24 -26, a must-attend event for those driving maritime electrification and decarbonization Over 150 exhibitors – shipbuilders, engine and drivetrain manufacturers, battery and fuel cell suppliers, shore charging specialists and others from around the world showcased the latest developments shaping the future of sustainable and efficient maritime technologies..

SHOWS | CONFERENCES | MOTORS

The E&MEHE show leans towards solutions for the larger industrial and commercial vessels used for shipping or ferrying, but there were a number of manufacturers there who also serve leisure and recreational marine.

So it was with the show awards presented on the first evening. There were nine categories recognizing and honouring the world’s manufacturers, suppliers, engineers, innovations and products in the electric and hybrid marine propulsion arena.

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COMPETITIONS | SPEEDBOATS | HYDROFOILING

On the fourth leg of this year’s E1 electric speedboat championship, the team owned by NFL superstar Tom Brady put on an impressive showing to take the top podium spot at Italy’s Lago Maggiore June 27 and 28.

Team Brady pilots Emma Kimiläinen and Sam Coleman – champions in the inaugural series last year – grabbed the Pole Position after Friday’s time trials and led from the start in all four Saturday races, grabbing 38 point and jumping to third place in the overall standings.

COMPETITIONS | RESEARCH | BOATS | MOTORS | ALL-ELECTRIC | HYDROGEN

‘Electric’ really is the best word to describe the overall atmosphere at the MEBC, as more than 400 students from 28 universities in 19 countries frantically tune their boats for the races while also being interviewed throughout the week at Job Forums held by the commercial boat manufacturers…who are themselves prepping for their races…while the team members of experimental vessels pushing the boundaries of next-gen propulsion prepare for their races…and attendees of the international yachting conference listen to experts discussing the latest advances in alternate fuels and propulsion systems.

COMPETITIONS | RESEARCH | BOATS | MOTORS | ALL-ELECTRIC | HYDROGEN

The 12th annual MEBC – Monaco Energy Boat Challenge – took place July 2 – 6 and was another shining success in showcasing the rapid advance of non fossil-fuel propulsion – where it is at now and what lies ahead for the future.

Boundaries were pushed in every class, a number of records were broken, and at the same time the racing was taking place on the water, there were two conferences being held indoors at the host Yacht Club de Monaco: one on advanced yachting and another on hydrogen and alternative fuels.

COMPETITIONS | SPEEDBOATS | HYDROFOILING

Monaco, one of the highlight locations for the inaugural season of the E1 Series electric speedboat races, welcomed the event back on July 19. The overall championship standings were tightening at the top of the leaderboard as the celebrity owners of the teams gathered to watch the races amidst the glamor of the Riviera.

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.)