Plugboats Newsletter May 15, 2025

May 15, 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

As always, lots happening in the world of electric boats. Here’s a selection of some of what Plugboats has been covering the past few weeks:

  • The E1 electric speedboat racing series is gathering…well, speed. They’ve filled out the schedule for this season and have signed up new media partners that reach one billion devices able to stream the competitions live.

  • World Boating Day is next weekend. As of now, there are no electric boat events on their calendar But maybe you, or someone you know, can be the first to participate!

  • We took the Scout 215 XSF with the Flux 100 electric outboard for a spin in Miami. Read all about it!

  • Sunreef Yachts has launched the next-gen of their solar skin hull composite material

  • The UK has 8 new high speed marine chargers with the completion of The Electric Seaway project

  • JOOOL is a new electric system for sailboats, from the people behind Energies Alternatives

See below for a bit more information on the stories, and if any of them interest you, just click to go to Plugboats for the whole story.

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

PS: Instead of clicking on ‘read more’, you can listen to the Audio Newsletter, which includes all the information from all the articles below.

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EVENTS | SHOWS | EXHIBITIONS

World Boating Day, a collective celebration of leisure boating launched last spring, is scheduled to return this May 24 with events planned at dozens of shipyards, marinas, yacht clubs, sailing schools, and other sites across 20 countries and three continents.

While the official day is May 25, it includes any event being held from May 18 to 25. The aim is to make the leisure boat and yachting industry more accessible and engaging by showcasing the people behind the scenes.

COMPETITIONS | SPEEDBOATS

The E1 Series of electric speedboat racing has added two new races and relocated another to fill out the schedule for 2025, also adding new media partners that make the events available to over 1 billion potential viewers worldwide. Dubrovnik, Croatia and Lagos, Nigeria have been added to the schedule and the race held at Lake Como in Italy’s Lake District last year will now take place at nearby Lake Maggiore.

Sponsored Content

LEISURE BOATS   |  OUTBOARDS

I got an invitation to go out for a sea trial on the 215 Scout XSF with Flux Marine co-Founder Ben Sorkin during the 2025 Miami Boat Show and jumped at the opportunity. Scout Boats launched the 215 XSF in 2016 (non-electric version) and it and has earned a reputation for being a comfortable, affordable, well made boat. There are a couple of things that make it a good candidate for an electric outboard and match up particularly nicely with Flux’s technology.

SOLAR   |  YACHTS  |  MULTIHULLS

Sunreef Yachts, which developed the Solar Skin solar panel hull material introduced in 2022 and improved in 2024, has again boosted efficiency and performance with the launch of Solar Skin 3.0. It makes another leap from the Solar Skin2.0 with the solar panels embedded in the hull smart panels now able to dynamical;y adjust its electrical output to mitigate shading effects from sails and superstructure.

CHARGING   |  INFRASTRUCTURE 

Aqua superPower and its consortium partners have announced the completion of The Electric Seaway project that delivers marine charging infrastructure along the south coast of the UK.

The chargers are available to any electric leisure and commercial vessels under 24m (≈ 80 ft) and are part of the UK’s Maritime 2050 decarbonization targets. The system is projected to prevent significant CO2 emissions as an important step forward in reducing the environmental impact of marine activity along the south coast.

MOTORS   |  SAILBOATS   

JOOOL is the name of a new turnkey system for hybrid and electric propulsion for sailing yachts. It was developed and manufactured in France by the team behind Alternatives Energies, who have over 25 years of expertise in marine electrification.

The three boats with JOOOL at La Grand Motte International Multihull Show:

  • Fountaine Pajot Aura 51: the largest non-flybridge sailing catamaran in the Fountaine Pajot range

  • Leopard C46: one of Sail Magazine’s Top Ten Best Boats in 2025

  • Yacht Concept Day One 80: A hybrid 80-foot day charter yacht sailing 100% electric in the protected Calanques region near Marseilles.

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.)