The 6th edition of the Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating wound up last Wednesday with the announcement of the winners in ten categories.

More than 120 boats were entered from around the world, with 42 selected by the International Panel to go forward as Finalists and be voted on by the public, with more than 5,000 public votes tallied.

The votes are weighted – 75% Panel, 25% Public – and the results this year show (a) how dynamic the world of electric boat design and manufacturing is and (b) how difficult it is to select the gold award winners in some categories.

For the first time, there was a tie in the voting, in fact there were two ties. After adding up all of the Panel and Public votes in the categories ‘Electric Boats Up To 8m / 26 ft In Development’ and Over 8m / 26 ft In Production there was a difference of less than 1%. In fact there was only 1 vote between the two top finished in the Over 8 category.

The winners also showed that electric boating is growing all over the world, with three more countries added to the list of Gussies winners: New Zealand, Turkiye and Bulgaria– which had not one, but two winning boats.

The Gussies would not be possible without the support of two great presenting sponsors - EPTechnologies and Nautical Ventures. Thank you.

EP Technologies is a complete marine propulsion provider for electric and hybrid vessels – from small boats to luxury superyachts – with a range of innovative and highest quality products including motors, solid state batteries, controllers and software with sleek design and exceptional performance.

Nautical Ventures is one of the most prominent marine retailers in North America, with nine locations and an award-winning dealership network recognized for its scale and full suite of after-sales support, service, and consumer activations. As part of Vision Marine Technologies it has a division devoted exclusively to electric boats, PWCs and watertoys.

Below is a link to the page of Gussies Winners on Plugboats, but after appreciating the achievements of those winners, I hope you will also take a few minutes to click on the links on that page to explore all of the Nominees and Finalists.

As a side note, I was at the Metstrade exhibition and conference this past week and through coincidence I bumped into two of the three winners of the first Gussies Awards back in 2020 - Sandith Thandasherry of Navalt Solar Boats of India and Julien Mélot, who won for a solar recreational boat in 2020 and is now building an exciting line of folding trimarans.

Reflecting on the 10 categories now celebrated, the hundreds of electric boats that entered, the dozens of industry panellists and thousands of public voters, it is clear that electric boating has come a long way – and looking at the quality and diversity of the winning boats - that the possibilities are limitless and opening wider each day.

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

Jeff Butler,
Editor / Publisher
Plugboats.com