Round Britain electric rib
Electric cars have become very much part of everyday life but the technology of electric boats lags some way behind. Electric outboard engines for little boats, such as tenders to yachts, have been available for a while but as one early adopting friend said to me, 'I am willing to give it a go because you've got a big diesel engine on your boat and can come and rescue me!'. We're very interested in the development of this tec and have been following the adventures of Harry Besley, a young man who has just returned from an epic circumnavigation of Great Britain in an electric powered ridged inflatable, pushing the boundaries of what the current tec and infrastructure are capable of
Electricity and water, may be they do mix?
Before we start - Southampton Boat Show 2024 ticket promo code at the end, so read on.
The electrification of marine propulsion currently lags behind the automotive industry, the obstacles of scale and infrastructure being some of the obvious stumbling blocks. Even before those that are willing to be early adaptors has to come the pioneers who prove a concept. Meet pioneers Harry Besley and his Mum Jaquie - who had the crazy idea to circumnavigate the British Isles in a RIB powered by an electric engine.
We've been friends with the Besleys for many years. Ben Julian and Harry's Dad, Mark, went travelling together when they weren't much older than Harry is now. You never get very far into a conversation with either Mark or Jaquie without being asked, 'What's your latest project?', and where you might be left scrabbling through your brain for a better answer than, 'Life!' there is always a Beslely project on the go.
It was during one of these conversations over lunch that we learned about Harry and Jaquie's potential world record beating plan for Harry (now age 18) to helm an electric RIB around the coast of the UK. It turned out that the challenge was the tip of the iceberg given the infrastructure and technological challenges they faced to make the mission possible.
No doubt Harry would have an adventure and half skippering an eRIB around the coast but the objective was also to test what is currently possible with electric marine propulsion. Harry and Jaquie's aim was to accelerate change by raising awareness of what electric boats are capable of and highlight the market potential for developing boat design, battery technology and charging infrastructure.
The project would also collect real world data as the boat would be in continuous use in a range of conditions with consecutive charge and discharge cycles. This data could then be used by their commercial and academic partners to further improve electric boat systems and design. Not unsurprisingly such an innovative project attracted the attention of quite a few high profile marine sponsors and partners - Gill and Garmin amongst them.
So this summer Harry set off on his epic adventure and successfully completed his mission.
Massive congratulations to Harry and Jaquie.
For more information click on over to the Round Britain eRIB site - roundbritain-erib.org
OR even better you can meet them in person at the Southampton Boat show on the 13th, 14th, 21st & 22nd of September at stand F010 AND get £10 off boat show entry with prom code ERIB2024.
