Winners of The 1st Gussies Electric Boat Awards

The voting in the 1st ‘Gussies‘ electric boat awards – officially the Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating –  has closed, having received  a total of over 10,000 votes across two rounds and three categories.

This is the world’s only international awards exclusively for electric boats. The first round had 50 electric boats nominated, a great demonstration of the huge variety of non fossil fuel boats now available, all responding to the quickly growing interest in these green solutions.

Even more indicative of the broad interest and growth of the industry is that the boats represented 19 countries of manufacture: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA

Electric boat awards in 3 categories

There were three categories (you can see all of the nominations in each category by clicking on the category name)

• Electric Boats Under 8 metres / 26 feet
• Electric Boats Over 8 metres / 26 feet
• Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers

Public voting decided which six finalists in each category would move on to the finals round. There were actually 19 total finalists because of a voting tie in the Under 8 m / 26 ft category.

The voting started on May 26, the 139th anniversary of the day M. Trouvé invented the outboard motor. Not just the electric outboard motor, but the outboard motor period.

Trouvé was an astoundingly prolific inventor with over 75 patents to his name. He took one of those inventions – an electric motor for a bicycle – down to the Seine River on May 26, 1881, connected it to a battery, attached the contraption to his boat ‘Le Teléphone’, set off down the Seine and made history: the world’s first outboard motor, attached to one of the world’s earliest rechargeable batteries, transporting a boat in silence along one of the world’s great waterways.

The end of the first round was July 2 and the voting finals began July 4, and the winners are being announced on July 27th, 2020, the 118th anniversary of Trouvé’s death in Paris. (At the time of this publishing, it IS July 27 for two of our winners.)

Trouvé succumbed to an infection after cutting his hand while working on his last innovation, a small portable device using ultra-violet light to treat skin diseases, the prototype of the PUVA therapy used today, and typical of the wide range of his work and imagination.

So, in salute to one of the great unsung heroes of electrification and the inventor of the outboard motor, these international electric boat awards have been named: The Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating…or more simply, ‘The Gussies’

Congratulations to all of the nominees, finalists and winners – as well as everyone who voted. You are truly changing the world.

The winners of the Gussies electric boat awards

Category I: Excellence in Electric Boats Under 8 metres / 26 feet
Avon eJet 450 Tender

The Avon eJet 450 Tender is handbuilt in France by Zodiac Nautic, and each one is signed by its construction supervisor. It has a Torqeedo Deep Blue 80 electric motor and BMWi3 lithium-ion battery hooked up to the company’s hyrdojet drive. The 4.5 metre / 14.75 foot RIB can hit a top speed of 30 kts / 55km/h / 34 mph with a range of 1.5 hours at 24 knots, 8 hours at 5 knots and 4 hours of use at speeds somewhere in between.

Finalists:  Besla 715 • Boesch Portofino 750  • Candela 7 • Electracraft 18TRS • Nautique Super Air GS22E •  SunWave S2

Category II: Excellence in Electric Boats Over 8 metres / 26 feet
Aquanima 40

The Aquanima 40 is from Azura Marine of Singapore, the culmination of years of development that started with adding solar panels to a traditional Indonesian fishing boat and taking it on a 2,000km voyage without burning a single drop of fuel. She has 24/7 autonomy and on a recent 4 hour sea trial actually came back with more energy than she started with, thanks to the 56 square metres / 600 sq.ft of solar panels on her roof.

Finalists: Designboat Elektrotender 08e • Electricat • Evoy 1 • Pogo Loxo 32 • Silent Yachts Silent 55

Category III: Excellence in Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers
Aditya Solar Ferry

The Aditya, from Navalt Boats, is a sun-powered commuter ferry that is one of the great stories of the future of electric marine propulsion. Every day she makes 22 trips with 75 people on board – that’s 580,000 people a year – and the charging cost to top up the batteries is US$2.60 – TWO DOLLARS and SIXTY CENTS A DAY – preventing the burning of 58,000 litres of diesel and saving ₹ 4,612,000 – US$ 65,000 a year.

Finalists: e-Ferry Ellen • Green City Ferries BB Green 24 • Q Yachts Q30 Water Limousine • SeaBubbles • Soel Yachts SoelCat 12 •

Want to keep up with electric boats and boating?
Subscribe to the Plugboats newsletter so you don’t miss a thing!