The Gussies Electric Boat Awards – 19 Finalists Announced

UPDATE: Voting for The Gussies is over. You can find the results »» here.

These are all of the nominated boats in Category I. You can click on any of the images or ‘more info’ links to visit their sites and find out more

The Gussies Electric Boat Awards finalists have been chosen and the ultimate winners will be selected from 19 very deserving electric boats.

On May 26, 2020 – 139 years to the day after inventor and electric boat pioneer Gustave Trouvé took his electric outboard powered boat along the Seine (see below),  – the inaugural Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating were announced along with nominees in three categories:

• Electric Boats Under 3 Metres/26 Feet
• Electric Boats Over 3 Metres/26 Feet
• Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers.

An online vote was held to decide which of these nominees would proceed to the finals of the awards – 6 boats in each category.

The results are in, but first a word about Gustave Trouvé

There were almost 4,000 votes placed, from all over the world. In the end, 19 boats have been entered in the finals, from 12 countries spanning 3 continents. Why 19 nominees and not 18 There were two boats that received the same number of votes in the sixth place position of the Under 8 Metre category.

But before announcing the Finalists…a little bit about why these awards bear the name of   Gustave Trouvé?

Trouvé was an electrical engineer and astoundingly prolific inventor with over 75 patents to his name. He came up with the prototypes for the metal detector and the endoscopes used in medicine today, an electronic musical keyboard, portable microphone and much more.

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.

This was 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.

Kevin Desmond, the man who literally wrote the book on electric boats: ‘Electric Boats and Ships, A History’, and also wrote ‘Gustave Trouve: French Electrical Genius’ has this to say about the idea:

“Very pleased indeed with this initiative, not merely to promote innovative excellence with electric boats, but as another real step in the rehabilitation of the French Edison or Tesla, inventor of over 70 machines, forgotten for over a century, but now on the comeback.”

Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats: The Gussies

Now,  like all good awards, the Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating needs a name that is a bit easier to remember. So we are calling them ‘The Gussies’.

The idea for the Gussies started to come together in late 2019 and the initial plan was to have The Gussies include a combination of juried voting by a number of international electric boat experts with public polling and have the award presentations at the 2020 Venice Boat Show and e-Regata in early June.

Unfortunately, some unexpected circumstances that we are all painfully aware of got in the way. So, like many other events in the past few months, The Gussies went online and virtual. Like anything online, there have been some advantages and some disadvantages to doing it his way.

In the end, it seems The Gussies have thus far established that: A – the time is right for awards that recognize electric boats as a standalone type of marine transportation and not a sub-category and B: many more people are becoming interested in electric boats every day.

So, if you’re impatient you can go right to the ‘Click Here to Begin Voting’ button at the bottom of this page, or you can read the finalists names here first (alphabetical order):

Excellence in Electric Boats Under 8 Metres / 26 Feet

As noted, there are 7 finalists in this category due to to a tie in votes for 6th place

Avon E-Jet 450 (France)
Besla 715 (Netherlands)
Boesch Portofino 750 (Switzerland)
Candela 7 (Sweden)
Electracraft 18TRS (USA)
Nautique SuperAir GS22E (USA)
SunWave S2 (France)

Excellence in Electric Boats Over 8 Metres / 26 Feet

Azura Aquanima (Singapore)
Designboats ElektroTender 08e (Switzerland)
Electricat (Slovenia)
Evoy 1 (Norway)
Pogo Loxo 32 (France)
Silent Yachts Silent 55 (Austria)

Excellence in Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers

Aditya Solar Ferry (India)
Ellen e-Ferry (Denmark)
Green City Ferries BB Green 24 (Sweden)
Q30 Water Limousine (Finland)
SeaBubbles (France)
Soel Yachts SoelCat 12 (Netherlands)