New 15 metre (50 ft) eco-conscious electric patrol boat

An all electric patrol boat that makes use of a variety of eco-conscious materials and technologies has been commissioned by the province of Friesland in the Netherlands.

Most often the boats of this length – 15 metres / 50 feet – that are powered by battery electric engines are ferries, because they can recharge or top up the charge after each trip.

Read: World’s busiest ferry systems going electric hybrid

This electric patrol boat, named ‘PW10’, will be out on the water for long periods each day performing a variety of tasks such as inspecting shipping vessels. It will also be used for water sport events and to assist in emergency situations as called upon.

Electric patrol boat has solar panels on cabin roof

At the end of the day she will be charged on shore with ‘green’ energy (presumably from renewable sources). The PW10 also has ten solar panels on the roof of the cab and has  also been planned so that it can be converted to hydrogen fuel cell propulsion in the future if desired.

solar hydrofoil boat from designers of electric patrol boatsThe PW10 will be built by Talsma shipyard and was designed by yacht company Vripack who specialize in ships even larger than this, up to and including the 45m / 148 ft Nordhaven expedition yacht. Five of their yachts have successfully navigated the Northwest Passae, and at the other end of the scale, Vripack created the specifications for and first boat in the one-design V-20 Class of hydrofoiling boats in Solar Sport One solar boat races.

Green technology throughout electric patrol boat

CEO Marnix Hfoeksta was one of the key members of the METSTRADE 2019 panel discussion on designing boats with environmental sensitivity in mind along with the goal of reducing waste at end-of-use.

In the PW10 electric patrol boat the flooring is bamboo, the fast rowing grass which captures large amounts of CO2 and can release as much as 35% percent more oxygen than an equivalent mass of trees. The pipework is of recyclable plastic and the ceiling of the cockpit cabin is made from recycled plastic sourced from discarded PET water bottles.

Read: Solar boat races win UIM environmental award

There are also ‘green’ innovations integrated into other aspects of the boat. Rather than drawing on the battery to heat the pilot and others in the cabin, the PW10 uses a heat pump, similar o those found in houses. It extracts heat from the surface water the PW10 travels though and transfers the energy to warm the water of two energy storage tanks that are then used to regulate cabin temperature.

First electric boat for shipyard

50 m tall crane hotel built in part by the shipyard doing the electric pilot boatThis is the first electric boat to be made by the Talsma shipyard, which has a history of taking on forward leading projects. Its portfolio ranges from building hulls for superyachts to converting naval ships to luxury personal cruise boats and even working on the transformation of a shipyard building crane into Amsterdam’s famous Faralda luxury hotel. The budget for the electric patrol boat is 1.6 million euros (US$ 1.7 million).

Gerard Cnossen, Commerical Manager at Talsma, said  “It’s great that a Frisian shipyard is building this innovative ship. In addition to direct employment for us, this assignment can be a spin-off for future projects.”

Exciting things are happening every day in electric boats and boating.
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