The curtain has closed on the 63rd Genoa International Boat Show which once again was a great success this year. And the data confirms it:
- Almost 120 thousand people participated as visitors
- Over 1000 boats
- 1043 brands
- Almost 3200 tests in water were performed
Although we are already thinking about next year’s event, it’s time to focus on what happened in this latest edition, in particular on the Torqeedo front. Speaking about the event was Gennaro Giliberti, Torqeedo Business Unit Manager for Italy.
An increasingly important interest in electromobility
The Genoa Boat Show has become a point of reference for nautical enthusiasts, renewing the profound bond between Genoa and the sea. And this union is perfectly represented by Torqeedo’s proposals, as Giliberti explains:
“The Genoa Boat Show is a very important showcase for Torqeedo, it allows us to meet yachtsmen and production companies present in Italy. The interest in electromobility is increasingly high, and therefore also towards Torqeedo”.
What changed was the visitors’ approach towards the proposals of the electric market for the nautical sector. Consumers have a greater awareness and are interested not only in Travel engines, but also in more recent solutions and new, totally electric projects.
What drives the adoption of zero-emission mobility
The electric revolution is something that is happening now, and it’s certainly a very clear movement across many sectors, but in particular for the nautical one. This is demonstrated by constant development, sales growth, and consumer interest.
Consumers themselves are certainly fascinated by electric technology, but also by the benefits it offers. Let’s think, for example, of the reduction in maintenance, the high reliability, the good level of comfort, which is expressed above all through silent navigation, particularly for smaller boats where the user is much closer to the engine.
“We have an especially institutional interest in large engines, that is, boats that are dedicated to public services,” explained Giliberti, “But more and more people are aiming for sustainable tourism and many yachtsmen also want to get closer to an idea of sustainable tourism or use boats in a cleaner way. The time is up to say that the technology is ready, and the electric motor is very safe.”
However, what is still missing, as Giliberti himself underlines, is help at a legislative level , with the introduction of more stringent regulations in terms of emissions. Specifically, for example on outboards which are the highest fleet in circulation.
Towards the spread of electric in hybrid mode
In the more immediate future, the level of awareness of boaters could play a key role, as they have understood that the time has come to change something to gain a product that has less impact on the environment.
Undoubtedly, if we consider the work of large companies, the affirmation of electric vehicles combined with green hybrid solutions could occur, therefore with hydrogen fuel cells or other similar solutions. Even large shipyards are approaching this type of solution, with hybrid systems applied on various large boats, from 50-60 feet upwards. The approach is therefore fueled by greater sensitivity and the issue of safeguarding the marine environment. But the diesel seems to resist:
“Certainly the diesel engine for high power will not disappear,” Giliberti commented, “But perhaps it will get the support of the electric motor in dedicated solutions that will allow sailing for a period of time at low speed in electric mode and then sailing on the high seas with combustion engines”.
The most popular Torqeedo solutions at the Genoa Show
Torqeedo Travel, once again, reigns supreme at the Genoa Motor Show as the most accessible and easy-to-use plug and play engine. In fact, it’s possible to remove a combustion engine and apply an electric motor to a small boat in a very simple way. But that’s not all!
There is growing interest in the Cruise range and Pod units for the sailing market, where many boaters are looking to replace their combustion engine with an electric alternative.
Looking for new battery technologies
Generally speaking, the market demand is gaining confidence in innovative technological solutions that are increasingly sophisticated.
“Torqeedo offers solutions derived from the automotive sector , which is currently the field in which technology and electric mobility are most sophisticated. So, this is certainly one of the company’s strengths, but there is still much that can be done. The real qualitative leap will be made with batteries.”
In fact, today we rely on lithium batteries, but in the future, we will be able to focus on new battery technologies as they will be available at affordable prices on the market. In this way, providing more energy with reduced weights, it will be easier to make the change, that can be accepted even on larger boats.
Torqeedo’s next projects
Leveraging the exchanges with suppliers and interactions with consumers, Torqeedo has already set to work to cover new areas of the sector.
“We will soon present a project that allows electric vehicles to no longer be seen only as a propulsion tool. We are talking to large construction sites to provide support and replacement for generators. To date, in fact, a generator pollutes much more than the engine because it is on 24 hours a day and therefore our solutions aim to replace the traditional electric supplies to allow shipowners to fill up with energy produced in a power plant which certainly has much higher performance. This will avoid turning on the generators and therefore it will be possible to have cleaner electricity when at sea,” revealed Giliberti.
But Torqeedo’s big projects are not over: the company is working to further expand the service network. This year, in fact, the first course for workshops in Italian will be held to offer a much more widespread service network across the territory. Torqeedo customers will therefore be able to have increasingly greater assistance in various Italian regions.