Luxury with electric at the Berlin boat show

(22 Nov 2019) LEAD IN

Luxury is going hand in hand with electric at the Boat and Fun show in Berlin.

Normal petrol powered engines still dominate, but some say that an electric future of boating is inevitable.



STORY-LINE

If you want luxury boating, look no further.

This is the Cranchi M44 HT, a 13,8 meter long and 4,06 meter wide luxury yacht.

It is not the biggest boat around, but that is also part of its selling point. The Cranchi M44 HT has been designed to be able to travel along narrow canals as well as on open sea water.

There is one catch, the price tag of more than half a million Euros.

But, it can be seen as a floating house, says Christine Kruchten, salesperson for Enjoy Yachting that sells the Italian made Cranchi in Germany.

"It is like a little house. A lot of people really sell their house, maybe get a small flat as a land base, and then spend most of the year on this boat. You can easily travel though the canals but also out on the lakes and the sea."

Like most other larger boats here at the 'Boat and Fun' show in the German capital Berlin, the Cranchi M44 HT is powered by a diesel engine.

The smaller boats, like this Hermes Speedster luxury racing boat, are usually powered with petrol.

The Hermes Speedster even looks a bit like a car, with the design being inspired by the Porsche 365, a luxury car made by the German sports car maker in 1948-1949.

The hand crafted Hermes Speedster has a top speed of 73 kilometers per hour and will set you back 119, 500 Euro. But it is the height of stylish luxury in the racing boat segment.

"We are particularly looking for clients which really want an awesome and unique boat which is something you don't see every time," says Patrick Fliers, salesperson for Nicks Boats in the Netherlands that sell the Hermes speedster

"Because it is eye catching and pretty solid and fast it is for persons that really want a boat to have a playful way to drive the boat, or just hang, or go fast of course."

But, a diesel or petrol boat is loud, and far from environmentally friendly.

Some boating enthusiasts are looking towards electrification, hoping that new electric boats with longer ranges will soon come to the market.

One that could be a game changer is the Q30 yacht from the Finnish company Q Yachts OY.

The range of the boat differs according to the battery pack that is installed, and also according to the speed it's going.

But under normal circumstances, and at cruising speed with a large battery pack, the yacht has a range of 80 nautical miles or 148 kilometers.

It is also a stylish boat, with LED lights on the outer hull and a sleek interior design.

But, the price tag of a bit over 211,000 Euro will be enough to scare off many potential buyers.

Thorsten Irgang, CEO of PurVolt that sells the Q30 in Germany, is certain that the future of boating is electric.

"The way we look at it, the future of boats needd to be electric," he says.

"Climate change is one reason. The other reason is environmental pollution with exhaust and oil in the water. We want to avoid that. With car it has got to the point where you can say that the range is long enough for it to be good enough. With boats it has been a problem to get a long range with a high speed. That is gradually improving and with this construction here the efficiency and the design is really at the forefront."

A more budget electric boat is the Interboat 19, a 6.3 meter long open boat with an with electric engine.

The Interboat 19 will set you back 45, 385 Euro.



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