A berth holder at Lymington Yacht Haven has broken new ground by becoming the first fully electric boat to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight non-stop.
The Optima e10, a fully electric boat made by Optima Electric Yachts, completed the 51mile round trip in on Monday 12th June. Averaging 8.5 knots, the passage took a little under 6 hours with owner and company CEO David Kendall and crew enjoying a celebratory drink back on berth at Lymington Yacht Haven.
Pushing the boundaries of design
Built in the Solent and first launched in early 2023, the Optima e10 is a 10m, fully electric motorboat. Not only does the boat possess the characteristics to be a luxury weekend-style boat, but it is also pushing the boundaries in terms of boat design and, of course, sustainability.
As well as zero emissions, the vessel uses significantly less energy than other comparable boats. The entire passage used 73kWh of energy - very impressive for a 10m vessel weighing over 3 tonnes.
An innovative, low-resistance hull
Described by David as a "stablised monohull", the eye-catching hull structure is designed for minimal resistance through the water.
The hull profile aims to provide the efficiency and stability of a multi-hull within the confines of a monohull, along with significantly reduced energy consumption. As a result, longer passages using solely electric power is within reach with the Optima e10 capable of a range of up to 150 nautical miles.
Optima's future
The e10 is powered by a single 40kW drive from RAD Propulsion and 120kWh of batteries from Kreisel Electric. Future boats will have twin steerable drives to give easy docking with joystick control.
After three years of extensive research and development, Optima Electric Yachts now boast a fully-operational, pioneering, all-electric demonstrator boat.
As a result, plans are already afoot for their next steps, with larger models for leisure and commercial use currently in design.
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