Conceptual image of electric RaceBird boat
Near the River Thames of London, during months of lockdown earlier this year, Spanish businessman (and electric vehicle proponent) Alejandro Agag exercised together with Rodi Basso—former Director of Motorsport at McLaren. Together, they brainstormed a bold new marine event.
On September 25th —at the Monaco Yacht Club—they publicly announced the genesis of their thinking: the launch of the world’s first electric powerboat championship, which will take place in the year 2022.
Agag has already launched two racing events involving electrical land vehicles. On the telephone, he shared news about this latest venture—the UIM E1 Electric Powerboat Series.
‘I’m the chairman of Formula E—the electric racing car championship, and also the CEO of Extreme E—the electric SUV car championship. Now I’m founder of E1. What these three ventures have in common is that they want to electrify mobility. Formula E has had great success—the company has become really large and we race on many continents. Extreme E is the same way—racing in remote locations around the planet with electric SUVs.
‘Now, we hope that in two years we will have the first race of the E-1 series, which is electric powered boats. The races will be in different locations, some of them remote—in a fjord in Greenland, upriver on the Amazon, in the Red Sea. In these locations we can also showcase and raise awareness of the climate situation there. Also, races will be next to cities that have beautiful coastlines, like Monaco, perhaps the harbor in Sydney, the Bay of Tokyo, in front of Hong Kong, in Shanghai. And on lakes – Geneva for example, or Zurich. Or on the River Thames in London.
‘The biggest challenge now is to have a working prototype and to make that concept a reality. We’ve done that before with electric cars and are very confident we’ll have that successful technology. The second challenge is to create a calendar and agree with other cities on where to host the championship. Then we have to source teams. We have a lot to do, but have experience and have two years until the first race.
‘I think that by electrifying water mobility we can make a contribution to have cleaner seas, cleaner lakes, cleaner rivers. That’s our objective, and the biggest reward. We want to have a cleaner world that is more sustainable.
‘The future will be to continue expanding and to improve the technology of electric boats. Also—to change perception to make electric boats more common, and have people adopt them more massively.’
One way to attract spectators for this event is to create futuristic looking racing boats. Conceptual designs have already been prepared by Norwegian naval designer Sophi Horne, who studied design at Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology in Norway, and whose company SeaBird Technologies is based in London. She shared her inspiration for creating a boat that incorporates what she calls the ‘wow factor.’
‘Everyone is relating the design to Star Wars. I’ve always been a huge fan of science fiction. But the inspiration has been birds. I’m Norwegian and Swedish, and spent a lot of time in nature and am inspired by nature. We have a summer house in Sweden on the coast—at Grebbestad. Small fishing town. Beautiful. Coming from a sailing family and spending a lot of time on water and watching birds have all been a big inspiration.
‘The design is inspired by nature—organic and almost sensual lines, with a touch of boldness. Feminine meets masculine. I remove all details that don’t serve a purpose. I want designs to serve a purpose for others and also to last—timeless pieces of art that look good in most surroundings.’
RaceBird electric boat, designed by SeaBird Technologies
Hydrofoils—wing-like components located beneath the hull—basically transform a boat into an airplane. They provide hydrodynamic lift that pushes a craft upward and out of the ocean, so that the bulk of the craft moves through air instead of water. Because air provides less frictional resistance than liquid—a boat’s travel efficiency (think speed) is increased by 80 to 90 percent. Yet designing a hydrofoil is tricky; you want to push a boat upward, but not so much that it jumps out of the sea, or even cartwheels.
Sophi explained.
‘The biggest challenge is of course the hydrofoils. This boat has only one section. That’s challenging. The boat will be very light, so we have to make sure it’s not going to take off at high speeds and even flip backwards. It all comes back to the control system, and balance.’
The team is now working with Norwegian companies CeWave and SailGP to transform conceptual designs into reality.
The almost 16-foot (4.8-meter) long boat will be made 100% from carbon fiber. It will include room for one pilot and a 30-kilowatt hour battery—which will allow it to travel at speeds of up to 60 knots (69 mph, or 111 km/hr) for up to 20 minutes. Consequently, championship races will be relatively short (15 minutes duration). Initially, these weekend events will be held at 10 different locations around the world, each involving a dozen teams. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, has already agreed that that city will host races.
A third partner in this event series is the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM). President Dr. Raffaele Chiulli emphasized the benefit of promoting environmental awareness.
Conceptual design of RaceBird electric boat
‘This new series will accelerate the technology road map for the electrification of the marine industry. Our motto is ‘yes, we care’ which means that we pay attention and lead by true example, take concrete action to preserve the marine environment and promote sustainable mobility.’
A working prototype should be ready by June 21, 2021. Separate and larger non-racing versions of these boats—cruisers for families—will eventually be designed for commercial use.
Rodi Basso—CEO of the championship, and former aerospace engineer with NASA—mentioned the larger commercial implications of developing these technologies.
‘Everyone is looking at technology transfer from the sport to the industry. There are a lot of lessons we’ll learn in terms of overall design and efficiency. Electric boats will be safe, fun, cool to drive. We want to spread around the importance of electrifying the ports in the world so that all main seaside cities and towns will be ready for the electrification process.’
Agag admitted that sport is an excuse for promoting advances in technology and environmental improvements. These are bigger long-term accomplishments that will benefit the world. He also realizes their enterprise will encounter obstacles, and relishes the challenge. The project’s inspiration, after all, emerged from adversity. Creating this E1 powerboat championship, Agag recalls, ‘was a product of the pandemic.’
