LET IT SHINE

摘要

If you read our Crick Boat Show reports last month, you'll know that the buzz at the show was all about electric drive. It's clear that the warnings about a climate emergency, and the move towards electric cars, are making boaters, the people who build boats and the people who build engines, think seriously about whether boats could also change in a more environmentally friendly way. And that's where this boat comes in. Mothership Marine's Shine has an electric motor powered by a big battery bank; it calls itself a solar electric boat, as most of the roof is covered in solar panels to charge the batteries (although there is a backup generator on board for when there's not enough sun - in the winter, for example). It's the sheer scale of the solar array which makes this boat different, and far less reliant on diesel. Mothership's Tim Knox wants part of his business to be supplying complete systems like this to other boat builders, as a one-stop-shop for electric drive.