This Solar Powered Boat Could be the Future of Transportation 

Battery powered ferry’s are being developed a lot in Europe these days. My wife is a marine engineer working at those kind of projects. Ferry’s can charge their battery’s during the night and give them just enough boost by quick charging during loading and unloading passengers and cars to get through the day. Solar could help during the summer months but definitely not during winter. For cargo ships the demand for power is way to large for battery’s. Even hydrogen or alcohol is very difficult because of the massive storage that is needed for those fuels.

no

I still like sails. Free solar energy that works at night. Solar plus batteries would be the backup to maintain steerage in times of no wind, but with satellite weather forecasts that should be a rare event.

There is also a 100 foot model, I don't know how long you've been working on this video, but it's been announced for a few weeks now

Hi Matt! I built a 8m solar powered catamaran in 2012, in 2022 I will take it out and change/update its design and electronics. Get in touch if interested about the project. I would say solar is great for recreation yachting- it has a few issues for commercial transportation.

Sails/wind wings seems much more plausible solution to me. The world will partly move away from the just in time production methods after this crisis and that might make sails more viable for certain goods transport.

Most likely the solution is green hydrogen produced with wind and solar and then burned in internal combustion engines aboard at least the large freight ships. Hydrogen ICEs are coming fast and they will blow fuel cells out of the water. When you need 20 MW of axle power you need a massive engine. Direct solar and wind are cute but lack the power density, reliability and coverage. If you need to maneuver in bad weather or a tight shipping lane, gimmicks don't cut it.

Sailboat diesel is called the auxiliary for a reason. It is not a green paddle for typical conditions. Most boats already have solar for typical elec needs. The auxiliary is for when that isn't enough.

Shouldn't be that much of a problem for a pleasure boat though. I'd gladly adjust my trip to the weather conditions, if that means I can get rid of my noisy outboard and the smelly fuel tank.

I don't have a yacht but I am also an electrical engineer and I am so glad someone else can see this is complete BS. I have personally always thought the future would be something more like proton exchange membranes or something similar. I live in a 100% off-grid house with 300kwh of LiFePO4 batteries and 30kw of solar, and I still have days my software kicks in and shuts high draw items down. Solar is nice, but will never replace our current reliance on fossil fuels. At best it might slow it down a bit.

There are plenty of people here saying it cannot work, and yet you have examples like Aditya where it's actually being done. As the old saying goes, "those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those doing it."

@@tarstarkusz but how can that be so when people are already doing it and doing it successfully? Don't say "it cannot work" when it's already working.

@@tarstarkusz and who said that long range super ferries would be a target for solar power?

@@tarstarkusz it's working perfectly. Turanor is a large vessel and has already cirumnavigated on solar power.

how many cow can fit in aditya boat? im thingking about transporting cow from india to bangladesh in a greenway

I fish and electric motors are a lot less noise, only wind is quieter!

Solar powered boat? Stupidity on steroids.

@@seanleith5312 “What, Sir? Would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you excuse me, I have no time to listen to such nonsense.” -Napoleon Bonaparte's answer to the inventor of the steam powered boat, 1803.

@@seanleith5312 Stupidity on steroids? Solar powered boats.

Big problem for whales and dolphins and their communications! They can't communicate when there's noise pollution!

Nuclear vessels in the military drive steam turbines, not electric motors.

Would be great if Matt could do a video on the the projects in Denmark and Norway.

their speeed is only 4 knots. so useless

@@Embassy_of_Jupiter Actually it works exactly the opposite way. The amount of power you need to move a ship through the water depends (mostly) on the length of the waterline in relation to the size of the ship. The longer it is, the less power you need to go at the same speed. So if you want to double the size of a ship, you basically make it twice as long and you need way less than twice the power. That’s the reason why ships are getting bigger and bigger. It just makes them more efficient. And of course the space for solar panels still doubles if you make the ship twice as long, why it works even better the bigger you make the ships.

@@esecallum There's plenty of electric ferries that are far faster, and in places like New York, there's a lot of relatively short ferry trips they could charge during

No true. Look at Silent Yachts.

Electricity has a long way to go for any kind of shipping.

@@scootalong4254 if they didn't have to do 30 knots for $ reasons, they could do about 10 knots with solar power. We need to rethink our shipping. The largest 3 container ships create as much sulfur dioxide as the entire United States's vehicles.

@@scootalong4254 Many of them are hybrids that run electric motors.

When they travel short distance from port to port it isn't much risk. They are charging in port via typical grid supply: nuclear, coal, nat gas.

I seem to have lost my answer to you i will wait to see if it re emerges from the electronic labyrinth. But theres a lot of options out there on U-tube ... and a lot of the components are built in your part of the world. Just kitted up in the USA and Europe.

Good luck with the project! I hope you will be able to somehow finish it successfuly in the end.

Take a look at the two conversions here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lq6EqAVS4uE.html With aircraft more small motors and props tend to be more efficient than a larger single motor and prop. Theres a few Wharrams and other cats already running hybrid systems. Look up the Heart of Gold lifeboat conversion. And Sea Japan ... Lighter and better insulated boats tend to make the better E power conversions as do multihulls.

I have a sailboat with electric aux. Let me recommend you consider an electric motor in each hull and a single diesel Genset and shared big battery. When the battery tech improves in 10 years, just upgrade. The electric motors are good for the life of the boat.

@@GuyIncognito764 Thats how i would do it 👍🏼 brushless motors driving shafts and efficient props. As large a battery pack as i could afford to build and solar. Batteries perhapse salvaged from a crash damaged. Nissan leaf, prius Or Similar . The electric motors are virtually maintainance free as long as they are kept dry or protected and dont overheat .. Then a remotely mounted fuel efficient generator or a DIY APU slave motor powering ultra high output alternators... Twin motors in a cat. or trimaran will make manouvring much easier and give you an element of redundancy. Conventional sails are also expensive to maintain and operate so consider alternatives.

Thanks!

Yea and no. One thing I worry about is the lack of speed. These electric and solar boats are generally slow cruisers, not able to quickly get up and out of a potentially dangerous situation or encounter. I’d check the option box for “Tesla Plaid boost motors with super capacitors” the moment it’s offered.

@@aussie2uGA the top spec SY60 does 20 knots with 2x 340kW motors

Perhaps long haul cardo shipments could be reduced. I don't see a need for consumer goods to be shipped across oceans if nations ensured that most consumer products were produced more locally.

Do you know anything about sailboat's? They are a wonderful thing and in some ways better than a solar boat. However, the sailing community is split on replacing the combustion engine with electric motors. There's many who have already made the change and are very happy with it. So I asked you these questions to show you how strong some people are against change. In fact it will surprise you to know just how evil the thoughts of some are as to why their against change. Just know the bottom line is about money. Blessings and keep on enjoying the water in your own way. I love VA... P.S. just trying to spark a conversation on the topic of the video even if it's a different aspect of the topic. Will you participate?

@@jamesfrankland4436 interesting this topic

@@robinabraham2843 yes it is indeed. So tell me, what would you like to add to the subject? Are you just getting into the topic or do you have knowledge of it that you would talk about? I know some stuff but this topic I've found is wide and deep and it's not a one size fits all kinda topic. This I think is the biggest reason it's such an interesting topic. Your welcome to engage me on this topic and see where it takes us and how much we can learn from one another. Blessings to you...

@@jamesfrankland4436 joining .

@@robinabraham2843 joining what Robin?

That’s what happens when you have 1,326,000,000 people

All Silent Yachts have a backup diesel generator

indeed precisely, This fallacy of progressivism where the the newest has to be 'better' than the old one is not helping humanity at all. and i don't think it's by accident... An Ipad is not a superior technology to a pen & paper or vice versa. it's all about the context in which they'll be used.

The silent yachts are actually offered with an option to include a sky sail - a kite sail that can be deployed to harness the wind for added speed, in exchange for the additional cost of the sail + a little storage space.

too much money $$$ would be lost by food companies drug companies i love to be all about this but they will never adopt these ideas MAINSTREAM.

Cargo ships need to have overhead access for loading/unloading containers, so what would you do with the solar panels?, now a car carrier ship which has a closed deck on top, maybe, but a container type cargo ship, nope.

@@danmckeever599 That. There's a significant tradeoff between deck space used and propulsion. You could well end up with a ship that can move *itself* through the water but not carry a viable amount of cargo at the same time.

and the fact that he compared a solar cat to a monohull in terms of pricing, and assumed that pricing was comparable across manufacturers in similar sized boats. Neither of those are reasonable to do.

Batteries in the keel make complete sense.

You must not sail. The diesel is backup for energy and navigation emergencies. Removing the diesel on a real sailboat is ignorant. If this boat is used occasionally during nice weather it doesn't matter what auxiliary it has.

@@artsmith103 I sail. Diesel is only a backup or seen as required because electrcity solutions weren't ready yet this is no longer the case. Electricity solutions are now outperforming diesel counterparts in like for like use cases

@@ElliottParkinson There is no way to store the equivalent of 10 gal of diesel in jerry cans on the rail. There is no equivalent to being on the hook in less than sunny weather and taking the dinghy to shore to fill a couple jerry cans with diesel. The practical cruiser is about 40'. Barely enough room for 2-4 300W panels. 2 panels is typical minimum to power fridge, electronics, RO water and such for 2 people. 1-2 additional panels is not enough to power the boat in adverse situations which usually includes clouds and darkness. For example, 300W panel for 3 peak equivalent hours per day is almost 1kWh. That is equal to ~1 cup of diesel! Typical fuel rate is 6 miles per gallon. So that is less than 1/2 mile per day per panel. That's plenty in and out of marina, useless in open water.

@@artsmith103 indeed, useless in open water. But if you sail, you can easily store enough to cruise out of a river to get to the sea and back. Then switch to sails, and even improve performance by motorsailing direct from the panels. Especially with a catamaran. When not motorsailing, you can regenerate batteries with hydrogenerators. With such a setup, diesel isnt required. It works best with smaller boats. 23ft to 34ft catamarans. Im thinking prout rangers, heavenly twins or catalac 8-9m. It doesnt work for all setups of course. But there are cases where it works.

Suezmax ships have engines around 10-20 MW and the entire deck covered with the most efficient solar panels will gather 2.4 MW during direct noon sunlight near the equator. Morning, evening, night, overcast, rain, etc. will severely reduce this generation. The solar panels would also complicate loading and unloading and increase the maintenance on the ship. The same problem with wind sails (kite-like sails or Magnus rotors or whatever) are similar. Having significant added complexity and a fidgety gizmo reducing the fuel consumption by 10-15% might very well not be worth it. They tested out Magnus rotors on a ferry between Finland and Sweden and it just wasn't worth it. The machinery costs millions, requires maintenance and only occasionally reduces the fuel consumption. Woop-tee-doo. It's not worth it. It would be much easier filling up tanks with high pressure green-produced hydrogen and running large internal combustion engines on the hydrogen, come rain, sleet or sunshine.

For a similar reason I drive a fourteen year old Ford Focus rather than a Tesla. Elon has enough money already so he does not need my grand children's inheritance. The fuel to feed the Focus is E85, so I do care about the planet whatever the Green Meanies say. _GO BOOMERS!!_

Good suggestion!

boats run on diesel or petrol just like land vehicles, only massive ships run on oil. Modern ships clean there emissions before releasing them, so they are cleaner than most land vehicles. Older ship can be bad, but they are being quickly phased out due to running costs.

I think we have to come up with new battery technology... Structural batteries Is Indeed a more efficent way to distribute weight, but immagine having to replace a structural part, because you had a single faulty cell... We need better batteries

In boats weight isn't such an issue... Solar boats with LiFePo4- batteries are already today a viable alternative to diesel for local passenger and freigh transportation.

@@cerealtech4138 oh yes I didn't think about that, but I guess people must've figured out Lego like structures by then?

@@davidsimoneta8513 does it not matter that much? I thought replacing engines and fuel combo on the small and medium sized boats must have been better but now I remember Zack's electric hummer (JerryRigEverything) the weight difference wasn't that significant

@@MayankJairaj The influence of drag and gravity on the vehicle behaviour are very different in water and on a street...😉

So your idea is to put more unneeded stuff in the ocean for the very few projects that will be able to utilize it.

everchanging views as in: todays water is 0.00001% more blue than yesterday water?

​@@yuidesu5625 Sure. Also coastlines. I don't think I would sail the open sea much.

You do realise that sails are solar powered?

​@@Ron-dx9wq Yes and they're also powered by hydrogen, fission or even the big bang depending on how many steps you want to take. Why do you want to take extra steps?

@98Zai Extra steps?! A rag on a stick compared to solar panels, batteries, motors and electrical cables carrying welding current - none of which will be happy with even a drop of saltwater. People forget that the entire world was discovered and settled before electricity even existed.

Honestly, being able to fit 34kW on a single 60ft vessel is more than adequate. Greater efficiency would be nice, but it's by no means necessary.

ru-vid.com/group/PLG7EoBMUD1JwbD5-MQpFRGvadGWtf-4yD

What analysis?

@@davidbrayshaw3529 Call Or Text Anytime Robert Foertsch

Except that wind is generated by delta of solar energy in those collection pads. If adjacent pads receive the same amount of energy there will be no wind.

@@TheKribu well I guess it's a good thing the sun only hits one half of the earth at a time lol

@@TheKribu "hah! I disproved wind!" Lol

agreed. And looking at those yachts there was no way they had 17kw and 26kw of solar on their roofs

Deep pontoons in the Amazon?

They need to be picking up stuff from the ship anyway. So a big company could invest into standardized modules, which can be grabbed and moved by container-cranes. maybe they will fold out or something over the next few containers into each direction. just stack em somewhere until the boat is full, then pop em on top. a person can connect them to the ship's power while the boat is going off on full batteries. stinky diesel generators can add extra power in case there is not enough sunshine. I think it's just an engineering (and will) question.

@@ChrisBigBad it's really hard to move from one standard to the other, because where do you start? That's why Windows XP is still being used for some military applications. The port has to change with the new system as well, and the port will only do that if a profitable amount of ships is using that system. And ships will only use that system if every port they go to can work with it. The company managing this must be owning ports across the world and maybe own its own fleet.

@@The_Andy_H Yes, I understand and agree. Which is why I imagined the solar-cells to fold closed into a normal shipping-container. those can be perfectly handled by the ports as it is. you just need to take them off the top of the ship (if you need to get at the stuff below), store them somewhere with the other containers and put them back on the top at the end and unfold them again. zero change for the port - totally transparent. no?

I was gonna comment 'fingers crossed for scaling up to include container ships' until I saw the 100x energy density difference. I think that might be the bigger issue to start with ?

@@The_Andy_H, It's not just the military. There is a good number of legacy equipment that the original manufacturers no longer support and rely on XP and a few still use Win'98. Until a part fails that I cannot source a replacement for, I'm not upgrading to the latest and greatest.

Correct. I don’t think the majority of people realize just how big of an issue the running costs of a diesel boat are.

@@aussie2uGA Gale Force Twins just did a video on how much it costs to maintain their boat. Now, it's a 2005 Intrepid with the original twin 250hp Yamaha's on it but it does give an idea on how much operating a boat can cost.

Agreed ⚡️🥂

A monohull is faster than a catamaran if they are both heavily loaded. That's why monohulls will always be the standard for transportation. As batteries have very low power density, a fully electric monohull is much better than a catamaran in that regard. But you indeed do not have the same form of living space

@@TheTokkie And the monohull wont pitch poll and kill the entire crew.

@@TheTokkie if you put the same weight on a cat and a mono, the cat would be less impaired. Cats are just better in every way, anyone that sails knows that!

@@killuazoldyck1352 that's simply incorrect. At light weight, a catamaran is faster but at heavy weight the tacamaran has much more drag than the monohull. I'm a naval engineer btw.

Build one

A solar house boat would be a lot cheaper than a solar luxury yacht. I believe there are some models available.

build a solar pontoon boat. very easy to do yourself. there are some manufacturers that offer them new.

It's recommended to clean the panels around noon time so that you can see what you're doing.

I’d imagine you could just hose it down at dock like you would any yacht. Always should do that anyway just to remove salt spray from windows, etc.

almost every sailing yacht has solar panels on the coach house, they're easy to keep clean.

I live on a boat with panels, its clean and no deposits. I rarely clean my panels.

I've criss- crossed the Pacific a few times with solar panels on my sailboat. It's no problem.

It already has it.

@@marlmyster yes, I'm aware. The 55 is the one I want though. But, unless I hit the mega millions lottery, it will never happen.....

@@mikecheslock3542 I have faith in you... You'll get it late 2022-2023!

A computer driven sail would be a catalyst for "free energy".

And they were too slow to match modern day needs in industry applications. For pleasure crafts - can still be used most certainly but then the owners would need to learn how to sail.

All talk and no action? It's the only developing country thats able to compete with developed countries in the space race. India also has the largest solar array. You need to learn more about your country. The world has been in awe for a while about how fast India is with technology.

That would be too expensive and too time consuming - we are already in a massive supply shortage and that would just add to it.

diesel generator adds alot of weight lowering the efficiency/viability for the whole thing

in the case of silent yachts and they do have cheaper options like silent 44 coming in at 700 000 pounds has 3 battery banks 1 for engine,one for inhouse electrics and one for back up.plus a relatively small generator for crossing oceans and then there is an option of putting a fully automatic kite system that you can sail alone with it at 4 knots or use it in tandom with the onboard system and you will use half the electricity to go 8 knots infinately day and night and this kite system charges the battery as well.with all these redundancy systems one can go anywhere anytime and sail 365 days a year without stopping.there is an older silent 64 vlog about a turkish captain that crossed the atlantic in the dead of winter from cartegena spain to florida.thats 5500 nm and used if you calculate it in dollars in generator fuel with american fuel prices was 600 dolars.and if you want to go fast i mean at 20 knots then the generator will directly supply the engines with electric until you run out of generator fuel and that will probably take you 1500 nm at constant 20 knots.. i hope it helps.;)

@@Matzes That really depends on the size of the generator and the amount of fuel you're carrying. If you're only using the generator to recharge the batteries, the generator could be ten percent the size of a diesel engine intended to propel the boat directly. Likewise, your fuel consumption would be ten percent, as well. And, if you're carrying freight or passengers anyway, the extra weight of the generator and fuel is going to be nominal.

because you can't go into marina's under sail, also the wind does not always blow. Sail and solar is a good way to go which is what i am doing, electric propulsion for going in and out of ports/marinas and sail the rest of the time. Boats also need electric for everyday things, solar is much better than running a generator.

Because you need electricity anyway

@@killuazoldyck1352 if you are skilled you can dock using sail, I've seen people do It with small boats

Also, the electric ferries you speak of are traveling between designated ports typically less than 2hrs away. They likely plug in to shore (nuclear, nat gas, coal) power as soon as possible. Being a people mover, little to no traffic at night for a full charge.

there have been quite a few of these solar only yachts that produce enough reserve power to cruise overnight without fully depleting the power bank, but it's only possible with super efficient custom hulls.

la energia "solar" (que no es solar sino fotovoltaica, que no es lo mismo) NO ES DEBIL, TIO, porque las celulas fotovoltaicas GENERAN ELECTRICIDAD, y la electricidad NO ES DÉBIL, ¿para ti la electricidad es "demasiado débil"? bueno, entonces haz esta sencilla prueba: toma el cabezal de un taladro bien firme con tu mano y échalo a andar.... cuidado con tu muñeca no mas, que si no te la rompe te provocará un esguince :D despues que tengas tu mano y muñeca enyesado repite de nuevo la frase "la electricidad es DEMASIADO DEBIL" :D

On board wind turbines might get you around some of the problems, however for marine use vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) would be better than the, what have now become 'traditional', horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT); for reasons that include the air draught of the vessel, weight distribution and maintenance access. The energy yield, which is low compared to combustion of hydrocarbon, is still subject to the wind blowing at the right strength and having space available on board for the hardware. The rotors, masts, rigging and sail handling arrangements would take up 'prime real estate' on the vessel. Fuel oil bunker tanks can be, and usually are, stuck away in any odd corner and the ICE power plants are themselves relatively compact. The stacked up 'boxes' would mean putting the wind driven propulsion units in a bad situation from a ship stability point of view. The availability of the wind, the amount of energy that could be gathered from it and the cost of the installation receive little consideration but on the limited information circulated VAWT seems to be the best of a poor group compared to hydrocarbon fuel.

Thanks again! Glad you think so.

Catamarans like those featured here are mostly used in the Caribbean/Bahamas and the Med, so that's already covered. For a deployable array, that would add a ton of drag to the ship and be a nightmare for navigation. If arrays ever get light and robust enough to fold out to 3x the width of the ship to be used while anchored that might be a better option.

Solar power for shipping has a scale problem, the area of the solar panels required to harvest the energy means that the carrying capacity of the vessel (load displacement) is low. In suitable situations such as this it will work but the opportunity for expansion is limited. With regard to propulsion with electric motors powered by ‘green electricity’, leaving aside the fact that there is no truly ‘green’ electricity, the best we can do is low carbon impact both at installation (capital account cost) and production (revenue account cost). Running ships on the ‘lecky’ is tricky; the two examples that I personally know of, and have used, are a vehicle and foot traffic ‘chain’ ferry that ply’s its trade across the hundred meters or so of the Nordre älv between the island of Hisingen and Kornhall on the Swedish mainland. The motors are on the ferry and a power supply cable is unwound and wound back up on board as the ferry shuttles back and forth from Kornhall. When the vessel goes anywhere else, id est dry dock for survey and or maintenance, it is towed by a good old ICE powered tug. The other electric vessel is a vehicle and foot traffic ferry that runs from Helsingborg (Sweden) to Helsingor (Denmark), a twenty minute trip undertaken using energy stored in batteries on board, she tops up the charge each time she is alongside and battery capacity is said to be sufficient for an hour of main engine use. For small scale, low weight, time sensitive, high value cargo (people) direct harvest solar energy could be a site specific solution being most effective in the tropics on daylight hours, good weather, short voyages in protected waters, such as the ‘Aditya’. The advantages are that it is quiet and clean in operation with low fuel and maintenance costs for the drive train; the hull and fittings will however still require some routine maintenance. Electric ships which currently have short ranges and high light displacement in proportion to their cargo capacity if battery storage is added. Sadly as of now, except for niche usage, electrically powered ships are as functional as chocolate fireguards.