Winners announced for Gussies International Electric Boat Awards
Dec 17, 2024
After tallying the votes from a panel of 32 international electric boat experts and 6,000+ electric boat enthusiasts all over the world, the fifth annual Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating – ‘The Gussies’ – has announced the recipients of its 2024 1st Place honours.
This year’s awards are being presented by three leaders in the electric propulsion revolution:
• Aqua superPower, the first fully marinized dockside network of fast chargers for electric boats
• BlueNav, developer of innovative hybrid solutions enabling more leisure and commercial boat owners to reduce their carbon impact
• Oceanvolt, pioneer and leader in electric motors and propulsion systems for sailboats, non-planing motorboats and small passenger ferries and watertaxis
The Gussies are the only international boating awards that focus exclusively on electric boats. They recognize craft already in production as well as concept boats and those in late development stage that include electric leisure boats, workboats, commercial passenger vessels, sailboats and fossil fuel boats that have been refitted with electric propulsion.
The awarded boats come from Canada, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the UK and USA.
The full list of winners with images and short descriptions can be seen at: https://plugboats.com/the-gussies-electric-boat-awards-winners-2024/
Winners of The 2024 Gustave Trouvé Awards:
• Electric Boats Up to 8m / 26ft
• Production Boat: Sun Concept EVO 7.0 Cruise by Sun Concept, Portugal
• Concept/In Development Boat: ENVGO NV1 by ENVGO, Canada
• Electric Boats Over 8m / 26ft (presented by Aqua superPower)
• Production Boat: Sialia 45 Sport by Sialia Yachts, Poland
• Concept/In Development Boat: Optima e14 by Optima Electric Yachts, UK
• Electric Sailboat (presented by Oceanvolt)
• Fountaine Pajot Aura 51 by Fountaine Pajot, France
• Retrofitted / Customized / DIY Electric Boat (presented by BlueNav)
• Vital Spark Paul Sparrow V3 by PlusZero / Paul Sparrow, UK
• Electric Workboat
• EF12 Workboat by Artemis Technologies, UK
• Electric Commercial Passenger Vessels
• In Operation: hyke Shuttle 0001 by hyke, Norway
• In Development: Wada Hoppah 58 by Wada Hoppah, USA
The awards were created by electric boat news website www.Plugboats.com to recognize the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.
Over 160 boats were nominated, with the finalist list narrowed down by the International Judging Panel and eventual winners chosen through a combination of public voting and weighted ballots from the Panel. The panel is comprised of representatives from international electric boat associations and events along with all past Gussies winners. This year’s winners will join the panel for the 2025 awards.
“Over the past five years the growth of electric boats and electric boat technology is astounding and now encompasses hydrofoiling, solar and hydrogen technologies,” said Jeff Butler, Editor/Publisher of Plugboats and Founder of the Gustave Trouvé Awards. “This is a revolution taking place on lakes, rivers, coastal waters and oceans all over the world, and the number and excellence of boats shows that things are only going to keep moving faster.”
‘The Gussies’ are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with over 75 patents to his name who was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1882. Among his innovations was the world’s first outboard boat motor, which he devised so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat ‘Le Teléphone’ and take it home to work on in his Paris apartment.
While M. Trouvé’s invention predates the 1887 patent of the internal combustion engine, and electric boats have been available since the first years of the 20th century, it is not until recently that they have begun to enter the mainstream.
Yahoo Finance reports that the electric boat market is forecasted to grow exponentially in the forthcoming years as more boaters seek sustainable and eco-friendly options for their leisure activities. A report by Allied Market Research in June, 2022 says ‘the global electric boat market was valued at $5.0 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $16.6 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2022 to 2031.”
