Paris Olympics e-cruise
An electric fleet on the Seine for the Paris Olympic Games
by Kevin Desmond
This summer has seen some great rallies for electric boats: 34 e-boats cruised around the island of Venice, 65 e-boats teams competed at the Monaco Solar Energy Boat Challenge, then on July 23rd, despite heavy rain, watched by 326,000 riverside spectators and viewed by 1.5 billion on their screens worldwide, 32 electric boats, some retrofitted some new, were part of a fleet of 85 boats which were transporting 205 flag-waving delegations of athletes, cruised for 6.3 km along the River Seine from Austerlitz Bridge to the Trocadéro for the unprecedented opening of the 33rd Olympic Games. Of course the loud music and the cheering hid the silence of this fleet.
It was near the same Seine in 1881 that prolific French inventor Gustave Trouvé fitting his electric engine at the back of punt called ‘Le Teléphone’ when he decided it would be more practical to detach the motor and take it home each night to tinker in his nearby workshop apartment. It was the invention of the outboard motor. The man who signed “Eureka” would have been very pleased to see these 32 e-boats cruising one the same waters, near the Pont Royal Bridge which he had tested his pioneer skiff – 143 years later. All of these boats passed several luminous fountains, another Trouvé invention.
Of the 20 retrofits the world watched the Mistinguett, the largest boat in the parade, and the longest and heaviest electric boat ever on the Seine, carried 250 athletes along the river. She is now powered by two Yamaha-Torqeedo Deep Blue100i electric motors and their new Deep Blue Battery 80.Then there were four 250-passenger vessels from the Vedettes de Paris one of Paris’ most significant tour boat operators, located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. With names such as Trocadero, Etoile, Iéna, each has been retrofitted with two 10 kW motors powered by 11 tonnes of two 330 kwH lithium-fer-phosphate batteries, prepared by Actemium Marine (ex-Barillac Marine) of Concarneau. Their hulls were made more efficient at the Vanpraet Shipyard at Villeneuve-la-Garenne and Ship-ST. They were joined by the brand new electric Montparnasse, with “100% Electrique” painted on its sides.
Then for the Bateaux-Mouches Company the 60 m Hirondelle. Then, sponsored by Total Energies, the Vedettes du Pont Neuf company’s 50-pax Rocca II, built in 1962 then retrofitted with twin 55kW e-motors and two batteries of 30,5 kWh.. Then her sister ships: Gavroche, Sisley and Arletty are being retrofitted. Backed by Europa Horizon 2024, the Vedettes du Pont Neuf are adding a 300 passenger electric. These were joined by the sixty-year-old retrofitted Le Rhône,having made a lock-by-lock 700km cruise from the Côte d’Or Region. Then the barge Rive Gauche and the 11m 1936 Swedish C.G. Petterson timber cabin cruiser Farö, both retrofitted by Naviwatt. Then among the ten newly-built boats chosen by the Paris JO 2024 Mobility Committee FinX’s a 12 metre boat, Imagine for the Olympic Parade. With its hull made from bio-sourced materials, it is powered by the company’s unique biomemetic motor inspired directly by dolphin swimming and the movements of their tail fins. The there was Green River Cruises solar-poweredpontoon e-boat. Also among the fleet, two hydrogen powered 150-passenger NepRiver waterbuses, equipped with the RexH2 autonomy extender, then solar-electric Hyke, linked to the Eker Group in Fredrikstad, and Holland Shipyard’s autonomous electric ferry built using computer 3D-created components.
At the end of the parade, the silver-winged phantom horse and rider which, ridden by a female jockey (Morgane Suquart) “galloped” up the River Seine, impressing the entire world. The horse was conceived by the Atelier blam of Nantesand built in metal by Multiplast of Quiberon, while its slim black 14m underwater trimaran was designed and built by French company MM Process of Carnac. It was powered by a 130 kW BellMarine electric engine powered by 18 batteries. Top speed 23 knots (43 kph) but Sequana (the ancient name for the Seine) had to be “reined in” to comply with the timing of the ceremony. Given the television coverage, this vessel was the most famous single-seat e-boat in the world…even if for only ten minutes! Exhibited at the headquarters of the Sanofi pharmaceutical company in Paris, thousands turned up to view it at close quarters.
Behind this pioneer fleet, financed to the tune of €11 million by both France’s Environmental and Energy Management Agency (ADEME, and the Greater Paris Regional Authority PAMI (Modernization and Innovation Assistance Plan), the River Seine has a much more ambitous longterm strategy: Haropa Port Project is bringing together the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris)with VNF (France Waterways) to see the Seine’s entire fleet of passenger boats (150+) electric by 2037. There are already 50 electric or hybrid electric passenger boats in regular service around France. Thee include i/c hybrid electrics ready to convert to hydrogen hybrid-electric. At the same time, the electrification of docks is also underway in the ports of the Seine basin. The Seine in the process of developing a network of charging stations, 44 of which are already installed, and there will be 82 more by the end of 2024. In the Metropolis, certain passenger transport stops are already equipped, such as that at the port of Grenelle which has three terminals. Likewise, traditionally polluting cruise ships with accommodation in Paris are already connected to the electricity network at the dock. By 2026, the objective is to reach 132 dock terminals on the Seine axis, to meet the needs of all users. This important equipment will also allow freight boats to cut off their on-board engines when they are at the dock by connecting to the electricity network, so that the calls of all boats will therefore be able to take place with zero emissions.
Paris is following the intiative taken by Amsterdam where by 2025, the Dutch city’s EPZ will impose a total ban on fossil-fuel boats for its fleet of 10,000 motorboats, including 7,000 pleasure craft around its 60 miles of canals. Only 100% green and hybrid vessels will be able to be registered. In Norway, there are already 70 ferries – and even more under construction. Over 400 charging points for electric boats are being created in harbours along the Norwegian and Swedish coasts from Gothenburg to Kristansand. To align with Oslo’s emission-free 2030 vision, elminating % greenouse gas emissions, 11 passenger ferries or Nesoddbatene have been converted to electric propulsion. On shore, a large charging station ensures uptime delivering 3.8 MW of DC Power. Other cities will follow.
The PolyBoatGlobal Challenge competition is proud to announce that all these e-boats in the Olympic Games Inaugural Cruise can count their historic journey up the Seine as one in the logbooks for our competition, to which they can accumulate a variety of other cruises during the next eight months. To join our growing fleet of competitors, please contact us by visiting our website www.polybotglobal.com, or by text on 0033 06 41427322, or by snail-mail: “PolyBoatGlobal Challenge 2024-2025”, 15 Chemin de Peybotte, 33360 Lignan de Bordeaux, FRANCE.