“When I think about what the electric boat is competing with, it’s not competing with the gas boat; it’s competing with not going on the boat at all.”
Those are the words of Sean Marrero, chief strategy officer at Correct Craft and president of the company’s Watershed Innovation subsidiary. Marrero was part of a keynote panel during the Association of Marina Industries Conference & Expo this week in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Rather than look to the future, Marrero; Alex Cattelan, chief technology officer for Brunswick Corp.; and Dan Ryks, senior category manager of electrification with Mercury Marine, focused on the present state of electric propulsion. Katheryn Burchett, chief operations officer at Safe Harbor Marinas, moderated the discussion, which was sponsored by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation. The panelists spoke individually, then fielded questions.
Marrero explained that the transition to electric won’t be quick. “There are a lot of reasons boating is a difficult use case [for electrification]. With every boat we sell, we need to have a charging solution. Flexibility is important because there aren’t many electric boats yet.”
Addressing user anxiety about boat’s range, Marrero said electrification obviously won’t work in some applications. “For people who aren’t going very far, very fast, electrical is a good solution,” he said.
Much of the crowd comprised marina owners and operators, so Marrero explained the adjustments they would need to make. A gasoline or diesel boat gets fueled up every other week or so, but an electric boat needs to be charged before every outing.
“You’re going to be selling electricity at some point,” Marrero said. “Some people are going to want to use their boats more often, so you need to come up with your own dynamic pricing strategy.”
Brunswick’s Cattelan said that electrification plays a major role in the company’s ACES strategy (autonomy, connectivity, electrification and shared access). “We can think of a number of ways that autonomy will help marinas manage boats, summon boats, assign slips,” she said.
Cattelan added that connectivity will help better-manage how a boat is serviced. “Electrification is going to be a huge part of the technology of boats,” she said. “What’s really important to the industry is that it’s well-integrated and seamless to the consumer.”
Cattellan comes from an automotive and powersports background, with experience in alternative fuels and power systems. When it comes to electrification, she takes a realistic position. “It won’t be every boat, but there are many use-cases where this will take hold,” she said. For now, Brunswick is focusing on smaller boats that require lower power outputs.
Cattelan’s Brunswick colleague Ryks believes some early adopters of electric boats are going to come from automotive. “They’ve adapted their lives to adjusting range,” he said.
Ryks added that one of the bigger challenges is managing charging times. A high-speed DC charger will take at least an hour to top off the batteries in an electric boat. What can marinas offer customers to keep them occupied during the charging session?
Level-two charging refers to a longer process, usually overnight or a similar duration. “There is level-two AC charging that is already in place at marinas,” Ryks said. For facilities that would have to upgrade to accommodate charging, he said, “Installing the infrastructure is expensive, and it takes time.”
During the question-and-answer session, the issue of charging a boat in a drystack was raised because insurance carriers typically don’t want boats plugged into power when they’re being stored. Like range anxiety, it’s another topic that will have to be addressed as electric boats become more common.
“We are going to have to deal with it,” Ryks said.
