On Monday, June 12, 2023, the Optima e10 became the first electric boat to circumnavigate the Isle of Wight in the UK. The journey started from Lymington, went around the Needles, continued south of the island and back through the Solent past Cowes before heading home at the end of a 51 nautical mile (95km) trip without charging, which took just under six hours.
“It was an incredibly comfortable, relaxing and enjoyable trip – we were able to have lunch and engage in relaxing conversation on passage thanks to the good seakeeping of the innovative hull and noise reduction from the electric drive,” said Optima CEO David Kendall. “We arrived back in Lymington as relaxed and refreshed as we started, despite some challenging conditions south of the island including thick fog and lively seas off St Catherine’s Point.”
The e10 is a 10m all-electric boat, built in the Solent and launched In April 2023 at the Green Tech Boat Show in Southampton. The luxury dayboat/weekender produces zero emissions and has been designed to use significantly less energy than other boats. The entire passage used 73kWh of energy, despite the vessel weighing over three tons.
The low-resistance hull form is described as a “stabilized monohull” by designer Kendall. It provides the efficiency and stability of a multi-hull within the confines of the monohull and with significantly reduced energy consumption, making electrification viable for longer passages for the first time. The Optima e10 is capable of a range of up to 150 nautical miles, and is powered by a single 40kW drive from RAD Propulsion and 120kWh of batteries from Kreisel Electric. Future boats will have twin steerable drives to offer simpler docking with joystick control.
Optima is currently developing larger models for the leisure and commercial markets – including a 13.5m luxury cruiser with a choice of enclosed or open cockpit, water taxis for 12-16 passengers and a luxury holiday resort transfer vessel.
“We are currently in the transition from three years of R&D into production and commercialization and are inviting discussions with investors and partners to accelerate this growth” explained Kendall.
A short video showing the circumnavigation can be seen here.