Maritime Group electrified

 

I think that we are all rejoicing that (hopefully) the COVID days are behind us.

The last two years took a major toll on businesses across SE Asia and the Indian Ocean.

 

During this time we were also pretty much fully shut down with no foreign tourists arriving for charters or to attend sailing school and the commercial tour boat market slowed to a crawl as these customers were also in their own cash flow management program and not investing into the future yet. Well, times turn around quickly as well as wants and needs.

 

We have seen a resurgence in all aspects of the business and the future indeed looks bright. One area that has been of particular interest is the area of boats with electric propulsion. We started to see requests for commercial electric boats and more and more requests for electric sailing catamarans. Going electric, the challenges Maritime Group  launched its first electric sailing catamaran in 2015.

 

In this boat, we took the standard 38 foot sailing catamaran and moved from diesel propulsion to electric drives with a range extender onboard based on the commercially available technology from Oceanvolt.

 

The boat performed well, but in 2015 the battery technology is not near what is available today. We recently upgraded the batteries in this boat to double the original capacity, in a smaller space footprint, with lower weight and cost. This showed us that now it may be possible to actually roll out electrified boats as a standard and accepted product if we can overcome the other challenges to make the technology commercially viable.

 

The two main challenges are: Cost Electric marine propulsion systems are expensive! As we explored the market we found that systems ranged from very expensive to ridiculously expensive. Ability to recharge Unfortunately with an electric boat one cannot simply stop every few hours and charge the boat. It is possible using solar, but, if you have seen the solar world cruisers that are out there they are basically a floating solar farm.

 

This is just not practical for a general use sailing catamaran or commercial tour boat, so there needs to be an alternative to just solar regeneration. Our concept in the implementation of Electric Drive We took a long and in-depth look at the viability to be able to offer vessels with an electric drive system. In doing so we knew for it to be viable for the customers and efficient in manufacturing we needed to: - Find a viable solution at an affordable price point.

 

People are just not willing to pay several hundreds of thousands of dollars extra just to be electric. - Leverage as much as possible current commercially available technology.

 

There are electric cars out there today at a very affordable price point compared to several years ago, so the EV industry has made huge strides in getting cost-competitive solutions to market. - Develop a scalable system that we as a manufacturer could leverage using common system components across multiple boating platforms.

 

Based on these fundamental criteria we surveyed what was available in the industry both marine-based and EV based. We also did an in-depth look at all of the competing technologies and the price/performance and scalability of each.

 

There are a lot of electric propulsion systems out there today that vary wildly in their cost to implement. In the end, we opted to follow the same direction as commercially available EV technology since it is fully mature, tested, and in volume production already.

 

So we opted to initially go in this direction with a team of experienced EV designers to develop a scalable EV drive system we could implement across our commercial and recreational boats. Commercial and Recreational implementation In mid-2020 Maritime Group  purchased the successful commercial catamaran builder from Australian Marine industry.

 

Than move to integrate new fuel on demand options.

Nano Bubble Water Fuels and Hydrogen Fuels.

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We are building to expand the Maritime Group  commercial offering with purpose-built new fuels and new electric technology fitted  commercial vessels. For the drive system implementation, we undertook our research in 2020 and 2021 with the system-level design for the first implementation into our new prototype 24 Foot tour boat.

 

This boat has been developed for the day trip market servicing the traditional Pacific customer base. In the design phase, we structured the system-level design to be scalable so that the same system can be used across a broad range of boats.

 

The system was then scaled (smaller motors and battery capacity) for implementation into the 51 foot Sailing Catamaran. This strategy keeps a commonality of components across all installations and makes for ease of spare parts availability, and system implementation.

 

The design prototype Commercial Tour Catamaran The 24 foot  was designed for us by  a Marine design company in  Thailand, focusing on electric propulsion efficiency.

 

The goals were developed to be able to meet the day trip operator requirements of 5 hours of run time in relatively calm seas at 11 knots. The boat is equipped with an onboard range extender for extended passages and will fully charge overnight.

 

The boat is designed for 100 passengers touring island destinations in and around Phuket and is equipped with a sound system and entertainment/bar area aft with dual swimming platforms with fresh water swim showers.

 

It represents the future of day trip operations being run on batteries and solar power and will dramatically reduce operating costs for maintenance and fuel usage. Maritime Group  has partnered with a electric propulsion vendor NEXT in the development of this exciting new prototype boat with an international versatile energy provider.

 

 Maritime Group is a leading smart clean energy solution provider in Asia Pacific with a vision of “Innovating Infinite Energy Solutions to All”, Maritime Group  aims to create business growth in line with future energy trends and smart city development and respond to the lifestyle of modern consumers with customers in mind,

 

Maritime Group  employs human-centric and data-driven approach in combination with our energy expertise and technology at international standards to develop “Smart Energy Solutions” and provide smart energy management and solution systems that are reliable, cost-efficient, eco-friendly and contribute to sustainable betterment of life.

 

Maritime Group  wanted to offer this type of prototype to its Thai tour operators with long-term financing. The issues that this effort uncovered is that at least in this market, Southeast Asia the cost of being electric are significantly higher than what tour operators are currently used to and therefore they have little appetite to spend considerably more to operate a green alternative to diesel at least at this time. But the prototype did allow us coupled with our experience with our own model 38 foot electric sailboat to offer a new line of electronically operated recreational, Yachts .

 

The Maritime Group 52 foot Electric charter catamaran Maritime Group  also operates a large bareboat and skippered charter fleet of sailboats in SE Asia. The vision is to migrate from diesel powered sailboats to green energy electric sailboats.

 

The 52 foot  is the first step in that process. In addition to Maritime Group  placing the 52 foot into charter fleets in SE Asia, Partnered in Yachting as the world's 3rd largest sailing boat charter company is also putting the 62 foot  in their fleets in the Americas and Europe. Maritime Group  Yachting is also the exclusive dealer for the Maritime Group  in the Americas and Europe.

 

The Maritime Group  52 foot  is available in 4, 5, and 6 cabin configurations and like all of the products, is constructed using vacuum-infused closed cell foam for strength, durability and to minimize weight. For complete details on the  Maritime Group  52 , please have a look at Maritime Group  -52 foot //Maritime Group -52 foot / The Maritime Group   41 Electric charter catamaran In addition to the Maritime Group  52 foot yachts above, we are also now offering the 41 foot in an electric version as well.

 

Given the smaller drive power requirements and proven system, we installed on the 38 foot we are offering an expanded Oceanvolt system on the 41 foot . This can be specified during the ordering and we look forward to deploying the smaller electric 41 foot into our charter fleets available to clients.

 

The time to own a charter boat in SE Asia If you were ever considering owning a boat in charter in SE Asia, now is the time. Post COVID the Thailand bareboat fleet has decreased by close to 50%, however, demand has not decreased.

 

Therefore, we are seeing record bookings on boats in the fleet and the next several years will be great returns for charter boat owners. If you are considering an electric boat or traditional diesel powered catamaran whether it be for commercial tour operations or for placing into a sailing charter fleet or for personal use please consider Maritime Group 

 

It is going to be exciting from the response we have seen to these new introductions over the next couple of years.

 

We look forward to discussing your ideal boat and how we may

be able to deliver it to you please contact us  

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