Welcome to Plugboats, since 2019 the world’s trusted authority on everything electric boats, with more than 800 News Articles about electric Powerboats, Sailboats, recreational and commercial boats and the electric boat motors, batteries and accessories that make them run.

Here is our ‘everything electric boats page. You can read through or jump ahead to one of the sections

• About electric boats
• Some popular types of recreational electric boats
• Commercial electric boats
• Electric boat motors
• Electric boat batteries
• Charging your electric boat

What is an electric boat?

At its simplest, an electric boat is a boat that is propelled by an electric motor.

How does an electric boat work?

Just as an electric car has an electric motor and battery instead of an internal combustion engine and fuel tank, an electric boat has an electric motor and battery instead of fossil fuel burning motor and fuel tank.

What kinds of electric boats are there?

There is an electric version of any kind of boat you can think of, literally everything from kayaks to cruise ships. There are leisure boats, commercial boats, slow boats, fast boats, wooden boats, inflatable boats, aluminum boats, carbon fibre boats, in every shape and style – monohulls, catamarans, trimarans, shallow hulls, deep hulls, powerboats, sailboats, ferries, tugboats, personal watercraft (jetskis) and more. They are powered by electric motors that cover the same style range as combustion motors: outboard motors, inboard motors, inboard/outboard, inboard…with no emissions of carbon, noxious fumes or rainbow slicks.

Are electric boats popular?

Just like electric cars, electric boats are becoming more and more popular. In the year 2000 electric cars accounted for about 1% of new car sales worldwide and in 2025 accounted for 25%. Electric boats are now less than 5% of boats sold, but sales are growing by the day.

Many people like to say that electric boat sales now are about 10 years behind electric car sales, but because the public is now familiar with electric cars, the ownership of electric boats will most likely grow more quickly in the next 10 years than electric cars did in their early years.

What are the benefits of electric boats compared to fossil fuel boats?

There are three main advantages electric boats have over boats propelled by burning fossil fuels:

1. 1. Cleaner environmentally
      There are no emissions from an electric motor. Fossil fuel combustion motors emit large amounts of carbon that contributes to the heating of our planet and climate change;  hundreds of noxious chemicals that are detrimental to the health of living plants and animals; and particulates that cause or aggravate respiratory problems for humans and other animals.
   2. Minimal noise and vibration
      If you are used to yelling over the roar of an outboard motors’s internal combustion engine you will be delighted to find that conversations can be held at a normal tone of voice in an electric boat. Combustion motors also cause vibration throughout the boat, due to the explosions taking place within the chambers and the complicated mechanisms that are required to transfer energy to the propeller shaft. Electric motors spin very quietly with few moving parts.
   3. Almost zero maintenance
      Electric motors do not need lubrication or many other of the costly maintenance routines necessary to keep fossil fuel motors operating smoothly/

What are the shortcomings of electric boats compared to fossil fuel boats?

1. 1. Energy storage. Storage capacity per weight is referred to as energy density and gasoline/petrol or diesel have as much as 80 times the energy density of the materials used in batteries. Because a boat needs to float in the water, this weight difference can be a significant challenge to travelling long distances.
   2. High speed range
      The challenge of travelling long distances is most evident when travelling at high speeds. This is because the amount of energy required to make a boat go faster is not linear. To make a boat go twice as fast (say 10 knots compared to 5 knots) requires more than twice the energy.
   3. Initial cost.
      The higher initial cost of an electric boat compared to a fossil fuel boat is almost entirely due to the cost of the battery. The cost of a battery is in some ways like adding the cost of all the fossil fuel you will ever use to run the boat to the upfront purchase price.

Are there hybrid boats, like hybrid cars, to address the range issue?

Hybrid boats are boats that combine propulsion systems. A parallel hybrid boat has an electric motor and a combustion motor. The propeller shaft and propeller can be powered and turned by the electric motor alone, by the combustion motor alone or both motors working together. A serial hybrid boat has only one motor, which is electric. A combustion generator on board can charge the battery as necessary to provide energy to the electric motor.

Hybrid boats are usually larger boats (above 9 meters / 30 feet) that need to cover long distances over an ocean, sea, large inland lake or inland waterway. This is because fossil fuels have a much higher energy density than batteries. Energy density is the amount of energy that can be stored in a specified weight or volume of material. You can find more information about this in the Batteries section.

How much more expensive are electric boats initially?

It is impossible to put a figure to this because the difference in the price of en electric boat and a combustion boat is only in the drive train and fuel source – mainly the fuel source. A large electric motor and battery in a small boat will have a bigger impact on the overall price than a similar size motor and battery in a larger boat.

The cost of the battery is also variable. Boaters who want to drive at high speed for extended periods will need a bigger battery. When most people looking at an electric boat look closely at the way they use their boat, and the amount of time that they actually travel at high speed, they find they need less battery than they anticipated.

What are some popular types of electric boats?

In this section we will focus on leisure and recreational boats. Some of the most popular electric boats:

Cruising Boats

Cruising boats include a lot of different styles, but all are similar in that they are displacement hull boats. They are designed to go slowly (3 to 6 knots /  3.5 – 7  miles per hour / 5.5 – 11  kilometres per hour) and do not plane (rise above the water).

Cruising Boats in North America
The most popular style in North America is often referred to as the fantail. It is a shallow boat, often with a canopy on top and almost always with a generous area for dining and drinking.  Its popularity arises from being the first electric boats introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1986 (read about it here in Plugboats) and also because a gentleman named Marshall Duffield developed a special rudder for electric motors in boats, and began selling them in Newport Beach, California (Plugboats story here) where they became wildly popular and are now the all-time best selling electric boats in the world.

Pontoon Boats
The more modern version of the fantail boat in terms of a boat to go out cruising on with the family and friends is the Pontoon Boat (unknown in Europe) which is basically a platform on two tubes. It is very well suited to electric propulsion because they can hold the batteries and they don’t have to go fast.
Read Plugboats articles about Pontoon Boats

Cruising Boats in Europe
In Europe there are many different kinds of cruising boats, some of them very specific to the country where they were developed. The sloop of the Netherlands is typical of the boat style. Again, a low displacement hull with a generous internal area where the passengers can dine and drink and talk with each other. Pontoon boats are almost unheard of in Europe.
Here are links to Plugboats articles about some typical Cruising Boats in Europe:
Cruising Boats  •  Canal Boats  •  Houseboats

Planing Power Boats / Sport Boats

Electric motors produce the torque and power needed to get a boat on plane much more quickly than a combustion motor, but the low energy density of batteries makes it difficult to store enough energy to stay on plane for as long as a boat running on fossil fuel. As noted above, though, most people over dramatically overestimate how long they are on plane in their current boat.

Many electric boat and motor companies gather live data on how their boats are used. Using this data, they are very good at striking the right balance between how large the boat’s battery needs to be with how long and often the driver will want or need it to be on plane.
Read Plugboats articles about Planing Powerboats

Sailboats

Sailboats are well suited to having electric motors because their hulls are generally designed to be extremely efficient. Most major sailboat manufacturers now offer their boats with electric instead of combustion motors, and there are electric motor companies that specialize in motors for sailboats.
Read Plugboats articles about electric Sailboats

Catamarans and Solar Catamarans

Catamarans are also well suited to electric propulsion because the two hulls have less surface area than monohulls so require less energy to move through the water. There are both sailing and power catamarans using electric motors. Since the decks of the boats are wide enough to connect the two pontoons, most builders use the roofs to hold solar panels that can help to recharge the boat’s battery.
Read Plugboats articles about Catamarans

Cruising Yachts

We’re separating Cruising Yachts from Cruising Boats only by distinction of their size. Cruising Yachts are longer than 9 metres (30 ft) and have galleys (kitchens), sleeping cabins and bathrooms (heads) for overnight (and longer) stays. Electric motors are quite popular for Cruising Yachts, but usually combined with fossil fuel generators in hybrid propulsion that extends the yacht’s range between charges. Hybrid motor systems also generally allow for the electric propulsion to be used for shorter journeys and the fossil fuel generator (or motor) only being called upon to go long distances.
Read Plugboats articles about Cruising Yachts

Hydrofoiling Boats

Hydrofoiling is a technology that lifts the hull of the boat out of the water with foils having a similar profile to airplane wings. When the boat attains a certain speed – usually about 14 – 18 knots (16 – 18 mph / 25 – 29 kmph) the boat starts ‘flying’, so there is no resistance or friction between the hull and the water. This can reduce the amount of energy required by as much as 80%. Active hydrofoils use sophisticated scanners and technology to adjust the foils for maximum stability. The technology is costly and while it is available for recreational boats, is purchased more often by commercial and government clients operating on ferry and watertaxi routes.
Read Plugboats articles about Hydrofoiling Electric Boats

Commercial electric boats

Electric propulsion is grwong quickly in the commercial boat world because the economics are more favourable for paying ff the investment in the battery. The cost of the fossil fuel a commercial boat requires quickly adds up to be equal to the initial investment in the battery. After that investment is covered the savings in terms of ‘fuelling up’ with electricity as opposed to diesel or gasoline/petrol are significant The much reduced maintenance costs also make electric attractive for commercial boat owners.

Electric Workboats

Electric workboats include everything from boats used around a marina, port or yacht club to tugboats that handle ocean vessels coming into port. In those cases the immediate torque of the electric motor gives advantages in pulling power.
Read Plugboats articles about Electric Workboats

Ferries and Watertaxis

Electric Ferries and Watertaxis are also growing for the same financial reasons as Commercial Workboats. In addition, municipalities and government agencies overseeing urban water transport are attracted by the lower carbon and particle emissions that save costs in local health care. Hydrofoiling electric boats are particularly popular in the urban transport sector.
Read Plugboats articles about Electric Ferries and Watertaxis

Electric Boat Motors

What kinds of electric boat motors are there?

The electric motors for boats match the combustion motors for boats: Outboard motors, Inboard motors, Inboard/Outboard motors (also called Z Drive motors), and Saildrives.

There are some electric boat motor types that are not feasible or possible to create using combustion technology: Pod motors are electric motors where the motor and propeller shaft are in a sealed compartment that can operate under water.

There are also small electric motors that are used on kayaks, powered surfboards and as trolling motors when fishing from boats that use combustion motors as their main propulsion system.

How powerful are electric boat motors?

The smallest trolling motors, kayak motors and outboards for small dinghies can have power of a half a kiloWatt or less. One kiloWatt (kW) is roughly equal to 1.3 horsepower.

Electric motors for large recreational boats can be as large as 400 kiloWatts ≈ 500+ hp.

There are electric outboard and electric inboard motors covering that full range.

Electric saildrive motors generally range from 3 kW to 60 kW (5 hp to 90 hp)

Pod motors range from 1kW to 40kW (15 to 60 hp). Above this size they become impractical because the size of the motor creates too much drag in the water.

One of the amazing things is that the electric motors for each are essentially the same, just different sizes.

How do electric boat motors work?

Electric motors have a stator – a stationary part and a rotor – a part that rotates. The rotor is made to rotate using the principle that the opposite polar fields of a magnet attract each other and the same polar fields repel each other. By arranging and timing the poles of the magnet fields in the stator with the poles in the rotor, the rotor is made to spin.

It is not quite this simple, but the electric motor used by a kayak fisher to free up their hands while they angle just uses smaller magnets and less electricity than the electric motors used in the world’s largest cargo ships and submarines.

Plugboats has a series of Buying Guides for Electric Boat Motors you can refer to with specifications  for more than 250 motors from 100+ manufacturers

Electric Outboard Motors (Less than 5 KW)
Electric Outboard Motors (More than 5 KW)
Electric Inboard Motors
Electric Pod and Saildrive Motors
Electric Trolling Motors

Electric Boat Batteries: what types of batteries are used?

The quick answer is that there are so many different sizes and styles of electric boats that many different types of batteries are used. The long answers can be found in the Plugboats Guide to Electric Boat Batteries, with some of the content summarized below.

How they work: battery cells, modules and packs

We often use the word ‘battery’ when referring to the unit that stores the electric energy in a boat (or car), but it is more accurately a battery pack. A battery pack is made up of battery modules, which are in turn made up of battery cells.

A battery cell is a single battery, like a AA battery. They don’t have very much voltage or amperage individually, so are aggregated into the modules and packs to increase them and make into something usable.

Boat motors with less than kiloWatts of power can run off battery packs with 48 volts or lower, but anything above 50 kiloWatts – with one exception – requires a higher voltage battery. That one exception is the patented ISCAD motor from Molabo, which can generate 50 kW (about 70 hp) with 48 volts.

Batteries of 48 volts or less are considered ‘safe to touch’, meaning common sense and electric knowhow has to be applied when working with them, but there is no need for special equipment or training.

Voltage of the battery packs for boats with larger propulsion motors are usually multiples of 48: 96V, 144V, 192V – up to as much as 800 volts. As an example, the battery for the ExploMar 300 hp outboard (225 kW) is 540 volts.

Battery Management System BMS

Along with every battery pack, (from hereon we will refer to it as a battery) there needs to be a BMS – Battery Management System.

The BMS manages, oversees and controls how much electricity is coming out of the battery (or going back in when charging) and which of the cells and modules it is coming out of or going into.

This needs to be balanced so that the individual cells are charged and discharged with the same frequency. That is important not just for the life of the individual cells (and hence the whole battery) but also for cooling and safety reasons when the motor is being operated.

Battery chemistry: the materials

As we mentioned right at the top of this article, the big challenge for electric boats is the low energy density of batteries – how much energy can be stored in a specific weight of material.

There are two basic chemistries for boat batteries – lithium and lead. To give you an idea where this ends up, the heaviest element in the periodic table with a strictly stable (non-radioactive) isotope is lead. The lightest metallic element is lithium.

Lithium

Lithium-based batteries are the most popular batteries for boats because they have the highest energy density. They can store as much as 300 watt hours per kilogram of material, that material including the other elements in the battery. Anything about 250 watt hours is very good.

One thing to note, though is that often, when energy density information is provided, it refers to the energy density of the lithium CELL. Once all the wires and glues and packaging materials come together to form the battery PACK, that overall density could be considerably lower. It doesn’t really matter when you are out on the water, the electricity gauge on your boat goes by percentage of battery remaining, but it may be useful to consider and ask more about when you are looking at buying an electric boat.

Below are the main varieties of lithium batteries used for electric boat propulsion. The chemical composition refers to the materials used in the cathodes.

Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide: LiNiMnCoO2: NMC (NCM, CMN, CNM, MNC, MCN

NMC is the most popular chemistry for electric powertrains in EVs, e-bikes and electric boats. The main reason it is so popular is that it has a high specific energy. Different manufacturers will have their own recipes for the nickel, manganese and cobalt proportions so that some will sacrifice a little specific energy for more specific power, and vice versa. Battery manufacturers are trying to use less cobalt because of cost and concerns about ethical mining. More nickel means higher energy density, lower cost, and longer cycle life, but a slightly lower voltage.

Lithium-Iron-Phosphate: LiFePO, LiFePO4 or LFP

Many electric boat owners and companies prefer the LiFePO lithium iron battery chemistry to lithium ion, largely because of two reasons: lower cost and their concerns about the safety of li-ion. They make a trade off in range, though, because LiFePO has a low specific energy. It may not be the best battery choice for a high speed high power electric boat, but is becoming increasingly popular with sailboat owners, where the increased battery weight in relation to the size of the boat is less important and speed under power is a non issue.

Lithium Titanate: LTO or Li-titanate

Lithium Titanate is a very good chemistry for certain large vessels, but is not a popular option for recreational boats. The reasons are that it has a low specific energy – so the batteries are very heavy. On the other hand, they have long life span, are very safe and can be charged very quickly. The other drawback is they are expensive. For a big electric ferry where the weight of the battery is less important but quick charging, and public safety are important, the higher initial cost is offset by the long life span which means the operator is free from the ongoing high operating costs of constantly filling up with fossil fuel.

Lead acid batteries

Compared to lithium batteries, Lead Acid batteries have much lower energy density. Also, the type of lead acid batteries used for propelling an electric boat are different from those used in a fossil fuel car as a starter battery. A starter battery is only used to start a motor, which requires a lot of power, but for a short period of time. It doesn’t need big energy storage.

Lead acid batteries that do have significant storage capacity are called ‘Deep Cycle’ or sometimes ‘Deep Discharge’ batteries, and there are a few types: Flooded batteries and Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA). The VRLAs are further divided into Gel batteries and Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) types. In the flooded versions the electrolyte is liquid, in gel versions it is a gel and in AGM it is held in a semi solid state by being held in the pores of the glass mat.

Flooded are the heaviest and least expensive…AGM the lightest and most expensive, but still much cheaper than lithium batteries. The initial cost for Lead Acid is about 1/4 the price of a lithium battery, but since they last for only 300-400 cycles, the cost per cycle is higher. They are good for smaller motors, but after about 48 volts, the amount of power needed to move the weight of the battery pack alone makes it an impractical choice.

Electric boat charging

Electric boat Charging systems

Almost all batteries for electric boats can be charged through a standard household circuit (Level 1), and almost as many have fast charging capabilities (Level 2). In both cases the chargers use the AC electricity coming from the general grid and the technical aspects fall in line with charging for electric vehicles. Most boat chargers use the CCS1 (Combined Charging System) connection.

Standard existing charging pedestals at marinas can be used to charge electric boat motors and there are also DC high speed charging units being installed in marinas throughout the world.

How long will it take you to charger your electric boat?

It depends on the size of the battery and the speed of the charger. Small batteries for small outboards can be charged from sockets in under an hour, similar to household tools. For larger motors on a Level 1 system you would most probably have to think about charging it overnight, but a Level 2 system can bring that down to 1 and a half to 2 hours (depending, again, on the battery) and high voltage high performance motors can be charged (20% to 80%, the standard measurement) in just under an hour with high speed DC chargers.