The MODX 70 – a luxury electric catamaran that runs on nothing but wind, waves and sun

Winner of a 2025 Multihull of the Year Award in April and a Cannes Yachting Festical Innovation Route Award in September, the MODX70 electric catamaran is being praised as a handsome luxury yacht that can sail literally forever without emitting a single molecule of carbon dioxide or any other pollutant.

Read: 9 electric and hybrids grab attention at Multihull Awards

The yacht, from French shipyard Océan Développement, is a fusion of performance racing engineering, a clean, minimalist design aesthetic and a propulsion system that evolved from Tûranor PlanetSolar, the first solar electric vehicle ever to circumnavigate the globe (Coincidentally, PlanetSolar started her historic 584 day journey exactly fifteen years before the publishing date of this article, on September 27, 2010.

All of that learning and experience has been applied over the past four years to developing and designing a recreational catamaran that allows its owners and passengers to sail coastal waters with comfort, ease… and zero emissions.

That is achieved through two inflatable, automated and retractable wingsails that work in concert with 70 m2 (755 sq ft) of solar panels and twin 40 kW hydrogenerating electric motors. The motors both propel the boat when desired and recharge the 250 kWh battery bank when the MODX is sailing under wind power.

MODX70 story began in 2008

The story of the MODX70 goes back to 2008 with the meeting of three entrepreneurs and sail racing enthusiasts: Marco Simeoni, Founder and President of the Veltigroup pool of IT companies; Stève Ravussin, Winner of the Route du Rhum and two time winner of the Transat Jacques Vabra (with a speed record that held up for 10 years); and Franck David, 1992 Olympic windsurfing champion and Executive Director of ORMA (Oceanic Racing Multihulls Association) at the time.

At the start of the 2008 Vendée Globe sailing race, Ravussin and David presented to Simeoni their Multi One Design project (MOD)  – a class in which completely identical multihulls would race on an equal footing on the world’s oceans. Simeoni jumped on board and also saw in the class a means to promote a cherished environmental cause of his, the preservation of water.

He created the Race for Water Foundation to inform, share and act on the problems associated with water and the preservation of the oceans, and the MOD70 races were a key promotional vehicle. The trimaran series began in 2011, but was abandoned in 2014 with the emphasis shifting to the environmental aspect of the project and one of the boats setting out on the first ‘Odyssey for the Race For Water Foundation’ in 2015.

Purchase of PlanetSolar the beginning of MODX70

The mission was tasked with analyzing the beaches of the islands located within the perimeter of the 5 oceanic gyres and carrying out the first global inventory of plastic pollution in the oceans and the consequences for nearby populations. In 2017 the Foundation expanded its scope and purchased the PlanetSolar vessel to travel around the world raising awareness for ocean protection on a journey named the ‘Odyssey of Hope.’

The Odyssey was in Asia when the global pandemic broke out. While moored there it caught the imagination of Taiwanese entrepreneur Stan Shih, co-founder of the Acer computer empire. He was intrigued by the zero emission technology and purchased the boat, renaming it Porrima P111, to inspire and act as a spearhead for the nation’s advancement in green technology.

The MOD70 / Race For Water team returned to France, disappointed by the ending of the adventure but enthused about using their knowledge and experience to create an all-electric, all-renewable energy catamaran to revolutionize the recreational market. Add an ‘X’ and some innovative design ideas and the electric MODX70 catamaran was born.

Retractable, inflatable wingsails rotate 360º

A technology that was not around when PlanetSolar was built in 2010 is wingsails, which are a bit like airplane wings situated vertically on a boat. They have a rigid mast with a moveable flap shaped like an airplane wing, providing a much better lift-to-drag ratio than fabric sails. They are now being used on everything from ocean going cargo ships to the ZEN50 electric catamaran to a new superyacht, ‘Aera’ being showcased by Royal Huisman this week at the Monaco Yacht Show.

The MOD70 has two wingsails – set on the sides of the deck’s roof above, each catamaran hull – that were developed by Aeroforce, a new French company with ties to MODX and Océan Développement – Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineer Jean Guyon is the CEO of Aeroforce and also CCO of MODX.

Guyon’s Aeroforce team designed their wingsails to be retractable and inflatable. They are set on telescoping masts that rise only a short height when collapsed. When ‘hoisted’ and inflated, they have automated trimming and are also able to rotate a full 360 degrees.

 
“This turns the MODX70 into a sailing boat that works with push buttons,” says Guyon. “You press a button and the sails raise. It takes about eight minutes for them to get to full height, and they are set into the wind, neutral and stable. In the helm,  you have a throttle, like an engine throttle. There are sensors all up and down the mast – pressure sensors, wind sensors – and as you push the throttle, the wingsails are automatically and continually trimmed to the best possible angle for you to achieve the speed and thrust.”

Guyon continues: “The only thing you need to know for sailing is that you can’t go straight against the wind. On a standard sailboat this size, if you want to jibe or reef you need two or three people, everybody has to know what they have to do…and watch out for the boom! Here it is all automatic, we rotate from the front the other way and it is extremely soft. You don’t even notice it, and nothing swings because it is all motorized.”

Twin 40 kW electric motors, 250 kWh battery

While the wingsails are the main propulsion system, the MOD70 also has the 80 kiloWatts of electric motors available. Perhaps even more important than their occasional use for propulsion is their contribution to charging the 250 kWh battery pack to serve the electric ‘hotel load’ of the yacht – things like the air conditioning and galley appliances.

The MOD70’s pedigree and origins as a racing boat help enormously in that regards, because the faster a boat can travel under wind power, the more electricity it can create when the motor is acting as a turbine in hydrogeneration mode.

The other source of energy is the solar panels covering the deck of the boat. Guyon says that on a nice, bright day they can generate from 30 to 50 kilowatt hours of electricity.

Owner and Charter versions

There are two versions of the MODX70, one designed for private owners and one for charters. Both highlight the expansive 85 m² (915 sq ft) main salon area that has 360° ocean views. Because the wingsails are set to the sides of the room salon, there is no mast to interrupt the space, making it an inviting canvas for an interior design to be fully customized, – from sofas to screens, from fabrics to structural materials and colour.

In the Owners’ Version one catamaran pontoon is devoted to a large private 20m² (215 sg ft) suite with cabin bed, bathroom, separate toilet, and a large TV lounge or private office that can also serve as a cabin for one person. The other pontoon houses the Guest area with 2 cabins accommodating 4 people. In the Charter Version that pontoon is mirrored on the other side to create a boat that accommodates 8 people in 4 cabins.

Probably the biggest draw on the hotel electricity load is air conditioning. The MODX70 mitigates this by confining AC to the cabin areas (it is unnecessary on the main deck) and using the latest generation technology that optimizes energy consumption. Both Owner and Charter versions have pantry and laundry in a dedicated space near the galley with large capacity refrigerator, freezer, washing machine and dryer. The water comes from a system that can collect 800L (210 gal) of rainwater and store 1,200L (265 gal.)

Had to think outside the box on every aspect

From the wingsails to the hull to the interior design, it is clear that the MODX70 is a boat and experience that has been thoroughly considered. Guyon says “The goal of the project wasn’t to say ‘Okay, we have a boat, let’s electrify it’. The project was to create a boat that uses no fuel, has zero emissions, and provides a wonderful experience in performance, comfort and ease of use. So we asked ourselves ‘What do we need to build and design to achieve that?”

“When you do that, you have to think out of the box on every aspect. And we also wanted to make it easy and fun to have a zero emission boat, we didn’t want people to have to change their behaviour too much. So we have tried to limit those changes to the absolute minimum.”

While it took four years to develop the specifics of the MODX70, it took a decade and a half to gather the experience and knowledge to create a recreational vessel that can sail as long as desired with zero emissions. The first model, on display at Cannes, has been proven over about 6,000 Nautical miles (11,000 km / 7,000 mi) and the business objective is to build two to four boats per year. The production facility is already set up and ready to go.

MODX   Race For The Water Foundation