First, take a trip back to 2009 and a milestone for Broadblue Catamarans. The first electric drive model from UK production catamaran builder Broadblue was the Broadblue 345. This innovative 10.2m catamaran employed the Fischer Panda drive system and the ‘state of the art’ battery and charging solutions of the time.

Fast forward to late June 2021 and the innovative The Green Tech Boat Show (June 19-20, Plymouth, UK) which is the showcase for the stylish and innovative new Broadblue 346 ECO also using the Fischer Panda drive solution and the current production battery and charging solutions from Victron. The highly acclaimed and successful Broadblue 346 is a UK designed and built production cruising catamaran available in both electric and diesel formats. It has been the most successful production catamaran in this class for a decade.

Broadblue Production Director, Mark Jarvis reflects on this latest offering: “When a customer asked for an electric drive version of our popular 345 model back in 2009, we saw this as an opportunity to study the drive configuration in real-time. The original owner cruised the catamaran extensively over a seven year period across a wide area taking in the Baltic and many canal miles. The owner used the drive system very effectively to achieve remarkable efficiencies, especially very low generator hours by regular battery top-ups in marinas only using the generator as an intermittent back-up”, Mark expands on the current market position of hybrid catamarans:  “the catamaran on show in Plymouth, kindly loaned by the owner, is another example of a customer appreciating the benefits of using electric drive but understanding how best to employ the system to achieve real benefits in operating costs.

Hybrid drive systems are not new in the leisure yachting arena with new announcements on everything from tenders to superyachts on a monthly basis. I see something different as an engineer, we have the perfect meeting of technologies with the combination of efficient, easily driven catamaran hulls and state-of-the-art electric propulsion…a perfect partnership and a combination of great sailing, quality time on board, comfort and safety and peace and quiet when you want it.”

Visit the Broadblue website or visit The Green Tech Boat show and see for yourself.

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