Electric boat sales in Canada powered by cheaper prices, lower emissions, better technology
Cleaner, quieter, cheaper.
That was Parks Canada's goal when it put out a bid for an electric tourist boat to travel the Rideau Canal each summer.
Ottawa Boat Cruise won that long term contract from Parks Canada, replacing Paul's Paul's Boat Lines which had run boat tours on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa from 1949 until 2014
The owner of Ottawa Boat Cruise, Robert Taillefer said they had to build their own boat, creating what he thinks may be the largest electric powered tourist boat in North America.
The 100 passenger solar-powered boat still needs to be plugged in at the dock each night for about three hours, but Taillefer said the solar panel technology is improving so rapidly, it should be completely self-sufficient on solar power in a few years.
'Rapidly growing market'
The Ottawa Boat Cruise electric boat is part of a growing industry where changing technology, new restrictions on gas powered watercraft, and public interest are heating up sales.
A recent look at the next decade for marine electric vehicles worldwide by IDTechEx found "marine electric vehicles are now a rapidly growing market due to new capability, affordability and legislation banning or restricting internal combustion engines."
Private recreational electric boat sales are rising in Canada, while the number of gas powered new boat sales declined in 2015.
Still, electric powered boats make up a tiny fraction of the conventional boat industry.
Price, technology, catching up
The price of electric power boats however has been dropping and now rivals the combustion engine. And the new lithium-ion batteries last longer, according to one of the only Canadian electric boat manufacturers, the Canadian Electric Boat Company (CEBC).
One of the partners, Patrick Bobby said they are using electric motors from the latest car technology and batteries are improving their storage capacity up to 20 per cent every couple of years.
"The technology is really moving forward in the last few years, so we're still at our beginning but its about to grow rapidly," he said from the company headquarters in St. Eustache, about an hour and a half east of Ottawa.
Most of the boat sales are for small engine electric watercraft, but CEBC is about to make a breakthrough introducing what owners call the "Tesla" of power boats — able to reach speeds that can pull skiers behind them.
Manufacturers hoping for government boost
Unlike the electric car industry however, the electric boat industry doesn't receive any government incentives, like purchase rebates — something Bobby would like to see in the future.
Bobby said right now, as far as regulation and federal government incentive programs, electric vehicles are the "Rodney Dangerfield" of the boat manufacturing industry: "they don't get no respect."
"They don't know where to classify us, they don't know which department to send us to. We have to keep on knocking on their doors," said Bobby, adding he hopes the federal government see the electric boat as part of the solution toward a greener Canada.
The Ottawa Boat Cruise electric vehicle was put together locally by Gatineau's Marc Marine, which usually works on repairing boats.
President Marc Lavoie said it was the first time he'd ever put together a big boat project from A to Z.
Transport Canada will be taking the new boat for a test drive this weekend to make sure it meets regulations.
Taillefer plans to build a second boat for the Canal this September if it proves popular, hopig having an electric boat is a good selling feature to tourists.
