Hybrid vessel cruises into False Creek for boat show exhibit
The ocean blue should be a bit more green, a West Vancouver boat dealership believes.
So they’re introducing the Greenline Hybrid to Canada’s West Coast boating enthusiasts.
“As a company, we feel boating needs to go green sooner rather than later,” said Fedor Vasilchikov, an engineer and one of the owners of SV Business Group, the West Vancouver-based Greenline rights holder for Western Canada.
“We did a lot of research, and Greenline offers the best option for cruising Pacific waters, including salmon fishing, touring the islands, or just a day trip,” Vasilchikov said.
The boat was scheduled to be available for viewing from Saturday morning at the Granville Island Marina as part of the Vancouver Boat Show.
Electric-powered boats have been around since the 1880s, The Oarsman’s and Angler’s Map of the River Thames says, and remained popular until internal combustion engines took over in the 1920s.
Hybrid boats first made their appearance in the First World War, according to the Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatUS). Submarines used a diesel engine by night to charge batteries for electric propulsion underwater by day.
The lower noise level is a big attraction of hybrids, which use parallel power (one shaft, two motors).
“A perfect example of this type of boat is the revolutionary Greenline Hybrid,” BoatUS says.
The award-winning Greenline boats were designed by celebrated naval architects and Slovenian brothers Japec and Jernej Jakopin, with some engineering assistance from Volvo.
This is their baby, Vasilchikov said.
“They didn’t just take a boat and put an electric motor inside. The whole boat, the whole system, needed to be designed from scratch. This kind of technology is long overdue.”
The Greenline boats are in compliance with Transport Canada specifications and are certified.
According to the specs, they use up to four times less fossil fuel than a twin-engined powerboat in similar planing situations ( just slightly more fuel than a sailing yacht would use).