Electric Axopar 25 to focus on useability, range over outright performance

However, when the technology is right to go in about nine months’ time, Axopar reckons customers who choose to go all-electric will have the best mix of battery life and user-friendliness on the market.

Speaking at the Cannes show, Axopar co-founder Jan-Erik Viitala said the Finland-based company’s decision to team up with Norwegian electric engine specialist Evoy “opens up the opportunity that Axopar has been searching for and waiting for”.

Axopar teased its electric future at Cannes, showing a version of its Axopar 25 powered by a prototype 300hp Evoy electric outboard engine that Viitala said was close to ready for release to the market.

When the new electric-powered boat range is ready, it will be based on two models – the Axopar 25 and the new, trailerable Axopar 22 – and sell under its own brand and model designation. Axopar’s larger boats are not yet ready for this technology.

Axopar’s electric boat range also will tap Evoy’s other products already launched to market, including a 120hp outboard engine and a 400hp inboard.

Viitala said the Axopar 22 and 25, the two smallest models in its line-up, were designed to adopt electrific drivetrains.

Axopar’s electric future will ensure that its boat owners will still have enough range to use their battery-powered models exactly as they do their conventionally engined ones.

It’s quick, too. In early testing, the 300hp Axopar 25 hit 51 knots, but Viitala is quick to point out that top speeds are not what Axopar’s electrification strategy is about.

“At the end of the day, people want to buy boats that are usable, Viitala said.

“They go top speed, I don't know, 30 seconds or one minute, and then after that they pull back the throttle. 

“So it's [going full throttle] more of a fun thing to do occasionally.

“But the one thing that's really now changed the whole setup is that with this boat with the battery we have installed on the 25, we are able to do firstly 25 nautical miles.

“This is important because when we check any sort of boat club or boaters in the size range of 22 to 25 [feet], their average driving distance to their location is somewhere around 10 nautical miles.”

Viitala said testing had shown the prototype Axopar was that it could maintain a cruising speed of 20 to 30 knots and still deliver the 25-mile range. This was important in rougher conditions where skipping across the waves was more comfortable for those on board rather than punching through them at a lower speed – something Axopar’s electric boat rivals couldn’t offer.

“Many of the [electric] boats on the market today are going slower,” he said.

However, while Axopar thinks the time is ripe to offer its customers an electric future, the infrastructure needed to support it is still a long way behind, Viitala said.

“This [making an electric boat] is not feasible in the larger scheme of things within the next few years to come. 

“There will be a lot of investment required from charging stations and electrification of marinas, as well as the technology of the batteries and engines. 

“Why we do this now, together with Evoy, is that for the first time ever we've been able to offer an actual functional electrical solution. 

“And once the product comes out from Axopar and Evoy, maybe eight to 12 months from now, it will be even further evolved and even further developed to meet the demands of our Axopar customers.”

Axopar’s Australian distributor, Eyachts, was asked about customer response to the electric version of the 25. It is yet to respond.