The solar-powered 80 Sunreef Power ECO shows us what’s next.
“Possible” and “real” are key. While other builders offered electric yachts, they were only on paper. Still, though, the owner had a lot of questions for Nicholas Lapp, Sunreef’s CTO and co-founder. Lapp oversees all R&D, including the yard’s proprietary composite-integrated solar power system. The solar skin aboard the Sól covers 2,150 square feet of the hull, superstructure, and fixed bimini. “I literally spent two days in a conference room with Nicholas, grilling him, learning, looking at numbers, understanding the solar cells, the batteries, the electric engines, the generators,” the owner explains. While the 990 kWh battery system is the largest aboard any yacht up to 79 feet (by comparison, a long range Ford F150 Lightning has a 131kWh battery) and can power all amenities plus the electric engines, the small gensets are mostly backups, one running just an hour or two per week according to the owner.
Explore one of the most innovative yachts on the water with Diane Byrne >>
