Nominations open for 5th International Electric Boat Awards – The Gussies

Oct 10, 2024

Presented by electric propulsion leaders Aqua superPower, BlueNav, Oceanvolt.

Nominations are now being accepted for the fifth annual Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating which were founded in 2020 by electric boat newsmagazine website Plugboats.com.

Awards will be presented in 9 categories and sub categories:
• Electric Boats Up To 8 metres/26 feet:
o Two Sub-Categories: Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
• Electric Boats Over 8m/26 ft:
o Two Sub-Categories: Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
• Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers:
o Two Sub-Categories: Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
• Electric Sailboats
• Customized / Refitted / DIY Electric Boats
• Electric Work Boats

Presenting Sponsors
This year’s awards are being presented by three leaders in the electric propulsion revolution:
• Aqua superPower, the first fully marinized dockside network of fast chargers for electric boats,
• BlueNav, developer of innovative hybrid solutions enabling more leisure and commercial boat owners to reduce their carbon impact
• Oceanvolt, pioneer and leader in electric motors and propulsion systems for sailboats, non-planing motorboats and small passenger ferries and watertaxis

“I would like to thank Aqua superPower, BlueNav and Oceanvolt for their support in presenting the 2024 awards” said Jeff Butler, Editor/Publisher of Plugboats and Founder of the Trouvé Awards. “They are all major contributors to the transition of marine propulsion away from fossil fuels and their sponsorships demonstrate their commitment to stimulating and celebrating the growth of electric boat and boating technology.”

Nominations
Qualifying boats can be nominated by anyone, members of the public as well as manufacturers and others in the marine industry. Qualifying criteria and the nominations entry form can be found on the Plugboats website.

‘The Gussies’, as the awards are known in the electric boat world, were created to recognize the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.

They are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with over 75 patents – among them the world’s first outboard boat motor, which he devised so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat ‘Le Teléphone’ and take it home for further work in his Paris apartment.

They are the only international boating awards to focus exclusively on electric boats and boating. In a graphic demonstration of the growth of the segment, there were 50 boats nominated from 19 countries in 2020, 105 boats from 24 countries in 2021 and 160 boats in the 2023 awards. It is expected that there will be even more this year.

There is also representation from around the world that demonstrate the global move to electric. The 29 Gussies Winners thus far represent 19 different countries: Austria, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.

Finalist and Winner Selection
Winners are selected through a combination of online public voting and weighted voting by an International Panel of industry experts. The panel will select finalists from the submitted nominations and public voting will follow.

The International Panel is made up of delegates from electric boat associations around the world, other industry experts and past Gussies winning companies. The panel’s choices will be weighted at 75% of the final decision and the public votes at 25%.

“It is remarkable to see the growth of electric boats since the first Gussies in 2020 and the number of designers and manufacturers that are advancing the technology and accessibility of e-boating literally everywhere around the world.” said Butler. “It’s also great to see the competitive camaraderie within the industry. I know the past winners are excited to be on the panel not only as judges, but in the role of rewarding excellence as everyone pushes themselves and others to promote zero emission boating and literally help change the world.”

There are six new 2023 winners on the Panel for this year: Axopar, NERO Yachts, Soel Yachts, FarEast Boats, Tideman Boats, Artemis Technologies and Boats and Cars of Kingston. They join these previous winners (some of whom also won in 2023): Candela, Cantiere Ernesto Riva, Echandia, ecomarine, Faroboats, Freepower Solar Boat, Kochi Metro Water Taxi, Lamarca Engenharia, Maid of the Mist, ABB, MobyFly, Navalt, Silent-Yachts, Swiss Sustainable Yachts, Sunreef Yachts, Wildtech, ZEN Yachts and Zodiac Nautic.

Also on the Panel are representatives from the electric boat associations of the UK, France, USA, Greece, Switzerland and Canada, Germany’s Friends of the Finow Canal, PolyBoatGlobal, the Foiling Awards and the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.

The Gussies are delighted to welcome new Panel member IEMA, the International Electric Marine Association. IEMA is the first industry-backed association advocating national and international policies to enable the global marine sector’s transition to zero-emission by 2050.

While M. Trouvé’s invention predates the 1887 patent of the internal combustion engine, and electric boats have been available since the first years of the 20th century, it is not until recently that they have begun to enter the mainstream. The global electric boat market is forecast to reach 19.09 billion USD by 2031. (see ‘About the electric boat market’ below)

Awards Timeline
October 1, 2024: Nominations open
October 25, 2024: Midnight, EST: Nominations close
November 2, 2024: Finalists for public voting announced and public voting begins
November 30, 2024: Announcement of 2024 Winners

For more information please contact:
Jeff Butler
Editor/Publisher Plugboats
je**@pl*******.com