Mercury announces plans to launch Electric Power starting in 2022
May 27, 2021
As the world of engine power has evolved, both on the water and via Tesla, Mercury Marine has been steadily heading to alternative power offerings. As much as a decade ago, CY editor Andy Adams ran Merc’s hybrid-electric concept vessel.
During their recent virtual investor day, Brunswick CEO David Foulkes announced that that by 2023, Mercury Marine and the Advanced Systems Group will launch five electric-propulsion products, with the first landing in 2022. Foulkes also stated that the builder will have electric boats in four segments by 2023.
In an article in the February / March 2021 issue of IBI, Craig Ritchie wrote that last September the California Air Resources Board (CARB) published its 2020 Mobile Source Strategy Workshop Discussion Draft calling for increased emissions standards that would target outboard motors. The document proposes reductions in outboard emissions of 40% from engines less than 40kW (about 50 hp) from present levels and from engines above that power level by 70%. These new standards are proposed to also apply to personal watercraft by 2027.
Boating Industry Canada News Week Digest had previously reported that on March 25, 2021, BRP announced its five-year plan to offer electric models in each of its product lines by the end of 2026. That was big news too, but it makes perfect sense given the many new market forces and impending regulations.
