This is a new, exciting field where there is a lot to discover. Marine applications of electric machines and drives are manyfold but – to many extents – still unexplored. The reason? Well, the electrification of the marine industry is far more complicated than the electrification of road vehicles. The energy challenge posed by cruising in the water is not comparable to the “cruising through the air” of conventional road vehicles. Water resistance simply kills your batteries (or fuel cells if you like it so).
However, there are smart people that think differently. Instead of pushing through the water with a conventional boat, why not lift the boat a little bit and drive with the hydrofoil concept? That would reduce significantly the water resistance and thus reduce considerably the need of energy storage on board the boat.
You can imagine that electric hydrofoil boats require a significant all-around effort from aerodynamics, mechanics, materials, control, and electromagnetics. We are just involved in this last part of the chain. Still, a meaningful one: the machine and the converters powering the boat are fully responsible for the propulsion in the water and above the water.
The challenges here involve the design of thin, long machines that reduce the water resistance while delivering significant power to lift the boat above it. At the same time, the design and placement of converters (above the water line, or below it?) and the flexibility of the control algorithms are not pieces of cake. We are on it since the end of 2022 – results coming soon!