Marine

Volkswagen and Cupra pitch in on solar electric yacht

A rendering of Silent Yachts' new Cupra-designed catamaran, with Volkswagen's MEB platform highlighted at the bottom
Silent Yachts
A rendering of Silent Yachts' new Cupra-designed catamaran, with Volkswagen's MEB platform highlighted at the bottom
Silent Yachts

Austrian boatbuilder Silent Yachts has already gained a fair bit of attention with its solar electric catamarans. Its just-announced latest model should continue that trend, as it's the result of a partnership with automakers Volkswagen and Cupra.

According to Silent Yachts, the as-yet unnamed solar-powered electric catamaran will feature the company's own photovoltaic system. This will be used to charge batteries that will in turn provide power to the yacht's onboard electronics, and to its electric propulsion system.

That system will be based around Volkswagen's modular electric drive matrix (MEB) platform. MEB was initially designed as an optimized means of delivering power from a bank of chassis-integrated batteries to a motor on a car's rear axle – the platform can also be set up for four-wheel-drive. Volkswagen has since made the technology available for third-party applications, hence its upcoming use for spinning the catamaran's propellers.

The yacht is being designed by Cupra, which is a high-performance sub-brand of VW-owned Spanish automaker Seat. As is the case with Silent Yachts' other models, the company claims that it should be quieter-running and more eco-friendly than conventional fuel-burning catamarans, while also being less costly to maintain.

We're told that details such as specs, pricing and availability should be released early next year.

Source: Silent Yachts

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6 comments
Username
How do I add to cart?!
Johannes
From the Silent-Yachts website, it looks like a price range of Euro2M to Euro5.5M so you might want to check your credit card limit before adding to cart.
mediabeing
Well, it wins my award for the most unsightly new watercraft of 2020.
To me, it looks like the remains of a collision or severe vandalism.
Indiver716
How many pages can it print per minute? Does it scan?
andrew
This is a boat? It looks like a stapler.
ljaques
I was all ready to Paypal that purchase when I read the last line, saying they weren't yet available. Drat.