Marine

Seaway debuts flagship Greenline 48 hybrid yacht

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The Greenline 48 that débuted at the Dusseldorf Boat Show
The Greenline 48 made its début at the Dusseldorf Boat Show
The Greenline 48 has a powered transom
The Greenline 48 can go 1,000 nm under diesel power
The Greenline 48 uses household appliances
Ladder to the flybridge
The Greenline 48's salon
The Greenline 48's galley
The Greenline 48's salon can seat eight
The Greenline 48's salon can seat eight
The Greenline 48 helm
The Greenline 48 foredeck
The Greenline 48 foredeck's sun cover
The Greenline 48 foredeck lounge area
The Greenline 48 helm
The Greenline 48 gangway to lower desk
The Greenline 48 guest cabin
The Greenline 48 guest cabin
The Greenline 48 owner's cabin
Profile of the Greenline 48
Top deck plan of the Greenline 48
The Greenline 48 alternative plans
The Greenline 48 alternative lower deck plans
The Greenline 48 owner's cabin
The Greenline 48 owner's cabin has a choice of two beds
The Greenline 48 salon
The Greenline 48 galley
The Greenline 48 salon and helm
The Greenline 48 salon seen from the galley
The Greenline 48 salon oblique view
The Greenline 48 cockpit
The Greenline 48 seating arangements
The Greenline 48 galley
The Greenline 48 uses 120 or 230 V appliances
The Greenline 48 owner's cabin alternative bed arrangement
The Greenline 48 owner's cabin alternative bed arrangement
The Greenline 48 guest cabin
The Greenline 48 has two diesel engines
The Greenline 48's solar array can power its motors if the sun is strong enough
The Greenline 48 can cruise at 7 knots under diesel
The Greenline 48 has a new hull design
Graph showing the Greenline 48's performance against a sail boat and conventional cruiser
The Greenline 48 that débuted at the Dusseldorf Boat Show
The Greenline 48 solar array
The Greenline 48 can cruise at 4 knots under electric drive
View gallery - 59 images

A motor yacht’s nice, big diesel engines are wonderful if you’re in a hurry, but they’re thirsty, not very green, and not the best of neighbors as they roar away when leaving harbor at first light. A quieter, cleaner alternative for the luxury boating market made its world première last week at the Dusseldorf Boat Show in the form of Seaway Yacht’s Greenline 48 Hybrid motor yacht.

Using hybrid electric technology combined with solar panels and a new hull design offering greater efficiency, Seaway sees the 48 Hybrid as the flagship of the company’s Greenline range and a bridge between its Greenline and transoceanic OceanClass lines.

The basic technology behind the Greenline 48 Hybrid was first introduced on the Greenline 33, but the builders say that the latest model boasts a next-generation hybrid system, a new interior design and a hydraulic transom platform that can be operated by remote control.

At first glance, the Greenline 48 doesn't look much different to any other luxury motor yachts, though a bit more sporty with a nicely rakish line to the forward glass surfaces. It’s bit tubby and sits high as such boats do, but then, they are intended more as vacation homes and entertainment venues than something designed for fighting the Roaring Forties. And it does have a very nice flybridge with a large solar panel on the front that gives a hint as to its hybrid nature.

The Greenline 48 solar array

With an overall length of 14.99 m (49.1 ft), a beam of 4.8 m (15.7 ft) and a draught of 1 m (3.2 ft), the Greenline 48 has a salón that seats eight, an electrically-operated sliding roof, three cabins, six beds, and three bathrooms complete with showers. Displacement is 13,200 kg (29,000 lb) and it carries 1,500 L (396 gal) of fuel to feed its diesel engines.

According to Seaway, the fuel consumption on the Greenline 48 is less per nautical mile than a comparable displacement hull thanks to what it calls the yacht's Protected Superdisplacement Hull Design. This is claimed to produce a very low-drag hull shape derived from sailboat hull lines that has as little as one quarter the drag of a semi-displacement, twin-engine planing boat. This makes it more stable, creating less wake, and reducing running costs.

But the centerpiece of the Greenline 48 is its hybrid powerplant. Seaway calls it a "fully electronically managed and maintenance-free system," which consists of two five-cylinder 110 bhp (81 kW) Volvo Penta D3-110 diesel engines as standard, (though three larger engines up 375 bhp (280 kW) are available), two 60-V electric/motor/generators (eM/G) putting out 14 kW, a 46 kWh lithium-ion battery array, and the 1.4 kW roof solar array made of six standard photovoltaic solar panels with forced air cooling.

The Greenline 48 salon

The hybrid system works in one of four modes that are controlled with a single switch. In shore power mode, the system is hooked into a 230 or 120 V AC shore power supply, which charges the batteries while an inverter puts out 3 kW to run galley appliances, televisions, computers, and other gear, much as would be the case on a more conventional motor yacht. Instead of their 12 V equivalents, Greenline points out that the yacht is designed to power a full sized fridge, electric oven, television, air conditioning and other devices both underway and while docked.

In the electric drive mode, power is supplied by the batteries and the solar array for silently going in and out of harbor, and to save on fuel costs. Propulsion comes from the eM/Gs, which consume 7 kW each in the electric drive mode and generate 5 kW of electrical power when driven by the diesel engine. This puts out enough power to drive the Greenline 48 at up to 6 knots (11 km/h, 6.9 mph), while a cruising speed of 4 knots (7.4 km/h, 4.6 mph) can be maintained for a range of 20 miles (32 km) under battery power. According to Seaway, the solar array can propel the craft at 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h, 4 mph) without draining the batteries, so long as there's sufficient sunlight.

In diesel drive mode, a hydraulic VW clutch hooks the diesel engines directly to drive shafts and the eM/Gs. This both propels the craft and recharges the batteries. In this mode, the Greenline 48 can reach a top speed of 23 knots (42.5 km/h, 26.5 mph) and cruise at 7 knots (13 km/h, 8 mph) for a range of 1,000 nm (1,852 km).

The Greenline 48 can cruise at 4 knots under electric drive

Finally, there’s anchor charge mode, which operates as it says on the tin. At anchor, the solar array and engines take over charging the batteries and powering the electrics. Seaway says that in a full day of sunlight the solar array can charge the batteries up to 80 percent capacity. If the charge falls below a preset level, the engines kick in automatically to run the eM/Gs

Seaway claims this system will burn only as much fuel over a full boating season as a sailboat of comparable size or up to four times less fuel than a similar twin-engine boat while producing less noise and fewer emissions. In addition, there’s a GreenPad app that wirelessly collects data from a monitoring box in the engine rooms, so the owner can keep tabs on performance.

Source: Greenline via boot-Dusseldorf

View gallery - 59 images
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6 comments
Brian M
Pity they only put on a 1.4KW PV array - which is just about useless. More gimmick than green I think!
Craig King
So the solar panel is just a marketing device. A bit like chrome and huge tail fins on an old American car.
I suppose being rich doesn't mean you can't be stupid.
Slowburn
The solar is not worth the cost but the hull and diesel electric propulsion sound good.
BeWalt
The solar is 1.4kW = $2000 if they were normal (rooftop) panels. Let's say the walk-on panels used here are probably twice that. Or thrice that, so what? Opt for cow butt leather instead of giraffe nose leather to save the cash for the difference.
David writes in the article this "can propel the craft at 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h, 4 mph) without draining the batteries" - why on earth would you (Brian M) call that useless? Being able to cruise slowly not needing any gas at all, indefinitely, that's the opposite of useless. That is in fact really neat!
A fillup for this thing is 1500 bucks every time. Costs for the panels are once. Also consider how much the upgrade from the standard engines to the beefier options might be: We are probably talking five digit numbers there, not just a puny 4k. Talking about pointlessly wasting money.
You get a quiet boat, engines that will only run under nice load, thus better efficiency and longer lasting. Fridge, lights, no more concerns, these things are just afterthoughts with that much PV power.
This is an awesome concept, congratulations.
The Skud
Would have been nice for them to list even an approximate 'turn-key' price!
Johnny Partain
A full displacement hull working at semi-displacement speeds of up to 23 knots with three larger engines at 375 apiece? Doubt it.