Hinckley unveils fully electric yacht

Sep 19, 2017 by Triton Staff

Maine-based Hinckley has introduced a fully electric luxury yacht, the 28.6-foot Dasher, at the 47th Newport International Boat Show.

Dasher has twin 80hp electric motors using two 40-kilowatt-hour BMW i3 lithium-ion batteries that, according to Hinckley, give it a range of 35nm at a cruising speed of 8.6kts, and about half that range at speeds of 15.6-23.5 knots. It can be recharged in four hours using standard dual 50-amp charging cables.

Scott Bryant, Hinckley’s director of new product development, told Bloomberg that he expects Dasher to soon exceed its current range: “When we started this project [a little more than two years ago], our test boat actually used a totally different battery, similar in weight to the existing i3 batteries that we have in there now. But it had about about 30 percent less power density, which translated to 30 percent less range. So, really, we are riding a development wave in ways that’s pretty significant right now in the marketplace.”

Dasher, borrowing its name from the company’s original Picnic Boat hull No. 1, has a hand-painted hull of lightweight “Artisanal Teak” carbon-epoxy composite to mimic Hinckley’s signature varnished teak without the weight of real wood, and its titanium hardware and console parts are made with 3D printing.

Price will be upwards of half a million dollars, according to a company spokesperson, and first deliveries are anticipated for summer 2018.

For information, visit www.hinckleyyachts.com.

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