Nominations are now being accepted for the fourth annual Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating, also known as ‘The Gussies’.

The international electric boat awards was started in 2020 by electric boat news website Plugboats.com.

Awards will be presented in nine  categories and subcategories:

  • Electric Boats Up To 8 metres / 26 feet: (Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development)
  • Electric Boats Over 8m / 26 ft: (Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development)
  • Commercial Passenger Electric Boats: (Boats in Operation and Boats In Development)
  • Electric Sailboats
  • Customised / Refitted / DIY Electric Boats
  • Electric Work Boats

Nominations are open to anyone. Members of the public as well as manufacturers and others in the marine industry are welcome to nominate an electric boat and can find the qualifying criteria on the Plugboats website.

Nominations close at midnight EST on 4 September 2023. On 11 September, 2023 the finalists for public voting are announced and public voting begins. The winners will be announced on 15 October 15, 2023.

Plugboats says the awards were created to recognise the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero-emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.

They are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with over 75 patents – among them the world’s first outboard boat motor, which he devised so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat Le Teléphone and take it home for further work in his Paris apartment.

‘The Gussies’ are the only international boating awards to focus exclusively on electric boats and boating. In a demonstration of the growth of the segment, there were 50 boats nominated from 19 countries in 2020, 105 boats from 24 countries in 2021 and 126 in 2022. It is expected that there will be even more this year.

There is also representation from around the world that demonstrates the global move to electric. The 20 Gussies winners thus far represent 15 different countries: Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, France, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.

2022 Gussies2022 Gussies winners

Winners are selected through a combination of online public voting and weighted voting by an international panel of industry experts. The panel’s choices will be weighted at 75 per cent of the final decision and the public votes at 25 per cent.

“It is remarkable to see the growth of electric boats since the first Gussies in 2020 and the number of designers and manufacturers that are advancing the technology and accessibility of e-boating literally everywhere around the world,” says Jeff Butler, publisher of Plugboats and founder of The Gussies. 

“It’s also great to see the competitive camaraderie within the industry. I know the past winners are excited to be on the panel not only as judges, but in the role of rewarding excellence as everyone pushes themselves and others to promote zero emission boating and literally help change the world.”

There are six new 2022 winners on the panel for this year: Candela, Echandia, Faroboats, Kochi Metro Water Taxi, MobyFly and Wildtech. They join these previous winners (some of whom also won in 2022): Cantiere Ernesto Riva, ecomarine, Freepower Solar Boat, Lamarca Engenharia, Maid of the Mist, ABB, Navalt, Silent-Yachts, Swiss Sustainable Yachts, Sunreef Yachts, ZEN Yachts and Zodiac Nautic.

The electric boat associations of the UK, France, USA, Greece, Switzerland and Canada are joined by Venice 2028, Germany’s Friends of the Finow Canal, the Foiling Awards and the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge.

Electric boat market

Yahoo Finance reports that the electric boat market is forecasted to grow exponentially in the forthcoming years as more boaters seek sustainable and eco-friendly options for their leisure activities.

SkyQuest Technology Consulting estimates that the electric boat market will exceed US$14.95b by 2030 at a CAGR of 12.96 per cent from 2023 to 2030.

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