There's a lot of talk about decarbonising recreational boating, and there's no shortage of projects. But there's a long way to go from project or prototype Boatshows to real ships, and the gap between the sensational announcements of decarbonisation plans and the facts is widening. As a result, the company with the most experience in the field of leisure sailing boats is not a shipyard but an installer, Michel Nave via his company E-Nav Systems.

If we look at the electric and hybrid yachting ecosystem as it relates to new yachts that have actually been launched, what do we have?
Only Fontaine-Pajot has really invested in the niche with its Smart Electric engines and the study and development of cutting-edge solutions. Apart from FP, not much and very little from the number one in the sector: Beneteau.
And when it comes to volumes, the mask falls off with less than a dozen Smart Electrics sold (including FP and Dufour) despite the efforts and in-depth knowledge of these models developed by Dream Yacht Charter, which has (has?) exclusive marketing rights.
So much for the boatyards.

Things aren't happening in the boatyards, but with an installer who specialises in electric and hybrid engines. E-Nav Systems. The figures speak for themselves: Michel Nave has fitted around forty of them since 2019.
Forty hybrid yachts in five years!
The figure is surprising, but not so much when you realise that E-Nav has a dual activity. One is aimed at sailboat owners (new or refit) who have decided to go electric or hybrid, and the other is aimed at boatyards.
E-Nav Systems regularly works with boatyards, including Neel, Pogo, Garcia and Alubat, for whom it installs new motors at the boatyard.

The design of an electric or hybrid engine involves taking into account numerous parameters during a design phase that is nothing short of crucial. This work is carried out in-house by E-Nav, which has two members of staff in the design office.
Installation, in the catchment area for B-to-C customers, is also carried out in-house by the company's own assembly teams. Commissioning, testing, certification and after-sales service are all part of the E-Nav Systems range of services.

You might wonder why some boat builders choose to work with a specialist in hybrid sailboats like E-Nav Systems. The underlying reason is the integration of components to create a homogeneous system that works efficiently together. It's a question of multiplexing, data, interfacing between different brands of equipment... And above all, it's a question of guaranteeing the system as a whole. A guarantee that the shipyards, with the exception of Fountaine-Pajot which has taken the courageous initiative of integrating these propulsion systems via Alternative Energies, are unable and, above all, unwilling to provide. It's a situation that accurately describes the level of the design departments of major boatyards, which have yet to integrate this highly specific know-how.
The comparison with FP ends there, because Michel Nave is very keen on very low voltages, particularly 48 V, whereas FP has opted for a 400 V system.

E-Nav Systems offers the widest range of 48 V electric motor solutions for sailing boats on the market. The motors range in power from 2 to 50 kW, including saildrive, shaft line and pods. Enough to meet every need.

E-Nav systems is the distributor of a whole range of equipment for these systems. Engines with Oceanvolt, E-Propulsion, Rim Drive Technology, Molabo, BlueNav retractable engines, as well as energy production resources such as Fischer Panda generators, Balmar alternators, Efoy fuel cells, Watt&Sea hydrogenerators, Sunbeam and Unitek PV panels, Powerbrick and Victron Energy batteries and the entire Victron Energy energy production and conversion range.

In short, at E-Nav Systems, you have at your fingertips the skills of the most experienced team in the field of electric or hybrid propulsion for pleasure craft and the widest range of engines and on-board energy system components. So you can carry out your yacht conversion project with complete peace of mind.