Published by MaineBiz on May 27, 2024.
Maine Electric Boat has installed more than a dozen electric propulsion systems on sailboats and powerboats since the company was formed five years ago.
With an eye toward the future, the Biddeford-based company is now taking aim at a new market: commercial work vessels. That sector — lobster boats, aquaculture vessels, boatyard utility boats and the like — is where the company’s growth and the expansion of electric-powered boats in Maine is likely to come from, says CEO Matt Tarpey.
Tarpey, 36, supplied a 40-horsepower engine last year for a utility workboat at an Islesboro boatyard, and is now working with a Portland lobsterman on plans to convert his diesel-powered boat to electric in the coming 18 months or so. He’s not aware of any other Maine lobstermen with electric boats.
He knows Maine’s lobster fleet — some 5,000-plus strong — could be slow to adapt to electric vessels but is convinced that it is inevitable over time. Fishermen and others that make their living on Maine’s working waterfronts, he says, will come around when the up-front costs of batteries drop and they see the benefits first-hand. Those paybacks include a lot of less: less maintenance, less money on fuel, less noise, less pollution, less time at the dock and more on the water.
“It should be a no-brainer as battery costs drop,” he says. “So much of it depends on motivation.”
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