Salone Nautico Venezia (Venice boat show): Bosch presents sustainable electric drives for yachts and recreational boats

Abstatt – Ever stricter legal requirements and increasing customer demand for eco-friendly and low-noise motorization are also strengthening the trend toward electric drives in the maritime industry. Bosch therefore offers solutions for recreational boats and motorized yachts up to 24 m long, enabling shipyards, shipbuilders, and system integrators to implement drive electrification quickly and easily. In many regions around the world, new environmental laws for inland and recreational boating will come into force in the coming years, promoting the use of alternative powertrain systems or even banning conventional engines altogether. “With our solutions, we offer an efficient way to meet these requirements. We are also making a valuable contribution to further reducing greenhouse gas and noise emissions in the maritime sector,” says Philipp Kurek, who is responsible for off-highway and maritime solutions at Bosch Engineering.

The overall system for boat drive electrification from Bosch consists of an electric motor with an optional gearbox, an inverter with an integrated DC/DC converter, and an electric control unit as the system’s core component. This includes the hardware and a scalable software platform that allows the system to be tailored to the requirements of the application. The specific design of the 400-volt permanent magnet synchronous motor is characterized by its high power density and very high efficiency. The motor is available in two power ratings, with 90 and 140 kW. The compact dimensions allow both versions to be integrated into tight engine compartments, thus facilitating the retrofitting of existing applications. The dynamic behavior of the electric drive offers a new level of enjoyment when piloting yachts and recreational boats. Moreover, when developing the inverter, particular emphasis was placed on compactness and ease of installation. The low overall weight of the Bosch components helps to increase the maximum range of the boat.

All components of the electric drive system offer very high profitability, reliability, and robustness, because they are based on the proven technologies that Bosch has been using successfully for years in the passenger car and commercial vehicle segments, as well as in other commercial applications such as construction machinery. The Bosch concept for electric boat drives also offers great flexibility, as customers can use the overall drive system as a customized complete package or just integrate individual components into their own system. On request, Bosch Engineering supports customers in integrating the drive into the boat and in applying the system to the specific operating conditions of the application.

Bosch’s electric drive system went into series production at a pilot customer at the beginning of the year; further applications are currently in the testing phase and will follow in the next few months.

Further information is available to interested visitors at Salone Nautico in Venice at Tesa 92 of San Cristoforo.

Further information:
https://www.bosch-engineering.com/stories/stories-detailpages/marine.html

Credit: Bosch