America’s Cup hydrogen foiling chase boat in fitout

Emirates Team New Zealand says its prototype hydrogen foiling chase boat is in the final stages of fit out prior to its launch in March.

The construction of the boat was started in August 2021 at the team’s North Shore build facility.

The ETNZ Hydrogen project has been an important one for ETNZ who, as defender of the America’s Cup, has committed to driving hydrogen innovation in the marine industry through working with clean technologies.

“The hydrogen project has been a completely new challenge across the board for designers, builders and engineers,” says head of design Dan Bernasconi. “These types of projects are extremely beneficial to keep the guys pushing the boundaries, continually learning and approaching problems with different perspectives, which all help to keep raising the bar in our design approach.”

The prototype foiling boat is 10m in length, with approximately 5200kg displacement. The cruising speed will be 30-35 knots with a top speed of around 50 knots and will carry six crew members with a range of between 150-180km generating approximately 440kW peak power via a 400V DC system powered by the hydrogen fuel cell.

“A project like this is not a straightforward one, and we have had to pull together a wide range of suppliers and components for this prototype boat, parts of which look like something out of Back to the Future,” explains project manager Geoff Senior.

“Toyota New Zealand and the Toyota Motor Corporation Japan have been a significant part of the project in supplying the 2 x 80kW pre-production Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Global Bus Ventures have supplied the Hydrogen Powertrain system design and integration and Gurit have been a valuable partner with the composite materials and engineering.”

The four hydrogen storage tanks onboard from Hexagon Purus will store 33kgs of hydrogen gas at 350bar while the propulsion is via a Mercury bottom end propellor which is embedded within the foils. The design of the foil wings by the ETNZ design team was largely based on AC75 technology. The autopilot which will be used to control the ride height is ETNZ proprietary technology – which will be implemented in the new AC40 boats in production.

“It is a learning curve for everyone involved, but it always is when we are driving technology into new territory,” says Michael Rasmussen ETNZ mechatronics engineer. “But with that comes really focused engagement from everyone involved to produce something we hope will reach the objectives we set out to achieve in driving a clean change in the global marine industry from down here in New Zealand.

“It will be an exciting yet stressful time once we are ready to get it out onto the water and put it to the test, which seems to be the way with every boat Emirates Team New Zealand creates.”

The prototype boat is expected to launch early next month and will be put through a thorough sea trial to work through all the complex systems involved to get the boat up and flying.