Voting now open for electric boat awards

Public voting is now open for the finals of the Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating. Affectionally known as ‘The Gussies’, the awards are the only international boating awards that focus exclusively on electric boats.

Over 120 boats were nominated in this year’s edition, with a panel of judges selecting choices in eight of the nine categories to go through to the final for the public to vote on. A decision was made by the organiser, Plugboats.com, that all 15 boats in the customised / refit / DIY category would enter the finals as ‘a salute to the hard work that goes into each of them and to help demonstrate the wide variety of boats suitable for electric propulsion’.

Boats ranging from electric hydrofoiling speedboats to hydrogen powered ferries and ocean-going solar electric catamarans have been selected in the various categories, with 26 countries represented from every continent except Antarctica: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA and Vietnam.

“These finalists give a great view of the exciting things happening in electric boats and boating around the world,” says Jeff Butler, editor/publisher of Plugboats.com, the online journal of electric boating that launched The Gussies in 2020. “The past year has seen dozens of new electric boats designed or launched or put into serial production, and the pace keeps quickening. The panel has done a great job of selecting the finalists, but I didn’t envy their difficult task.”

The international electric boat awards will be presented in nine categories and subcategories:

• Electric boats under 8m/26ft: 
  • Boats in serial production
  • Boats In development
• Electric boats over 8m/26ft: 
  • Boats in serial production
  • Boats In development
• Electric boats designed for paying passengers: 
  • Boats in serial production
  • Boats In development
• Electric sailboats: 
  • Boats in serial production
  • Boats In development
• Customised / DIY electric boats
• Electric work boats (new for this year)

The international judging panel is made up of delegates from electric boat associations around the world and, new for this year, representatives from the 11 winning companies from previous years. Having narrowed the field, the judging panel will each vote again to select a single boat in each category.  The panel’s choices will be weighted at 60 per cent of the final decision and the public votes at 40 per cent. This year’s winners will join the judging panel for the 2023 awards.

The public can cast their votes online at Plugboats.com.

The 2022 winners will be announced 10 November 2022.