The Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating were created to recognize the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.
They are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with over 75 patents – among them the world’s first outboard boat motor, which he devised so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat ‘Le Teléphone’ and take it home for further work in his Paris apartment.
‘The Gussies’, as the awards are known in the electric boat world, are the only international boating awards to focus exclusively on electric boats and boating.
The 2022 Gussies were bigger and better than ever, with more boats from more countries in more categories.
In the inaugural year, 50 boats from 19 countries were entered and in 2021, 105 boats from 24 countries were nominated.
For the 2022 Awards, members of the public as well as manufacturers and others in the marine industry nominated a total of over 120 boats from 26 countries, representing every continent on the globe except Antarctica.
Awards were presented in 10 categories and sub categories:
Electric Boats Under 8 metres/26 feet
Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
Electric Boats Over 8m/26 ft:
Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers:
Boats in Serial Production and Boats In Development
Electric Sailboats:
Customized / DIY Electric Boats
And new for this year,
Electric Work Boats
The awards are selected through combined voting of an International Judging Panel and Public Vote. The Panel selected the Finalists and the eventual winners were decided through a combination of votes from the Panel and the Public Voting. The Panel’s choices were weighted at 60% of the final decision and the public votes at 40%.
The Panel of 19 Judges comprises representatives from 8 national Electric Boat Associations, joined by the Winners of the 2021 Gussies. The Winners of the 2022, and successive Winners of The Gussies will join the panel to make it truly a panel of electric boat and boating peers.
The past winners on the Panel are: Cantiere Ernesto Riva, ecomarine, Freepower Solar Boat, Lamarca Engenharia, Maid of the Mist, ABB, Navalt, Silent-Yachts, Swiss Sustainable Yachts, Sunreef Yachts, ZEN Yachts and Zodiac Nautic.
The electric boat associations of the UK, France, USA, Greece, Switzerland and Canada are joined by Venice 2028, the e-Regatta and Germany’s Friends of the Finow Canal.
While M. Trouvé’s invention predates the 1887 patent of the internal combustion engine, and electric boats have been available since the first years of the 20th century, it is not until recently that they have begun to enter the mainstream.
Now they are following rapidly in the footsteps of the electric vehicle industry. A report by Allied Market Research in June, 2022 says ‘the global electric boat market was valued at $5.0 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $16.6 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2022 to 2031.” https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/electric-boat-market-A08766