Charging map for electric boats launched
In the middle of the high season for boating, a popular charging map for electric boats has been launched. The charging map is the only one of its kind and covers the Swedish and Norwegian coasts along the Skagerrak. This is an important milestone in the work towards more sustainable and electrified boating.
- The reason we are developing the map is that we see a need for charging maps for boats just as there already are for cars. We are now launching a first version and the map will then be updated continuously as the charging infrastructure grows," says Madeleine Lilja, who is a project manager at Business Region Göteborg and who works with business development initiatives within the framework of the go:LEIF project.
Go:LEIF is an EU-funded collaborative project that aims to drive the green transition at sea through electrification, smart technology and sustainable business models. The project will create the conditions for establishing a charging route for electric boats in marinas along the coast from Gothenburg to Kristiansand in Norway.
- The charging map is a result of the dialogues we have had with several different players in the market to see how we can work together to make existing charging points visible to consumers.
Peter Berg, project manager for go:LEIF and innovation manager at Innovatum Science Park in Trollhättan.
Photo: Inauguration of fast charger in Lysekil
A well-developed charging infrastructure will be crucial for more people to consider buying an electric boat or converting their existing boat to an electric powertrain. The number of older boats switching to electric motors is increasing and is perhaps the fastest growing market along with electric outboards for smaller boats.
In the long run, being able to charge only in your home port will not be enough for those boat owners who appreciate spending longer time at sea. The demand for public chargers for electric boats is not yet so great, but if the transition at sea follows the development of electric cars, demand will increase in the coming years. For those who invest in charging equipment and service development in this area, it is obviously critical that the chargers are actually used and thus also made visible to electric boat owners.
More public charging points for electric boats
A 150 kW fast charger was installed on the jetty at Rosvikstorg in Lysekil at the end of May and, just in time for midsummer, a range of services for charging leisure boats opened in Gothenburg. Saltholmen got a public charger of 22 kW and in Hinsholmen the outermost jetty has been fully electrified for both home charging and visiting boats.
Behind the installation in Lysekil is Lysekil municipality together with the municipal energy company LEVA, and the installations in Gothenburg are the responsibility of the Gothenburg Region's Leisure Harbors GRAFAB. The efforts to electrify the marinas in Gothenburg and Lysekil are also part of the collaborative project and are co-financed by the EU and Västra Götalandsregionen.
- The vision is that we will inspire and in various ways contribute to a string of charging opportunities along the coast between Gothenburg and Strömstad, into the Oslo Fjord and further south on the other side of the Skagerrak to the Norwegian Agder. Quite simply, a functioning charging infrastructure for leisure boats," says Madeleine Lilja.
