Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Electric cars are everywhere, so why not electric boats? Is an electric outboard as reliable as a fossil-fuel one when taken out to sea? And just how much better is an electric engine for reducing pollution and noise?
Around the world there are tens of millions of small boats, from high-performance luxury craft to workhorse fishing vessels, nearly all of which run on fossil-fuel powered engines. But with the rapid advancements in electric vehicles, a small group of companies are now turning their minds to cracking the boating problem, inventing electric engines that are quieter, less polluting, and can deliver just the same performance.
In Europe, perhaps the best known is the German company Torqeedo. Founded in 2004, they've sold a quarter of a million electric motors to date, and this year, were acquired by Yamaha Motors. Norwegian company Evoy have recently joined forces with Vita, a UK-Monaco based company, and Candela, another Scandinavian boat builder, are revolutionising engines and boats with their hydrofoiling concept.
This week on Cleaning Up, Baroness Bryony Worthington speaks with Ben Sorkin, CEO and co-founder of Flux Marine, headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island. Flux Marine are hoping to take on the US market with their customizable electric propulsion systems and have a 40,000 square foot factory in Rhode Island. Bryony asks Ben how his electric engines compete on cost and performance, what Flux Marine’s scale-up plans are, and why it’s so much harder to electrify a boat than a car.
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live
Links:
• Flux Marine: fluxmarine.com
• youtube.com/watch?v=umPAonV20cM
• Arc Boats: arcboats.com
• Candela Hydrofoiling Boats: candela.com
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
03:33 - Flux Marine
06:40 - The Electric Opportunity
08:29 - Raising Money & Developing
09:28 - Battery Management
12:00 - Corrosion & Maintenance
13:05 - Noise & Pollution
17:04 - Grid Balancing
20:00 - Range Anxiety
22:50 - Hydrofoiling
24:50 - Which Boats?
28:05 - Costs
30:05 - Financing
33:13 - Environmental Impact
35:02 - Incumbents
42:08 - Partners and Scale-Up
44:31 - Making a Dent
45:55 - Government Support
47:20 - Boats as a Lifeline
50:00 - Outro
Electric cars are everywhere, so why not electric boats? Is an electric outboard as reliable as a fossil-fuel one when taken out to sea? And just how much better is an electric engine for reducing pollution and noise?
Around the world there are tens of millions of small boats, from high-performance luxury craft to workhorse fishing vessels, nearly all of which run on fossil-fuel powered engines. But with the rapid advancements in electric vehicles, a small group of companies are now turning their minds to cracking the boating problem, inventing electric engines that are quieter, less polluting, and can deliver just the same performance.
In Europe, perhaps the best known is the German company Torqeedo. Founded in 2004, they've sold a quarter of a million electric motors to date, and this year, were acquired by Yamaha Motors. Norwegian company Evoy have recently joined forces with Vita, a UK-Monaco based company, and Candela, another Scandinavian boat builder, are revolutionising engines and boats with their hydrofoiling concept.
This week on Cleaning Up, Baroness Bryony Worthington speaks with Ben Sorkin, CEO and co-founder of Flux Marine, headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island. Flux Marine are hoping to take on the US market with their customizable electric propulsion systems and have a 40,000 square foot factory in Rhode Island. Bryony asks Ben how his electric engines compete on cost and performance, what Flux Marine’s scale-up plans are, and why it’s so much harder to electrify a boat than a car.
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, EcoPragma Capital, EDP of Portugal, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live
Links:
• Flux Marine: fluxmarine.com
• youtube.com/watch?v=umPAonV20cM
• Arc Boats: arcboats.com
• Candela Hydrofoiling Boats: candela.com
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
03:33 - Flux Marine
06:40 - The Electric Opportunity
08:29 - Raising Money & Developing
09:28 - Battery Management
12:00 - Corrosion & Maintenance
13:05 - Noise & Pollution
17:04 - Grid Balancing
20:00 - Range Anxiety
22:50 - Hydrofoiling
24:50 - Which Boats?
28:05 - Costs
30:05 - Financing
33:13 - Environmental Impact
35:02 - Incumbents
42:08 - Partners and Scale-Up
44:31 - Making a Dent
45:55 - Government Support
47:20 - Boats as a Lifeline
50:00 - Outro
