At the Junior World Sailing Championships held in The Hague from July 10 to 20, the Dutch organization Watersportverbond presented a hydrogen-powered inflatable boat. The boat, which will be used to supervise the event, is the result of a multi-partner research project.

A hydrogen inflatable boat, but what for?

Bearing the name H2C Boat, it was developed by the start-up H2 Marine Solutions. The company itself is the result of a research project involving De Stille Boot, the Technical University of Delft, Torqeedo and Intelligent Energy. The aim was to develop an inflatable boat for top-level sailing competitions. An idea that was inspired in 2018 by Jaap Zielhuis, Dutch Olympic coach during the World Championships in Denmark.

An ideal candidate for the Paris Olympics in 2024

This inflatable boat is first and foremost an electric boat, where hydrogen is used as a range extender. The fuel cell and hydrogen tank increase range (with a 51 kWh claimed capacity of hydrogen). The start-up will be presenting a more advanced version at the World Sailing Championships to be held in The Hague from August 10 to 20. And H2 Marine Solutions is already looking to 2024. That year, Olympic-class sailing events have set a target of reducing the number of combustion-powered boats by 50% (compared with 2017). And this Dutch inflatable boat could be of interest to the organizers of the Paris Olympics.

H2 Marine Solutions is considering other uses, such as police, fire and coastguard services, as well as taxis. The company is also offering to retrofit existing boats to hydrogen.

Do you want to learn more about hydrogen boats? Then our latest 2 articles on the subject should be of interest to you. You can read them here and there. 

Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King