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The first electric boat to set sail in the Canadian market was welcomed by Kingston over the weekend.
Voltari Electric and the Kingston Economic Development Corporation held a launch event at Confederation Park on Friday. At the event, the company showcased its Voltari First 260 electric boat.
In attendance were Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson and Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands Mark Gerretsen.
Voltari Electric has also partnered with the City of Kingston to install Canada’s first electric boat charging station at the Confederation Bay Marina in downtown Kingston.
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“This is an opportunity for Kingston to position itself as a leader in the EV (electric vehicle) space,” Shelley Hirstwood, director of business development at KEDCO, told The Whig-Standard. “It’s exciting that Kingston is the first in Canada to install (an electric boat charging station). »
According to Hirstwood, the focus has been on electric passenger vehicles, such as cars and buses, but “the market for electric vehicles is much larger” than that.
In 2016, Canadians bought 660,000 passenger vehicles and 37,000 motorboats, according to Statistics Canada and the National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada.
Canada plans to ban the sale of cars and light trucks with internal combustion engines by 2035. The framework does not call into question the sale of motorboats.
Hirstwood acknowledged that electric vehicles were part of a “premium market”, but suggested that electric boats could appeal to those who are able to supply religious quantities of gasoline to the motorboats they own. currently.
The quietness of an electric boat could be an attractive feature for a user, she explained.
“Gliding through the water at high speed while being able to talk to the person next to you is such a unique offering.
