The longest and heaviest electric boat to have sailed on the Seine debuted at the Paris Olympics

Any boat enthusiast watching this year’s Olympics opening ceremony in Paris will have been enthralled by Mistinguett. At 240 tonnes and 42m, she became the longest and heaviest electric boat to have sailed on the Seine, and played a pivotal role in the show’s grand parade of 90 boats transporting athletes during the ceremony while waving her own flag for sustainability.

Mistinguett was originally a diesel-powered vessel, until Torqeedo retrofitted the boat with an electric system using two Torqeedo Deep Blue 100i motors and six Deep Blue Battery 80 units. She was one of four boats powered by the German motor maker during the ceremony.

Viewing a more sustainable future, with more electric boats in France

The deployment of electric boats on the Seine showcased Paris’s commitment to reducing emissions at this year’s Games. France had said it wanted to halve emissions compared to the last Olympic Games.

Torqeedo, which develops and manufactures electric and hybrid drive systems for commercial and recreational use, provided an alternative to conventional engines. Its advanced propulsion systems offer quiet, emission-free cruising.

As the first fully electric ferry of its size on the Seine, Mistinguett, is set to become a figurehead for sustainable water transportation. The boat can hold up to 248 passengers and will ferry tourists up and down the Seine throughout the event. To allow for this range, each Deep Blue 100i motor with 100kW of input power is fed electricity by two Deep Blue Battery 80s.

Batteries powering Mistinguett on the Seine

Mistinguett also serves as a showboat for dinner cruises and arts events while cruising the Seine throughout the year, with two more Deep Blue Battery 80s required to power the hotel load of lighting, food refrigeration, and other applianes.

Matthias Vogel, who is Senior vice president of Torqeedo’s Customised Solutions Business Unit, said, “The conversion of the Mistinguett to an all-electric propulsion system demonstrates how traditional vessels can be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to glide quietly and emission-free across the water in the future.”

The French government is keen to see more retrofitting on boats sailing its 800km of rivers and 600km of canals. State-owned waterway navigation authority Voies Navigables de France (VNF) will subsidise up to 90 per cent of the costs involved in retrofitting boats with electric propulsion, it has said.

Bavaria-based Torqeedo has been developing customised electric propulsion solutions for the last 19 years.

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