Electric Boats and Ships

Electric propulsion for boats was developed in the early 19th century and—despite the advent of the internal combustion engine—continued with the perfecting of the modern turbo-electric ship. Sustainable and hybrid technologies, pioneered in small inland watercraft toward the end of the 20th century, have in recent years been scaled up to create integrated electric drives for the largest ocean-going vessels. This comprehensive history traces the birth and rebirth of the electric boat from 1835 to the present, celebrating the Golden Age of electric launches, 1880–1910.

Kevin Desmond, a technology historian and biographer, lives near Bordeaux in southern France. Since 1976, he has published 33 books and 300-plus articles on the men and women innovators, often forgotten, behind the progress of transport and related subjects.

Kevin Desmond
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 281
Bibliographic Info: 95 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6515-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2768-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword by Christoph Ballin 1
Preface 3
One Origins (1837–1889) 5
Two Electric Boats Become Popular (1889–1914) 32
Three The Turboelectric Ship (1920–1960) 62
Four Wartime Interlude 70
Five Rebirth 92
Six The French Connection (1992–) 124
Seven 2000–2009 146
Eight Wider Still and Wider (2010–2014) 168
Nine In Recent Months (2015–) 186
Ten Towards the Sustainable Electric Ship 215
Appendix A. The World Electric Water Speed Record 229
Appendix B. Tûranor PlanetSolar 240
Appendix C. Cable Electric Boats 246
Appendix D. Electric Boat and Engine Builders (Past and Present) 252
Chapter Notes 255
Bibliography 263
Index 265

• “Exceptional…should be in the library of anyone who has any interest in electric boats…the definitive book on the subject that defines the word definitive…excellent…covers everything from the first days of electric boats and Gustave Trouvé’s inventions right up to 2017, with lots of great anecdotes and even more factual information”—The International Journal of Electric Boats

• “A highly valuable reference guide”—The Northern Mariner