The Aditya, a sun-powered commuter ferry from Navalt Boats has bagged the prestigious Gustave Trouve Award for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating.
Aditya which is India’s First and Largest solar ferry is operating in Kerala backwaters for the last 3 years without a drop of fuel.
Every day she makes 22 trips with 75 people on board – that’s 580,000 people a year – and the charging cost to top up the batteries is US$2.60 – TWO DOLLARS and SIXTY CENTS A DAY – preventing the burning of 58,000 litres of diesel and saving ₹ 4,612,000 – US$ 65,000 a year.
Gussie’s Electric boat award is the world’s only international awards exclusively for electric boats. The first round had 50 electric boats nominated representing 19 countries of manufacture including France, Germany, Norway, USA, UK, and Switzerland.
The award is instituted in the memory of Gustave Trouvé an astoundingly prolific electric engineer and inventor with over 75 patents to his name. “Aditya” is now selected as the world’s most successful commercial ferry model. The company in a statement said that it has been selected as the winner by voting among champion companies that are pioneering in the emerging electric boating sector to build a better, smarter, and cleaner future.
NavAlt CEO Sandith Thandasherry said, “It’s great recognition for the innovative work we have carried out. In this prestigious moment, we are thankful to the organizers of the Gussie’s Award, Kerala State Water Transport Department, and all our well-wishers who helped us in reaching here.”
He added “We see a lot of demand for our electric boats with some giant steps being made across the country. We will ensure that our expertise and experience will be fully utilized towards our vision to bring down the energy needs of the boating industry to zero. We believe this recognition will give us opportunities for new partnerships which is vital in the decarbonization of water transport.”
This recognition is a proud moment for India and a demonstration of how Indian companies can achieve the implementation of frontier technologies. “Navalt aims to indigenize the core technologies that enable advanced solar-electric ferries. For ADITYA type ferries it has achieved over 65%. It is currently limited by the unavailability of lithium cells in India. For advanced hybrid technologies, this figure is closer to 50%. If some of the policies of discrimination against indigenization are removed, this process can be faster.”, said Sandith.