Toward a new era in production but also in the use of boats. This is the commitment mentioned by the Italian manager of the French Fountaine Pajot group (Fountaine Pajot catamarans and Dufour monohulls) Domenico Furci whom we interviewed during the Cannes Boat Show.
Fountaine Pajot and Dufour – The Ecological Boat.
Fountaine Pajot and Dufour: what’s new and why the delays
Furci told us about the big news they are presenting at the major boat shows at the end of the summer (Cannes/Genoa/La Rochelle), which are Fountaine Pajot’s Aura 51 catamaran and the monohull Dufour 37, which has the prerogative of being able to be classified as a vessel without registration.
But Furci also mentioned to us the large and challenging Odyssea 2024 project that will revolutionize the way a boat is built and used. Finally, he told us about the delivery problems that construction sites are encountering and why delays are occurring.
Fountaine Pajot and Dufour: in concrete towards an ecological boat
Let us focus here on the Odyssea 24 project that Domenico Furci mentioned at the beginning of the video interview, a very interesting and cutting-edge project. It is a veritable manifesto for the environmental and energy transition of the marine industry that Fountaine Pajot is already implementing but that, inevitably, will have to be followed by all players in this world.
The Odyssea 2024 project starts from a fact, 20% of greenhouse gas emissions ( carbon footprint) in recreational boating come from the production stages of a boat and 80% occur during its use.
The plan adopted by the Fountaine Pajot and Dufour group consists of four points:
- Energy autonomy
- New modes of propulsion
- More virtuous production
- Reuse and material from biological sources
The implementation stages of the Odyssea 24 plan are as follows:
2022: launch of the first electric-powered sailboats with the launch of the “full electric” Aura 51 Smart Electric catamaran
2023: Research and development of fuel cells to enable hydrogen engines to be installed.
2024: Implementation of a plan for the mass construction of “green” boats using materials from natural and recyclable sources.
Aura 51 is a true full electric boat
Fountaine Pajot/Dufour’s ambitious environmental and energy conversion plan kicked off precisely with the new Aura 51 Smart Electric catamaran premiered in Cannes. How did they make this new catamaran truly “full electric”?
The Fountaine Pajot Aura 51 Smart Electric (m. 15.84 x 8.08) has been equipped with two 2×275 Kw electric motors served by batteries of 27 KWh each, with solar panels for 2,000 W. A 32 Kw generator is on board to ensure real autonomy and unlimited electric navigation. The entire energy supply system is controlled by software that optimizes the various sources.
The result is that in “full electric” mode. range is 2.30/3 hours at 6 knots of speed, but by activating the generator, which has infinitely lower consumption than the two conventional engines, the Aura 51 sailed at 6.5/7 knots starting from La Rochelle in the Atlantic and reaching Cannes in the Mediterranean, without ever stopping.
