Between July 2 and 6 2019, ANVERA will be taking part in partnership with Tecno Elettra in the sixth Solar & Energy Boat Challenge, organized by the Yacht Club de Monaco. The latter event is designed to foster the development of alternative propulsion systems that use only clean energy sources to fuel the pleasure boating of the future.
The gauntlet thrown down by Anvera is the Anvera E-LAB, a prototype planing monohull built from carbon fiber and sporting an all-electric propulsion system. The challenge was to design a product the components of which were created to achieve the stated target of maximum efficiency.
This very extreme project was designed to push the boundaries but to be successful required the development of new technological solutions. Although the Electronic Throttle that XENTA created especially for the boat is based on a gas throttle that looks exactly the same as the standard models, it was actually designed specifically to allow the helmsman to control power delivery from the electric motor installed on the Anvera E-LAB: a lot of power but, most importantly of all, an enormous amount of torque that becomes instantly available as soon the helmsman goes into gear.
Compared to a boat with an internal combustion engine, in which the propulsion system for forward or reverse, requires a mechanical inverter, in an electric motor, there is a direct connection to the throttle and both motion and power are controlled using an electronic driver and inverter with no reduction gears between the motor and props or, as is the case with the Anvera, the surface drives. The system used to manage the flow of energy unleashed by the motor had to be easy for the helmsman to control and this required the development of ad hoc software that controls power delivery down to every last kW both underway and when the boat is being maneuvered in tight waters. With this in mind, XENTA created the Easy Maneuvering function, which reduces the motor’s maximum revs, to make it “tamer” and thus easier to control when maneuvering.