Czeers shows off "world's first" solar powered speedboat
There aren't many sorts of vehicles that haven't been solarized, but it looks like Dutch company Czeers has managed to find one, with it now showing off what it claims to be the world's first solar powered speedboat. Dubbed the MK1, the solar panel-ensconced vessel can apparently reach a top speed of 30 knots (or roughly 35 miles per hour), all the while operating in relative silence. The company doesn't seem to have overlooked the other parts of the boat either, with it also boasting touchscreen-based control system and a suitably luxurious leather interior. No word on a possible price or release date just yet, naturally, but you can catch a glimpse of it in action in the video after the break.
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Filed under: Transportation
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
J.C. @ May 26th 2008 8:50AM
Sickk!!! I'll have three...
OneLove @ May 26th 2008 3:57PM
...but can it play drug run at night?
Tonbo @ May 26th 2008 8:53AM
Does it really take three and a half minutes of crappy techno to prove that yes, the boat can float on water?
Samboini @ May 26th 2008 9:02AM
If you think that's techno you know shit all about music.
Andy @ May 26th 2008 9:17AM
Richard D James != 'crappy techno'
Your philistinism knows no bounds.
Tonbo @ May 26th 2008 9:31AM
...or three and a half minutes of soothing electronica. My bad. I don't get out in solar power boats often.
Bad Beaver @ May 26th 2008 10:44AM
It takes three.5 minutes of ANNOYING music—who cares what it is exactly—to float that boat.
Loos @ May 26th 2008 3:23PM
please read this before making any "crappy" comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin
dbell @ May 26th 2008 5:08PM
@amateur music snobs
thanks for taking time out of your busy vinyl-buying schedules to impart your opinions as fact. There's a reason songs by Sting and the Postal Service get chosen for ads, and not Aphex Twin. Go snark on a music blog.
Orpheus @ May 27th 2008 7:35AM
@dbell
For some reason, I don't think "Such Great Heights" or "Message in a Bottle" are going to be very effective in an ad for a high-tech solar-powered speedboat.
But I agree with it being a pretty pointless and overlong video.
Matthew @ May 28th 2008 10:03AM
Does it scare you?
No, I just don't like Techno
Miker @ May 26th 2008 8:56AM
If you connect it up to an iPod do you infringe on Apple's patent for "solar cells on portable devices"?
Marty K. @ May 26th 2008 9:02AM
I wish they wouldn't have put music in the video. I wanted to see how silent a solar-powered speedboat (that goes a maximum of 35mph) could be.
Also, I can't listen to this song without imagining I'm wearing a white leisure suit, sipping champagne in a limousine whilst black women (all of which having my face) with big asses gyrate on my lap.
Ignatius @ May 26th 2008 9:06AM
MY FREAKING MIND!!
Holger @ May 27th 2008 4:09AM
Yeah my thoughts exactly... here they are, with a nicely designed solar powered motorboat, which they say is very quite and they don't let us hear... are they just dense or what?
and they don't show the interior either... but I guess it's just to show it can sail (or isn't it drive, when it's a motorboat?)...
substance90 @ May 26th 2008 9:03AM
I simply cannot seem to understand why do companies do that... when (if) they decide to do something environment-friendly, they stuff it with luxuries and set the price somewhere in the sky. The idea is to SAVE money and the planet. If a few rich people own Tesla cars and such boats, we make no progress.
ecoguy @ May 26th 2008 9:56AM
Starting out by making high end products makes a lot of sense. I'm sure many companies like this hope to mass produce affordable products some day but first they have to learn how to make them. That will be easier and more profitable if they make luxury product for which they charge a lot. Once they get experience building high-end products they can apply their knowledge to every-day products.
Tesla is pursuing this strategy. Their first electric car is a $100k sports car and they have plans for a (slightly) more affordable sedan.
If you try to rush into a mass-produced product and it sucks, you do more harm to reputation of your company and the technology than you do any good.
OVerclockerX @ May 26th 2008 9:18AM
Thats pretty cool, It never really occured to me that there was no solar power boat.
Substance, While I agree that it seems weird to stuff luxuries into a boat, car whatever at least we are looking in the right direction and hopefully they will sell. You get a plus 1 from me
HydePark @ May 26th 2008 9:18AM
It looks impressive, but expensive. too expensive.
Steve @ May 26th 2008 9:22AM
"We're sorry, this video is no longer available."
Why do I get that on just about every video posted here lately?
ap666 @ May 26th 2008 9:38AM
it's like flash-light with solar batteries.
what to do then you was hit by storm, or night?
caleb @ May 26th 2008 10:45AM
Yes. It's just like that, except not.
You'll probably do the same thing you would do in a sail boat when there is no wind. Or a gas powered boat that runs out of gas.
Caleb @ May 26th 2008 2:15PM
Hey! Someone with the same name as I. Cool!
Ron @ May 26th 2008 9:39AM
The Dutch rock! This is interesting...
rcappo @ May 26th 2008 10:09AM
I would think they could sell a few to the Navy or other government agencies for silent boat operations.
But is 35 mph really that fast? How long can it run for? Are the solar cells that effective to run it full speed without batteries?
DennisVR @ May 26th 2008 10:30AM
It's a solar powered boat, but not a speed boat. It's missing...well...the speed.
Richard Lai @ May 26th 2008 10:47AM
If only I had this solar panel technology when I did my 125-mile marathon kayak race a few years back...
Jamie Marsden @ May 26th 2008 10:55AM
Firstly, whilst there may be a large number of faster boats out there, 35knots is not slow in the context of water speeds. Most family sized sailing yachts top out at about 9 knots, and the Sea Kat service to the Channel Islands from Mainland UK goes at about 50 knots - which is fast.
Also, I'm a student from University College London, and there is a decent sized solar powered speed-boat type object in a glass case in the lobby of one of our science buildings. I don't know much about it, but it makes me question whether this thing really is the first solar powered speed boat....
luzzio @ May 26th 2008 11:01AM
Czeers: First!
Me: You sir, are a retard.
fartblossom @ May 26th 2008 11:06AM
I have a boat with a 75 horse outboard. It tops out at 35 and feels scary doing it. There is no way in hippy hell that that thing is going over 20 m.p.h. at any point in that video.
fartblossom @ May 26th 2008 11:10AM
Sounds like 2 drunk Dutch chicks doing karaoke, who accidentally picked a Kraftwerk song.
Loos @ May 26th 2008 3:24PM
please read!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin
Sky @ May 26th 2008 12:28PM
needs go faster stripes
John Wick @ May 26th 2008 1:29PM
Nice boat and all, looks amazingly sleek. Love the song, actually. It's Windowlicker by Aphex Twin.
Oddly enough those clips where they showed the bubbling water behind the boat are not actually of that boat. I saw the same exact clips on a Top Gear episode. Funny to see them again...
dwr50 @ May 26th 2008 1:34PM
Let's see ... Electricity + Water ... What could possibly go wrong ?
andres @ May 26th 2008 2:45PM
electrolysis?
Chris Taylor @ May 26th 2008 6:40PM
Lets see electricity plus oil what could possibly go wrong. NOTHING you dolt unless you mix them improperly. DUH
Denots @ May 26th 2008 1:48PM
@Substance: Damn str8.
@ Everyone else who doesn't know Aphex Twin, please watch this and edumacate urselves: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8804626016784281300
Peace....
Geoff @ May 26th 2008 2:01PM
Okay, simple math here:
Area X Solar Radiation
10m x 3m = 30m^2 *1000 W/m^2 = 30kW == 40hp
Conversion efficiencies of the best solar powered cars are about 25% So 10hp? Hardly a "speedboat", but I did enjoy my old Evinrude 9.9hp on the Zodiac.
Chris Taylor @ May 26th 2008 6:41PM
A full sized YACHT does not have enough effective surface area to power by solar (and there are solar panels above 30% !
I am assuming here is not powered by solar so much as CHARGED by solar. IE battery pack :-)
Dan @ May 26th 2008 2:12PM
If only there was a way to harness the wind to power boats.
andres @ May 26th 2008 2:46PM
maybe if you rigged some kind of cloth, nah, impossible
Chris Taylor @ May 26th 2008 7:10PM
If only you could guarantee I always had wind and that you could make a nice luxury boat EASY to operate with a single person on wind power. (you can but its expensive)
Caleb @ May 26th 2008 2:23PM
Internal combustion engine.... Gas + Electricity What could go wrong?? ;-)
andres @ May 26th 2008 2:47PM
but gas engines use electricity to generate the spark to ignite the gas, so gas - electricity = non working engine (with the exception of diesel)
Chris Taylor @ May 26th 2008 7:09PM
Nope you still need that "heat" to start the process in a diesel IE glow plugs use electricity though I guess technically you might be able to do it non electrically but that would be insanely complex :-)
andres @ May 27th 2008 12:48AM
you should see the lister engines, pretty sure they dont use glowplugs. how, i dont know.
Caleb @ May 26th 2008 2:25PM
Stoopid reply system!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was in reply to dwr50's comment about electricity and water:
Internal combustion engine... Gas + Electricity What could go wrong?? ;-)
Vroomm @ May 26th 2008 3:09PM
Atlantic crossing awaits. And then the what's-its-name water left of the US of A.
Stone Me @ May 26th 2008 5:40PM
MK2 will be better. It will have Reptile, for one thing.
Friendship!