Jim Waltz's video: Felix de Azara: Solar Catamaran Shuttles Passengers across the Seine

The city of Rouen in Normandy began testing a solar electric river shuttle July 15 that will operate continuously during weekday rush hours and at half hour intervals during other day parts. François Guizant, one of the owners of the boat, bragged that ”We have more than 9 hours of autonomy!” The test period is scheduled to last until November at which time the merit of the solar electric boat will be weighed against a bridge as another option for getting people from one side of the Seine to the other. The boat, ‘Felix de Azara’, is a 17 metre catamaran Aquabus 360 built by Grove Boats for Expo 2008 in Zaragoza Spain, which had the theme of “Water and Sustainable Development”. It seems to be a bit of a trend for solar boats, as the solar electric cruise boat in Canada’s Prince Edward Island province had previously been a vaporetta at that country’s Expo 67. Since her time at the Expo the Felix has been put into various services as a shuttle in Paris and sightseeing boat in Lille, near Lyon (photo above). The boat has twin 8 kW motors powered by 50 sq m / 540 sq ft of solar panels on its roof and the design is based on the same hulls as the Sun21, the first solar boat to have crossed the Atlantic entirely by solar energy in 2008. Music: Back Home by | e s c p | https://escp-music.bandcamp.com Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Concept Boat barco de concepto barco conceito barca di concetto Konzeptboot 概念船 コンセプトボート अवधारणा नाव konsept tekne Amazing boat tolles Boot barco incrível barca incredibile barco asombroso geweldige boot 很棒的船 素晴らしいボート अद्भुत नाव muhteşem tekne electric boat barco elétrico barca elettrica elektrische boot bateau électrique elektrisk båd Elektroboot 電動船 電気ボート elektrikli tekne बिजली की नाव Solar watercraft Solar boat barco solar barca solare solbåd zonne-boot Solarboot bateau solaire güneş teknesi ソーラーボート 太陽能船 सौर नाव