A meeting place for all those involved in electric boats
Launched in 1984, the Association Française du Bateau Electrique, AFBE, has since been spearheading the emerging field of electrically-powered boats. With 80 members, it is now expanding its activities by co-organizing the 1st Electric Boat Day with Ilago. This new event, to be held in Dinan on May 23, 2023, is intended to complement the work already carried out by the association for its members, such as its annual technical day, as Yannick Wileveau, President of AFBE, explains: "We'd been working for some time with Ilago, which also organizes the Assises de l'Economie de la Mer. We wanted to create a day that would be open to everyone, not just our members, that would welcome prime contractors and politicians, and talk about the economy and the industry in general, rather than technical issues like our annual association day."
Roundtables and opening up beyond the sea
Electric Boat Day will be organized around 4 round tables and a number of speeches by elected representatives. All will deal with both maritime and river aspects. The first round table will deal with the conversion and refit of electrically-powered boats, with naval architects and integrators. The second will focus on the operation and use of electric boats according to their function, with exchanges between owners and shipowners. This will be followed by an introduction to the principle of sobriety and its applications in the maritime and river sectors, with the participation of Carbon4, who will present the results of a study carried out for the occasion on the carbon footprint of maritime activities, drawing on their expertise outside the industry. A final round table will look at economic models for promoting the electrical sector, with the participation of financing bodies.
A show on water
At the end of the day, the event will move to the banks of the Rance, where AFBE members will be able to display boats afloat or ashore, in a small electric boat show, with the possibility of demonstrations.
