On Lake Como for 248 years there has been a small Ernesto Riva shipyard that in recent years has taken up a great challenge, to build wooden boats, handmade, totally electric.
The first was Ernesto, the handmade boat that goes to 25 knots without using gasoline, now comes Elettra, an electric vapor 9.90 meters long and 2.75 meters wide that sails at a cruising speed of 13 knots with a maximum of 25 knots.
Elettra, from the name of the laboratory ship of Guglielmo Marconi, inherits the lines from the boats of the early twentieth century with a project designed together with ER Innovation, a company of the Ernesto Riva group, which implements projects for the development of electric mobility in the nautical sector.
Water lines
Deep studies have led to the development of water lines for electric navigation, combined with suitable motors and battery packs. The technological partner of the project, with international experience in many sectors of electric mobility, is the Swiss company Ecovolta (also in this case a significant name for Como, home of Alessandro Volta).
With two electric motors, a length of almost 10 meters, a capacity of 12 people and an autonomy of at least 5 hours at 13 knots.
The engines?
The two engines are Brushless 100 kW each with two sets of batteries Ecovolta 600V and 90Kw each. The main objective of Daniele Riva, owner of the company, who leads all operations, is to demonstrate how Lake Como can support tourism with boats that respect and enhance the environment.
Uses
Daniele Riva’s company has been building hand-finished wooden boats since 1771 and has decided to relaunch one of the most classic models of its production, the vaporina, transforming it into the first example of an electric boat on Lake Como used for charter with a captain.
