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A tribute to the companies and people who have made Barche a Motore great over these 35 years allowing it to be born, grow, and become great up to this historic anniversary. In these articles the great excellences of boating tell their stories and reveal their projects, making an important contribution to the knowledge of this world, which allows us all to go to sea, in all forms and contexts.
Starting from the past, thinking about the future. Repower ‘s launch of Lucietta was an interesting and complex effort combining design and technology that saw the boat’s launch during the last Venice Boat Show. The goal on the part of Repower, the Swiss energy provider, was to bring electric cabs to Venice, a city where getting around is obviously very complicated. Lucietta, for example, has to pass under the bridges of the Serenissima, has to cross the vaporetti and especially the gondolas between the narrow rii between the city’s palaces. It is no coincidence that already the simple ratio of length to width (9 meters by 2.30) is very low, exactly in contrast to what happens on all the latest generation of cruising boats, where the watchword is to have as much volume as possible available.
At the beginning of the whole operation Repower conducted a survey among Venetian taxi drivers to find out exactly what their needs were. The challenge was complex, both in terms of design and aesthetics: they had to be given the opportunity to work at their best while reinterpreting the traits of an absolutely unique traditional design. Forbidden to enter Venice without respecting its history and culture. At the launch of Lucietta, moreover, Repower comes at the end of a process that starts way back, with the release in 2018 of Repower-e, its first full-electric boat.
To build Lucietta, Repower turned to Cantiere Motonautico Serenella of Murano Island, a leading name in the construction of traditional Venetian cabs and motorboats for more than forty years, and to Nauta Yachts, which in the world of nautical design, sail and motor, needs little introduction. Aesthetically, she has managed to elegantly combine the stylistic features of tradition but with many cues toward modernity. Even at its official presentation at the Venice Boat Show it won good acclaim from the public and also (and this is the important thing) from the city’s various insiders and taxi drivers.
Lucietta can carry up to 14 people, has a 200 kW full electric propulsion powered by a 180 kWh battery pack. It has a Konrad stern foot with counter-rotating propellers. Interesting, first of all, are the autonomy figures: with a remarkable top speed (Lucietta can in fact reach 28-30 knots) working then at the Venetian regulation gaits (7 km/h in the smaller canals, 20 km/h in the main ones) it is able to cover an entire working day without problems:
– at three knots, the range is up to 39 hours at medium load, 31 at full passenger load.
– At six knots, 19.5 hours at medium load, and 16 hours at full load
– at eleven knots, the time before having to recharge electrons is four hours at medium load and 3.2 at full load.
Also definitely interesting and aligned with the general philosophy of the project are the charging times, which, of course, depend on the column referred to. They range from 1.2 hours to go from 20 to 80 percent charging with a 120 kW charging power, going from 2.2 hours for a 50 kW column to 15.4 hours in case of 7 kW charging. These numbers, taken together, mean in summary that Lucietta has a full day of autonomy to do its hard Venetian work and then be quietly recharged in the night.
In addition to the propulsion, Lucietta‘s construction is also certainly technological: fine craftsmanship and mahogany wood inserts carved by the shipwrights of Cantiere Serenella are echoed by a hull made of recycled carbon and composite. Also camping out are a series of finishes made from an innovative material that uses waste from the processing of glass specifically from the island of Murano (thanks to a collaboration with the startup Rehub). Finally, two words should also be spent on the layout of the boat; unlike the latest generation of Venetian cabs, it in fact has a second small cockpit at the stern, which obviously gives more space on board (for four seats, which can also be quickly converted into a sundeck). This is because electric propulsion has saved significant volumes right there. Contrary to what one might think at first, this is not heresy and does not go against tradition, quite the contrary. In fact, the very first Venetian cabs (until about the first half of the 1970s) had the engine at the bow and a long shaft line, and they too could enjoy the same free area at the stern.
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