His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco Tested Greenline’s NEO EDrive at Monaco Yacht Show
The most prestigious exhibition of yachts in the World – Monaco Yacht Show closed it’s doors on Sunday and Greenline Yachts marked it as their debuting presentation with their recently launched revolutionary new build, NEO EDrive – first ever production leisure craft to be powered by electric propulsion.
The yacht could have easily been overlooked among those great big megayachts if the Prince himself was not at the wheel. Not just because of NEO’s small size comparred to those big mega yachts but also because of the silence of NEO’s engines. Sometimes there are more important things than size and NEO flipped the ecological middle finger to all diesel-powered mega yachts that consume hundreds of liters of diesel per hour.
One of world’s fiercest ambassadors of environment preservation and clean energy, HSH Prince Albert, who drove to the altar in a hybrid car seven years ago and brought Formula E into Monaco, is now subsidising electrically powered vehicles to the people of Monaco up to 30%. “The challenge is ahead of us for each of us to do what is in our power to counteract climate change. The future is green”, commented Prince Albert knowing this also applies to shipping, endorsing the new Greenline NEO EDrive by taking a quick ride in the NEO EDrive during the Yacht Show and scheduling sea trials at Royal Yacht Club de Monaco later in October.
This Year’s Monaco Yacht Show was marked as a step further towards sustainable shipping.
Greenline Yachts presented their new NEO EDrive- first ever production leisure craft to be powered by electric propulsion that was endorsed by His Serene Highness Princ Albert, a great ambassador of green energy and environment preservation.
Greenline Yachts are the pioneers in hybrid propulsion introducing the combination of diesel and electric drive with the first Greenline ever produced in 2008 and they have been perfecting this technology ever since and with the NEO EDrive they are taking the next logical step in sustainable shipping.
The Slovenian shipyard has blossomed into the Tesla of the seas in the last ten years overtaking the competition by miles when it comes to environmentally friendly and sustainable shipping. “Looking back to 2008, hybrid propulsion was perhaps a bit ahead of it’s time“, admitted Mr. Vladimir Zinchenko, founder of SVP Yachts shipyard and owner of the Greenline Yachts and Shipman Carbon Yachts brands “but now, after 10 years the market is ready for the next step – to go full electric and the 9,99 m NEO is just the beginning. In the future, our entire fleet will have the electric-only propulsion option” added Mr. Zinchenko. NEO EDrive is equipped with twin 80 HP Torqueedo Deep Blue outboard engines and two 30,5 kWH BMW i3 high performance lithium batteries that provide a range of 74 km at an avarage speed of seven knots. Quite impressive figures, we could only dream of until quite recently.
“Electric propulsion is becoming a huge market and anyone who ignores it permanently will go swimming in the long run” says Luca Meffle, Head of Sales and Marketing at Greenline Yachts.“There are more and more customers with ecological awareness who understand that we need to be more carefull with our waters. Wether on the Mediterranean, Australian or in Florida, we are getting more and more inquiries every day from all over the world for Hybrid and Electric Drive boats”.
The entire Greenline Yachts range is equipped with solar panels in standard, to run your home appliances all the time. Having 230 V AC outlets powered silently by solar power onboard all the time is also unique to Greenline Yachts in the leisure shipping sector. With NEO EDrive you are literally ‘refueling’ while you are enjoying your time with family or friends in your favorite spot at anchor.
With vast lounging area, state of the art hi-fi system and a fully functional wet bar, NEO is also a Fun & Entertainment vessel offering plenty of space for up to 12 people. Thanks to the unique hydraulic bathing platform – the first ever to be introduced on an outboard powered vessel, accessing the sea has never been easier, more comfortable and safer.
If you prefer a more traditional propulsion, NEO offers the cleanest outboard gasoline engines available on the market today. NEO can be fitted with twin Mercury Verados with up to 2×300 HP enabling NEO to fly at 45 knots (84 km/h). It is not quite as clean EDrive, but at Greenline they don’t want to be party breakers either, just like Monaco still is the home for giant yachts powered by diesel. “It is part of Monaco just like Formula One, but it still needs to be changed. Saving the oceans means saving our future”.