Updated on July 16th, 2023
The 37m steel vessel B.Yond Voyager from Benetti has become the most environmentally friendly superyacht to date. As you might guess, it has a hybrid power plant, developed jointly with Siemens Energy. Nothing new. However, a number of recent technologies have been applied, ranging from exhaust gas control systems to more durable batteries with high energy density.
True to its name, the Voyager has nearly twice the cruising range of traditional diesel-powered vessels of the same size, according to Benetti. In Eco Transfer mode with one engine running, the yacht can travel 8,200 nautical miles at 9 knots. There is nothing breakthrough here either: in fact, you just use one diesel engine instead of two, and in addition turn off the generators. However, this reduces the amount of harmful emissions, which means that the goal has been achieved.
Lithium batteries provide up to 8 hours of battery life during the day and up to 12 hours at night. That is, in the hotel mode, you can not start the generators at all. In addition, the batteries take only three hours to fully charge. Benetti claims that a hybrid setup can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 24% and NOx emissions by up to 85%. In addition, this system reduces the level of on-board noise and vibrations.
There is also a purely electric mode of movement of the yacht. Of course, it cannot yet be used as the main one, but it can be used to enter environmentally protected areas that are closed to yachts with internal combustion engines. Mode control is simplified as much as possible so that you can switch directly from the wheelhouse.