Finnish boat builder Elwood has launched a handcrafted electric powered boat. Entrepreneur Pasi Virnes, CEO and Design Director of Elwood, has a background in mechanical engineering and started work in earnest on the Elwood about a year ago, with a vision of a boat with the feel and ‘soul’ of traditional wood construction, able to glide through the waters without disturbing the environment or its inhabitants. Sources: Plugboats, Timberbiz
To help bring the dream to life, he worked with boat designer Jarmo Häkkinen, who has beencrafting exquisite wooden rowing boats since 2007 and exploring the possibilities of plank, clinker and marine plywood construction. The facilities and expertise of Ville Herukka and Timo Koistinen of the Villen Vene boat builders in Kuopio, Finland, were enlisted to help with the execution of the first model – the Elwood 550eHT.
The load-bearing structure for the Elwood is birch plywood which Virnes calls “nature’s composite.” There are lots of reason for choosing it, he says that it is renewable, easy to work with and has excellent strength, better than many realize.
The decorative parts and visible surfaces of the electric wooden boat are crafted from solid mahogany and mahogany ply.
The result is impressive – a hardtop boat reminiscent of a traditional Finnish clinker fishing boat but updated and tailored for recreational use and electric propulsion.
While wood is often thought of as a heavier material than composites, the Elwood 550 weighs in at only 450kg empty. It can carry four passengers.
On the propulsion side, the 550e is equipped with an Oceanvolt AX 8kiloWatt motor and 11.4 kWh battery pack. All of that means a silent ride that can last for as long as eight hours with a 30Nm range (55km) at a speed of 5 knots, but it can also reach a speed of 10 knots. It takes about four hours to charge @ 230V/16A. Additional batteries can be added to increase range.
Larger “day cruiser” models are also available that can carry up to 10 passengers.
