A Liverpool manufacturer of workboats is shortlisted for an award for a zero-emission all-electric vessel it has produced. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool workboat manufacturer Water Witch has been shortlisted in the Electric Boat Awards for one of its zero-emission vessels.

Water Witch is a well-established provider of debris collection and trash retrieval workboats. More than 200 of its vessels are in operation around the world including Hong Kong, New York, Cape Town, Kuwait, and London.

As well as picking up general waste the boats also play an important function in cleaning up some of the growing tide of plastics finding their way into coastal waters. You can see Water Witch vessels cleaning up the waterways in Liverpool docklands.

Now its Versi-Cat multipurpose all-electric vessel has been selected as a Finalist for The Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating. This is an international award run by electric boat website plugboats.com

These awards were created to recognise the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.

They are named to honour Gustave Trouvé, a prolific French inventor with more than 75 patents to his name. He was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1882.

Among his innovations was the world’s first outboard boat motor. He devised this so that he could detach the motor from his prototype electric boat ‘Le Teléphone’ and take it home to work on in his Paris apartment.

While M. Trouvé’s invention predates the 1887 patent of the internal combustion engine, and electric boats have been available since the early 20th century, it is not until recently that they have entered the mainstream marine market.

The Gussies’, as the awards are known in the electric boat world, are the only international boating awards that focus exclusively on electric boats and boating.

The finalists were chosen by a 19-person judging panel. This is made up of experts from electric boating associations around the world as well as the winners from the first two Gussies Awards in 2020 and 2021.

Jackie Caddick, director at Water Witch, said: “Our zero-emission all-electric Versi-Cat workboats are truly multi-purpose and are sustainably built from marine grade aluminium with up to 70% recycled content and most importantly 100% recyclable.

“We are working hard to develop clean, quiet and affordable solutions and are delighted to be featured as one of the world’s best electric boats.

“Using the weight-saving advantages of aluminium construction, we are around 30% lighter than a plastic fibreglass equivalent. This means we require a relatively low power range of 12kW without reducing performance.

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Versi-Cat’s motor is powered by Power48 lithium batteries. The vessel’s electric controls feature a built-in GPS, an on-board computer and display for information such as speed and input power, state of charge and remaining range.

It even has an advanced communication system that links user’s Bluetooth and app technology to the complete system. Unlike the distinctive hum heard from traditional diesel boats, the VersiCat is almost silent as it glides through the water. 

The Versi-Cat can be configured to meet various tasks with a removable central pod system. These pods can be used for litter and debris collection, cargo handling and a variety of tasks.

Water Witch is a leading designer of multi-purpose workboats for waterway maintenance and clean up duties.  The company was founded in 1966 and is family owned, and now into its fourth generation.