Electric booth on the North Sea: is the turn to e-mobility now?

Electric booth on the North Sea: is the turn to e-mobility now?

The future of leisure boats on the North Sea could soon be electrical! While electromobility is already in full swing in the country, the maritime world lags behind. The chairman of the Advisory Board for the National Park Lower Saxony Wadden Sea, Holger Wesemüller, makes it clear: "The water was forgotten with the entire electrification." But that should change! A group of port operators, coastal municipalities and conservationists have merged to make leisure shipping in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Wadden Sea climate-neutral.

a network of charging columns

The project "E-mobility in sea and sports booty cards" (E-Mobiss) has set itself the goal of setting up a chain of loading points along the Lower Saxony coast. Captain Christian Bahlke explains the problem: "Without charging infrastructure, there is hardly any motivation for boat owners to do without fossil fuels." The plan provides for installing a charging station every 30 kilometers. This environmentally friendly solution could not only reduce emissions, but also significantly increase comfort for boat owners. "You no longer need a canister with gasoline," says Bahlke.

But there are hurdles! The existing infrastructure in the Marinas is often not suitable for loading drive batteries. In addition, there is no functioning billing system that enables boating gender to land as with electric cars on land. While the port operators show great interest in the installation of charging stations, the support of the state of Lower Saxony has so far been no longer available. Wesemüller hopes for funding, similar to which it already exists in Schleswig-Holstein.

The initiators of the E-Mobiss project are optimistic about the future and refer to successful implementations in other European regions, such as in Spain or the Scandinavian countries. "We want to set up the first charging station as soon as possible," says Bahlke. The path to the electrical future of the leisure boats on the North Sea is paved - now only the drive has to come!