“Aditya” Winner of Gussies 2020 for World’s Best Electric Ferry
We’re excited to announce Aditya “India’s First Solar Ferry” as a winner for this year’s Gustave Trouvé Awards, under category III – Excellence in Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers. Gussie’s Electric boat award is the world’s only international awards exclusively for electric boats. The first round had 50 electric boats nominated representing 19 countries of manufacture including France, Germany, Norway, USA, UK, and Switzerland.
Award is instituted in the memory of Gustave Trouvé an astoundingly prolific electric engineer and inventor with over 75 patents to his name. “Aditya” is now selected as the world’s most successful commercial ferry model. It has been selected as the winner by voting among champion companies that are pioneering in the emerging electric boating sector to build a better, smarter, and cleaner future.
NavAlt CEO Sandith Thandasherry said, “It’s great recognition for the innovative work we have carried out. In this prestigious moment, we are thankful to the organizers of the Gussie’s Award, Kerala State Water Transport Department, and all our well-wishers who helped us in reaching here. We see a lot of demand for our electric boats with some giant steps being made across the country. We will ensure that our expertise and experience will be fully utilized towards our vision to bring down the energy needs of the boating industry to zero. We believe this recognition will give us opportunities for new partnerships which is vital in the decarbonization of water transport.”
Aditya which is India’s First and Largest solar ferry is operating in Kerala backwaters for the last 3 years without a drop of fuel. The very low daily OPEX of 2.6 US $ makes this ferry the most successful commercial ferry model in the world. It is recognised as the most efficient and sustainable proven solution in the world by International Solar Alliance and Solar Impulse Foundation headquartered in Switzerland
This recognition is a proud moment for India and a demonstration of how Indian companies can achieve the implementation of frontier technologies. “Navalt aims to indigenise the core technologies that enable advanced solar-electric ferries. For ADITYA type ferries it has achieved over 65%. It is currently limited by the unavailability of lithium cells in India. For advanced hybrid technologies, this figure is closer to 50%. If some of the policies of discrimination against indigenization are removed, this process can be faster.”, said Mr. Sandith.