His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, trialled Greenline Yachts’ new NEO EDrive at the Monaco Yacht Show last month. The recently launched revolutionary new boat, says Greenline, is the first-ever production leisure craft to be powered by electric propulsion.

In a press statement Greenline says: “The boat could have easily been overlooked among those great big megayachts if the Prince himself was not at the wheel. Not just because of NEO’s small size compared to those big megayachts, but also because of the silence of NEO’s engines. Sometimes there are more important things than size and NEO flipped the ecological middle finger to all diesel-powered megayachts that consume hundreds of litres of diesel per hour.”

One of world’s fiercest ambassadors of environment preservation and clean energy, HSH Prince Albert brought Formula E into Monaco and is now subsidising electrically powered vehicles to the citizens of Monaco by up to 30%.

“The challenge ahead is for each of us to do what is in our power to counteract climate change. The future is green,” commented Prince Albert.

Knowing this also applies to boating, Prince Albert was also endorsing the new Greenline NEO EDrive by taking a quick sea trail during the yacht show and scheduling sea trials at Royal Yacht Club de Monaco later in October, added Greenline.

Greenline Yachts is a pioneer in hybrid propulsion, introducing the combination of diesel and electric drive with the first Greenline produced in 2008 and they have been perfecting this technology ever since. With the NEO EDrive they are taking the next logical step in sustainable boating.

“Looking back to 2008, hybrid propulsion was perhaps a bit ahead of it’s time,” admitted Vladimir Zinchenko, founder of SVP Yachts shipyard and owner of the Greenline Yachts and Shipman Carbon Yachts brands. “But now, after 10 years, the market is ready for the next step – to go full electric and the 9.99m NEO is just the beginning. In the future, our entire fleet will have the electric-only propulsion option,” added Zinchenko.

NEO EDrive is equipped with twin 80hp Torqeedo Deep Blue outboard engines and two 30.5kWh BMW i3 high performance lithium batteries that provide a range of 74km at an average speed of 7kt. “Quite impressive figures, we could only dream of until quite recently,” said Zinchenko.

“Electric propulsion is becoming a huge market and anyone who ignores it permanently will go swimming in the long run,” says Luca Meffle, head of sales and marketing at Greenline Yachts. “There are more and more customers with ecological awareness who understand that we need to be more careful with our waters. Whether on the Mediterranean, Australian or in Florida, we are getting more and more inquiries every day from all over the world for Hybrid and Electric Drive boats. NEO is also a Fun & Entertainment boat offering plenty of space for up to 12 people. Thanks to the unique hydraulic bathing platform – the first ever to be introduced on an outboard-powered boat, accessing the sea is easy.”

Greenline also offers the NEO with conventional low emission outboard motors with twin Mercury Verados with up to 2x300hp enabling NEO to achieve speeds of 45kt (84km/h).