‘The Gussies’ voting now open
Online voting for the Gustave Trouvé Awards for Excellence in Electric Boats and Boating is now open.
Known as ‘The Gussies’ in the e-boat industry, more than 100 boats from 24 countries have been nominated in the following five categories:
- Electric Boats Under 8m/26ft
- Electric Boats Over 8m/26ft
- Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers
- Customised/DIY Electric Boats
- Electric Sailboats
The online voting is hosted on the plugboats.com site and winners are selected through a combination of public voting and weighted voting by a panel of industry experts from the Electric Boat Associations of the UK, USA, Greece, Canada and Switzerland, the Alternate Fuels Committee of Inland Waterways International and the Venice 2028 organisation and e-Regatta.
The creator of the awards says they aim to recognise the inventors, designers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making advances every day to develop clean, quiet, zero emission technologies and designs to reduce reliance on fossil fuel for marine propulsion.
“There were 50 boats entered in the 2020 awards and 100 this year, which shows just how rapidly electric boats are coming online,” says Jeff Butler, editor of Plugboats. “I think the average person will be very surprised – and pleased – to see that there is now an electric boat available for pretty well any recreational use and no need to burn fossil fuels to have fun.”
This first round of voting will decide which boats will go in the finals round of voting beginning July 6, with the winners to be announced July 27.
