SoelCat 12 Solar Electric Vessel from SoelYachts for Eco-Tourism

SoelCat 12 takes ecotourism to the next level, it’s a solar electric vessel for coastal water, lagoon, and inter-island transportation. According to World Tourism Organization’s study, ecotourism has been identified as one of the highest annual growth rates in the industry. One of the qualifying criteria defined by Global Sustainable Tourism Council, is to reduce transport related greenhouse gas emissions and to use renewable energy sources where possible.

SoelCat 12 yacht has been developed for fast growing ecotourism market, yes, it is great to see a lot of green innovations at resorts these days, but water bound transportation seems to be neglected. This yacht offers 100% sustainable alternative to conventionally powered boats, it takes passengers on a lagoon tour without noise or smell of combustion engines. Furthermore, the boat can also provide its surplus solar energy to the resort when moored.

Designer : Soel Yachts

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

The generous deck space is fully customizable, allowing you to host a variety of seating arrangements and layouts. You can set it up from luxurious and comfortable yacht-like features to just economical deck gear for water taxi services. This yacht has been designed with an adaptable platform for each application. For diving operations, the vessel offers pretty generous tank storage space and wet storages for dive gear. The SoelCat 12’s mobile power station is capable to provide 6kVA of AC power making it an ideal autonomous base for scientific and governmental coral reef research or marine life expeditions. This yacht is purposely designed for salt water application but it can also be beached on sandy beaches thanks to its reinforced hull build from lightweight fiberglass composite.

Lightness is the main point of this vessel’s performance. The marine grade lithium polymer battery systems weigh in just 8kg per kWh, you can also remotely monitor all electric propulsion system vitals through Naval UI alarm and monitoring system. Measuring 39ft in length, SoelCat 12 has a total lithium battery capacity of 120kWh and operates for 6 hours at 8 knots speed on the batteries alone.

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel

Technical Specifications SoelCat 12:

  • Length over all (LOA) 11.80 m / 38.7 ft
  • Length water line (LWL) 11.80 m / 38.7 ft
  • Beam 5.80 m / 19 ft
  • Draught 0.60 m / 2 ft
  • Displacement 4.6 ton / 10140 lb
  • Solar Power 8.6 kWp
  • Battery Capacity 2x 60 kWh
  • Electric Motor 2x 30 kW
  • V max 15 kn
  • V service 8 kn
  • V break even 6 kn
  • Passengers 24
  • Crew 2
  • CE Design Category C

Tuvie has received “SoelCat 12 Autonomous Solar Electric Vessel” project from our ‘Submit A Design‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their design/concept for publication.



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5 thoughts on “SoelCat 12 Solar Electric Vessel from SoelYachts for Eco-Tourism

  1. HAVING RETIRED RECENTLY FOLLOWING AN EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL AND ENJOYABLE 50+ YEARS BEHIND THE MAST I CAN ONLY SAY, "WOW, CONGRATS TO THE DESIGNERS AND WHERE THE HELL WERE VESSELS LIKE THIS SILENT LITTLE GEM, I'D BE IMAGINING, EACH TIME WE WERE FORCED TO BEAT UPHILL IN GALE FORCE WINDS THAT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THE WIND'S WOULD BE SLAMMING ON THE BOW. IN ADDITION TO THOSE HELLS OWN GALE'S FORCE 5 BEATING THE WELDS OFF OF HER ASS, WE'D ALSO GET TO GAG ON THE DENSE CLOUDS OF THICK BLACK DIESEL SMOKE.FROM OUR ENGINES THAT OFTEN WERE RUNNING LIKE SHIT. AH, THE GOOD OLD DAYS, THESE WERE MEMORIES FROM MANY MANY YEARS AGO WHEN I WORKED BOTH MILITARY AND COASTIES AND I DON'T MISS EM MUCH. F.W. USN, ret.

  2. They make a 12-volt motor it runs all the way up to 48 volts . it’s called the Manta 2, and that motor has 10 horsepower and it’s no bigger than an alternator out of a car. You can take a regular pontoon boat and fill it full of batteries , put a roof on it …. with fill it full of solar panels , and put a Manta 2 motor on either side on each pontoon. And you would have the same thing…. often thought about building one . but my health won’t let me any longer , I’m too old and cripled up… But if somebody out there is looking to build one…. look into the ( Manta 2 ) motors . they’re like five or 600 bucks for each one , and your solar panels , and your batteries , are going to run you a couple of grand . and an old pontoon boat…. and you would be in business. in Florida you’re never run out of power…..

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