Electric drives grow, dock power does not

The market for electric boat propulsion has grown considerably in recent years. One manufacturer alone, founded in Starnberg in 2005 and today a Yamaha subsidiary, had already reached around 250,000 motors sold by 2023, spanning under one kilowatt for kayaks up to 100 kilowatts as an inboard. Many further brands have joined in a short time.

Less of that reaches the water than the show halls suggest. On Lake Constance at the end of 2025, among around 58,000 registered boats, exactly 20 motorboats were recorded with an electric drive of 19 kilowatts or more. Four more than a year earlier.

The reason sits at the socket. Berths on Lake Constance are almost entirely inside harbours, and pontoon supply there is often fused at six amps, which gives roughly 1.4 kilowatts of charging power. Upgraded installations manage 16 amps and so 3.7 kilowatts. Filling a 38 kilowatt hour battery once then takes a good ten hours. In early May 2026 a marina in Langenargen commissioned a 22 kilowatt charging point, where a kilowatt hour costs 59 cents.

The pattern is not specific to Germany. Wherever marina electrics were laid out for a battery charger and a kettle, the limit on electric boating is the pontoon, not the boat. Owners planning a conversion do well to ask their harbour what the supply actually delivers before they order anything.