Mainebiz Special Editions

V O L . X X X N O. X I X 26 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine M aine Electric Boat has installed more than a dozen electric propulsion systems on sailboats and powerboats since the com- pany was formed five years ago. With an eye toward the future, the Biddeford-based company is now tak- ing aim at a new market: commercial work vessels. at sector — lobster boats, aquaculture vessels, boatyard utility boats and the like — is where the company's growth and the expansion of electric- powered boats in Maine is likely to come from, says CEO Matt Tarpey. Tarpey, 36, supplied a 40-horsepower engine last year for a utility workboat at an Islesboro boatyard, and is now working with a Portland lobsterman on plans to convert his diesel-powered boat to electric in the coming 18 months or so. He's not aware of any other Maine lobstermen with electric boats. He knows Maine's lobster fleet — some 5,000-plus strong — could be slow to adapt to electric vessels but is convinced that it is inevitable over time. Fishermen and others that make their living on Maine's working water- fronts, he says, will come around when the up-front costs of batteries drop and they see the benefits first-hand. ose paybacks include a lot of less: less maintenance, less money on fuel, less noise, less pollution, less time at the dock and more on the water. "It should be a no-brainer as bat- tery costs drop," he says. "So much of it depends on motivation." Boatyard background Maine Electric Boat is located at Rumery's Boat Yard on the Saco River near downtown Biddeford. e boatyard was founded in 1962 and has been owned by Tarpey's father, Sean Tarpey, since 1998, providing storage and repair and maintenance for sail- boats and powerboats. e brick building that houses the boatyard, Maine Electric Boat and Marine Solar Technologies (a fledgling company focused on solar/battery- powered water-monitoring buoys) was built in 1882. In early days, it was a coal-fired power plant for the York Light & Heat Co. supplied by barges that brought coal upriver from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. e building has now come full-circle from pollution-belching coal to Maine Electric Boat's focus on clean electric-powered propulsion systems for vessels of all types. Rumery's Boat Yard installed its first electric motor in a 26-foot sloop way back in 2004, Sean Tarpey says. But it wasn't until 2019 that electric-powered boating became a full-fledged business when Matt Tarpey, his father Sean and a third partner started Maine Electric Boat. Since then, the company has con- verted a variety of sailboats and pleasure power boats from diesel power to elec- tric. To do so, it removes the fuel tanks and engines and replaces them with battery banks, an electric motor and a battery management system. It has also installed electric motor systems on a number of new boats. Some of those boats are powered by a motor manufactured by a Polish com- pany, E-Tech, that hangs underneath the boat. e motor also serves as a rud- der when steering the boat. Most customers have come from Maine, but others have been from Massachusetts and the Midwest. Last year, Tarpey supplied the motor for a 14-foot inflatable work boat powered by an electric outboard to Pendleton Yacht Yard on Islesboro, an island community three miles off Lincolnville in Penobscot Bay. e boat, named Take Charge, is powered by a 40-horsepower Flux Marine outboard. It's being used to demonstrate elec- tric marine propulsion in partnership with the Island Institute as part of the nonprofit's vision of developing a "fully electric working waterfront in Maine." e Island Institute's goals include putting electric outboard motors on skiffs through partnerships with local fishermen, aquaculture operations and new waterfront business ventures, and installing solar-powered charging sta- tions on docks and wharves. Working e-waterfront Maine Electric Boat sees itself as part of that electric working waterfront equation. As such, it serves as the distributor of electric marine engines from E-Tech, Flux Marine and other manufacturers. Tarpey says fishing fleets in other parts of the world — Finland, Norway, British Columbia, for example — are already widely electrified. ere's no reason Maine can't do the same, Tarpley says. While the upfront expenditures can be pricey, at least for now, he says costs will drop and that fishermen will also see savings in fuel costs, main- tenance costs and the increased time they spend working because electric boats don't break down as often. When a lobsterman asks a fellow lobsterman how he likes his electric- powered boat, the word will spread. "He's going to say, 'If you could see my books and see how I'm doing, you'll want one too,'" Tarpley says. At Pendelton Yacht Yard, owner Gabe Pendleton says the electric work- boat is working out just fine as it takes people and supplies back and forth to moored boats and tends to other basic tasks. While growing numbers of plea- sure boaters are using electric motors, he agrees that in some ways it's easier for commercial vessels to adopt electric technology. Working vessels are probably easier to convert to electric because they have the capacity for larger battery banks and Q UA L I T Y O F L I F E Electrifying the fleet Biddeford company takes aim at converting commercial vessels to electric B y C l a r k e C a n f i e l d S O U R C E : Luke's Lobster: Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Lobster and Crab Products, a Council Fire Report, September 2022 PERCENTAGE BREAKDOWN OF 2.89 POUNDS OF CO2 EQUIVALENT EMISSIONS PER POUND OF MAINE/NOVA SCOTIA LOBSTER AND CRAB 1.4% Wharf operations 5.6% Restaurants 7.9% Transport 10.1% Processing 13.1% Bait 61.8% Fishing 67% of emissions are from diesel that fuels lobster boats or bait vessels

• Cover