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St. Petersburg launches Vechniy electric catamaran
The first EFT07 electric catamaran, Vechniy, has entered service in St. Petersburg for quiet 11-passenger tours up to 5 km from shore.
Image: ITzine
St. Petersburg has launched the first EFT07 electric catamaran, Vechniy, into service on the city’s rivers and canals from the Yelagin Island pier. Built locally by Forss Technology, the vessel is aimed at urban sightseeing, prioritizing smooth, quiet operation over speed.
That sets it apart in a city where many excursion routes still rely on conventional internal-combustion boats. The contrast with Moscow, where electric river vessels have already been running regular routes for several years, is hard to miss. In St. Petersburg, Vechniy stands out for its compact hull, good maneuverability, and near-silent running.
The catamaran carries 11 passengers and is designed for “R” class basins, meaning it can operate in waves up to 1.2 m, winds up to 13 m/s, and at distances of up to 5 km from shore. For tourist service, that is a fairly strict but practical envelope: these boats rarely leave protected urban waterways, and passengers are more likely to value quiet and ride quality than higher speed.
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Its published specifications are:
- Length: 7.5 m
- Width: 3.5 m
- Side height: 0.9 m
- Draft: 0.3 m
- Speed: 11 km/h
- Passenger capacity: 11 people
- Operating area: “R” class basins
- Distance from shore: up to 5 km
In practice, Vechniy is built for short city routes and slow tours. That fits St. Petersburg’s seasonal, water-centric tourism market, where small vessels are easier to slot into busy traffic and existing piers. If the boat performs well on local routes, the EFT07 project could attract buyers beyond a single excursion line.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via ITzine
