E-40 Power Catamaran

Light, shallow and quiet

The Earthling E-40 Power Catamaran's trick is weight. Three and a half tonnes on a 12 m platform is remarkably light for a power catamaran, which is why twin 50 kW drives are enough for a 10–12 knot cruise; a conventional cat of this length would need several times the power. A 0.75 m draft opens up lagoons and thin-water anchorages, and the 2 kW solar array, also feeding water heating, points at the real proposition: silent, low-consumption cruising with meaningful autonomy at anchor.

Be clear about what it is

The yard does not publish a battery capacity or an electric-only range. For a boat sold on the strength of long passages, those are the two figures that matter most, and their absence should be the first item on your list of questions. The availability of compact DC generators as range extenders gives the honest answer in outline: this is a hybrid, not a pure-electric passagemaker.

The delivery-voyage story also deserves scrutiny. Published accounts indicate the E-40 travelled from New Zealand to Italy as cargo, with its own passage being the Mediterranean leg to Barcelona — impressive, but not an ocean crossing under its own power.

At €495,000 for 12 m with modest accommodation, this costs well above a comparable diesel powercat. You are buying silence and solar autonomy, and should want them badly.