Nicols fully electricpowered canal boat

• The Sixto Green is a non-polluting canal boat thanks to its zero emissions power.
• It is also totally silent meaning crews can appreciate the sounds around them – be it the lapping water or birds singing!
• There is no vibration that you would get on an engine powered canal boat.
• Customers wanted a canal boat that was more environmentally friendly and we delivered it! Our holidays are now in harmony with nature more than ever before.

It was quite simple really! We began by taking one of our existing Estivale Sixto boats and created a way of replacing the method of power with an electric motor and lithium-ion batteries.

Recent years have seen great progress in electric powered vehicles such as cars. The technology is now reliable and well tested and we were able to benefit from these developments.

The Sixto Green is actually a lot lighter than the engine powered Sixto.

A standard Sixto engine weighs 250kg and there would also be onboard fuel of 270 litres (300kg) as well as four batteries weighing a further 120kg. This totals approximately 670kg.

In comparison, the electric motor of the Sixto Green is a very light 50kg and along with a 390kg battery bank and charger gives a total weight of just 440kg.

The lithium-ion battery bank provides enough charge for at least six hours of cruising which is perfect when we know the average amount of cruising per day is between four to five hours per day.

It’s worth noting that unlike an engine powered boat that runs continuously even when idle (for example when stopped in a lock), the electric motor will use zero energy consumption as soon as it is in neutral, in a lock or simply slowing down.

It takes just two hours to recharge the batteries of the Sixto Green. The recharging is done at specific charging stations that have been installed by VNF (Voies Navigables de France) on average every 11km along the canal. The charging stations are exclusively reserved for the electric boats and are accessible via a badge that is provided when you collect the boat from our base.

The touch-screen interface on the charging stations is in three languages (English, French and German) and some of the charging stations will even have the facility to refill your water supply while you’re there recharging the electric supply.

Breaking down is no more likely than when you are in your car!

As with a car dashboard, the boat has a battery life indicator so that you can constantly see the time/distance that can be achieved with the current charge. There is also a very detailed map showing the locations of the charging stations (you’ll always find one available as remember these mooring points are exclusively reserved for electric boats).

Like the Sixto Green, the new Quattro Fly C Green canal boat will have:

• An electric motor, for 100% electric propulsion.
• Power from lithium batteries.
• Battery chargers for normal charge on 220V or fast charge on 380V.

But additional equipment and comfort (as found on all of Nicols FLY range of boats) includes:

• air-conditioning.
• a dishwasher.
• a microwave.
• an electric coffee pod machine.

All of this additional on board equipment will be able to operate while being connected to the quayside shore power or during navigation as long as on board generator is active.

Discover our Quattro Fly C Green