By Derek Sarier
Elm Staff Writer
Over Labor Day weekend, Washington College’s Electric Boat Team set a new Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled by an electric boat on a single charge (non-solar). Their electric trimaran covered 258.867 km (160.85 mi) along the Chester River, surpassing the previous record of 220.4km (136.95 mi), set by the Thames Electric Launch Company in 2001 on the Thames River in the UK.
The students and Washington College faculty involved in breaking the record include sophomores Terrance Vincent, Mac Sansbury, and Tiyaba Jamil, as well as juniors Cole Davis, Douglas Hewes, and David Audette. Faculty members include Waterfront Director Ben Armiger and Director of the IDEAWORKS Innovation Center Brian Palmer, who is also the advisor to the Makers Union Club, where the Electric Boat Team is based.
Before making their attempt, the team mapped out a 4.109 km (2.553 mi) course with the aid of members from the Washington College Geospatial Innovation Program to ensure accurate measurements. The team set out on Friday afternoon of the Labor Day Weekend and finished early Sunday morning.
On day one, the team noticed the battery charge readout had been dropping faster than they had expected. There was skepticism among the team that they would potentially not achieve their goal. This was their first time pushing some of the instruments on the boat to such great lengths.
However, they soon began to monitor the voltage as a precaution. The team made calculations on the voltage readings and made predictions as to when the battery would be fully depleted. When asking the team, they claimed their predictions kept getting pushed back as the days went on until they eventually broke the record, completing 63 laps in 42 hours of being out on the water.
“I felt pretty relieved and happy since it was the first time we were able to fully drain the battery. We had an idea of how far it could go, but since we never were able to fully drain the battery, we could only estimate,” Hewes said.
When the team realized they had just broken the world record, Palmer’s first thought was along the lines of that this is the “moment we made history.” This feat could not have been achieved without all the talented and hard-working individuals involved in this endeavor.
“It was pretty early in the morning, but it felt pretty good, especially considering how the last attempt went, it felt like we really improved since last year,” Audette said.
This was not the first time the Electric Boat Team had attempted to break the Guinness World Record. Last fall, they attempted to do so on the Chesapeake Bay; however, due to a series of unfortunate events, their attempt had to be called off. In the end, the team persevered and triumphed.
They now shift their focus to potentially experimenting with hydrofoils in combination with electric boats, to increase both their efficiency and the distance they can travel. With the technological advancements made in recent years, the future of electric boats is bright.
“There are lots of electric boats with practical uses around the world currently, and just the teams in the US that I have met so far are enthusiastic about electric boating,” Audette said.
When designing an electric boat or applying the concept of designing in a much broader sense, Palmer shares valuable advice on how aspiring innovators can achieve their goals. His advice is to “try to think about all of the pieces that contribute to the bigger picture.”
Palmer warns against becoming too focused on a single aspect of a design, as it can increase the likelihood of missing other crucial elements that could create problems in the future.
A significant amount of time and effort went into creating the trimaran, ensuring all the various pieces fit together seamlessly, with construction of the boat starting in 2022. Many groups of students collaborated to make this vision a reality, and such efforts did not go in vain.
This past April, the team participated in a race called Promoting Electric Propulsion. The race was sponsored by the U.S. Navy and the American Society of Naval Engineers.
The team placed first with their trimaran in the “manned displacement” category and third place in the “Manned planing” category with their wooden monohull boat. These combined wins propelled them to become the top-scoring team in the country. To learn more about the Washington College Electric Boat Team, visit: wacelectricboat.com.
Photo courtesy of Dominique Ellis Falcon.
Photo Caption: WC’s electric boat team is made up of students and faculty members involved at the boathouse and IDEAWORKS Innovation Center.