Grefab invests in electric boats in Gothenburg ports

Gothenburg's ports are taking a big step towards the sustainable boating of the future. With support from the go:LEIF project, several charging points for electric boats have been launched in the city's marinas. Here, Anders Söderberg, CEO of Grefab, talks about their part in the initiative, which is part of a larger vision to electrify Gothenburg's transportation system and reduce its environmental impact.

Grefab, which owns and operates several marinas in the Gothenburg region, has installed a 22 kW public charger at Saltholmen and fully electrified the second outermost jetty at Hinsholmen. These initiatives are expected not only to reduce emissions and noise, but also to inspire more boat owners to choose electric alternatives.

A necessary step towards sustainable boating

- "We realized early on the importance of contributing to the transition to more sustainable boating," says Anders. "As early as 2019, we conducted a feasibility study together with Business Region Göteborg, which showed that we can create good conditions for electrification relatively easily.

The feasibility study showed that one of the most important measures was to ensure sufficient power at the charging points and to develop a payment solution that makes it easy for customers to pay for their consumption.

- It is important that those who want to switch to electric boats feel confident that they will have stable access to electricity in our ports," Anders adds.

Customer feedback and future challenges

Grefab's customers are well aware of the environmental challenges of boating.

- "Our customers understand the need to reduce emissions and protect our aquatic environments, but the cost of fully electric boats is still a barrier for many," says Anders. "We believe that initially it will be the enthusiasts who rebuild their boats or buy slower electric boats that will drive the development forward.

Focus ahead

For Grefab, the focus is now on evaluating the recent investments in home charging and public chargers.

- We need to see how well these solutions work in practice and whether we need to adjust anything. It will be particularly interesting to see how the public chargers on Saltholmen and Hinsholmen are used and whether our choice of locations was right.

Another challenge for the future is to find fast chargers that Grefab feels confident can handle the marine challenges in ports.

- We haven't yet found fast chargers that meet our requirements, but we are following technology developments closely and are ready to invest when the market can deliver," Anders explains.

Grefab's involvement in the go:LEIF project is an important contribution to a sustainable future for boating. With newly installed charging points and a strong will to drive the development forward, Grefab shows that sustainability and innovation go hand in hand.