PlanetSolar is the first boat to travel around the world on sunlight alone. In the video above Christian Ochsenbein, the on-board electrical engineer during the 19-month journey, shows off the yacht’s power system.
More than 800 solar panels charge enormous lithium-ion batteries stowed in the catamaran’s twin hulls, which power two electric motors at the back. “On a full battery we can run for 72 hours without sun,” says captain Gerard d’Aboville, who is also the first man to row solo across the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. The boat is registered in Switzerland and was financed by a German entrepreneur. Construction cost was € 12.5 million.
