What electric and hybrid tenders covers
The term covers a wider spread of platforms than most buyers initially expect. At one end you have fully electric day tenders - typically 5.0m to 9.0m - running a single lithium-ion pack and a direct-drive pod or shaft, suited to short shuttle runs and zero-emission marina access. At the other end you have hybrid chase vessels above 10.0m where the electric drive handles low-speed manoeuvring, harbour transits, and noise-sensitive anchorages, while a diesel or petrol powerplant takes over for open-water passages. In between sits a growing category of range-extended electrics: a small combustion generator charges the pack underway, preserving silent running at destination without hard range limits.
For owners, captains, and project managers, the category matters for three distinct reasons. First, an increasing number of ports, marine protected areas, and coastal municipalities are introducing emissions controls or noise thresholds that a conventional petrol tender cannot meet. Second, owners with a charter programme are finding that guests increasingly ask about sustainability credentials - and a fully electric tender is one of the more visible and tangible responses. Third, the operational cost argument is beginning to stack up: charging from the mothership's shore-power connection overnight costs a fraction of what a comparable petrol run costs over a season, and drivetrain service intervals on electric systems are materially longer than on high-revving outboard engines.
What this guide does not do is recommend a single platform as the answer for all programmes. The tenders hub covers the full market from rigid inflatables to chase vessels; this guide is specifically about the electric and hybrid subset, and the trade-offs that make that subset genuinely different to evaluate.
The key decisions
Range versus weight
This is the trade-off that sits at the centre of every electric tender brief we work on. Lithium-ion cells are heavy relative to the energy they store compared with diesel fuel: a battery pack that gives a 7.0m tender a 20-nautical-mile range at displacement speed adds significant topside or keel weight that the hull designer must account for. Push the range envelope to 40 nautical miles on the same hull and the pack weight begins to compromise stability, trim, and - critically - the lift points that your mothership's crane or davit system is rated for.
The practical result is that most fully electric tenders in the current market are sized for a defined operational envelope rather than open-ended range. Candela's foiling platforms, for example, trade pack weight for hydrodynamic efficiency by lifting the hull clear of the water above a threshold speed, reducing drag dramatically and extending usable range without proportionally increasing battery mass. Vita Power's displacement hull electric tenders take a different approach, prioritising load capacity and passenger comfort over top speed. Both are credible; neither is universally correct. The 2026 market review covers where Candela, Vita, and the emerging hydrogen platforms sit relative to each other on this axis in detail.
Charging architecture
A fully electric tender is only as useful as the charging infrastructure behind it. On a yacht with a modern shore-power management system and available generating capacity, overnight charging from a Type 2 or CCS connector is straightforward to arrange and the tender is ready at first light. On a yacht that runs tight on generator capacity - or one that spends extended periods at anchor far from shore power - the logistics become more involved.
The questions we ask in every brief are: what is the mothership's available charging output in kilowatts; is there physical space and safe cable routing for a dedicated charging station at the tender bay or transom platform; and what is the expected daily operational profile in terms of nautical miles, number of runs, and idle time at destination? A tender doing four short shuttle runs per day in a sheltered bay will recharge overnight on a modest supply. A tender running 15 nautical miles each way twice a day to a provisioning port needs a different calculation entirely.
Hybrid platforms simplify this problem considerably. The combustion element - whether a range-extending generator or a parallel-drive petrol or diesel engine - means the vessel is never genuinely range-limited, and the electric component can be sized for the noise-sensitive and emissions-sensitive legs of each trip rather than the full operational envelope. For programmes where the mothership is frequently offshore and the tender covers real distance, a hybrid configuration is where most briefs currently land.
Where most briefs land
In our experience, the majority of owners coming to us with a genuine interest in electric or hybrid tenders fall into one of three profiles. The first is the owner with a strong sustainability commitment and a programme that centres on short-range, high-frequency use in sheltered or restricted waters - a Mediterranean season with regular port visits and protected anchorages. For this profile, a fully electric tender in the 6.0m to 8.0m range is a practical, well-supported choice and the range limitation is rarely a constraint in practice.
The second profile is the captain of a larger yacht who needs a more capable support vessel - something that can carry water toys, run guests to a beach club two miles away and return for more, and cope with the occasional rough-water crossing. For this profile, a hybrid platform above 9.0m with a credible electric-only range of 15 to 25 nautical miles and a diesel or petrol fallback is the brief we bring to yards.
The third profile is the owner or manager who is committed to full electrification on principle and is prepared to plan the mothership's power infrastructure around it. This is still a minority of briefs, but it is a growing one, and the hardware is catching up with the ambition faster than the market expected three years ago.
Where to start
If you are early in the process and still building your understanding of the electric and hybrid tender market, the tenders hub is the right starting point. It sets out the full taxonomy of support vessels - from limo tenders and day boats to chase craft and limousine tenders - and provides the context for where electric and hybrid platforms sit relative to conventional alternatives at each size and use-case.
If you are already past the exploratory stage and want to understand where the technology stands heading into the 2026 season, the electric tender inflection point piece is the more targeted read. It covers Candela's foiling programme, Vita Power's displacement hull range, and the hydrogen demonstrator projects in enough specification depth to support a serious briefing conversation with a yard or builder.
A few practical reference points worth having before any briefing conversation:
- Battery capacity is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A compact 7.0m electric tender typically carries a pack in the 40 to 80 kWh range. A larger hybrid platform may carry 100 to 200 kWh on the electric side alongside its combustion drive.
- Range figures from manufacturers are almost always at displacement speed and in calm water. Add a real-world contingency of 20 to 30 per cent, and factor in any payload above the lightly-loaded test condition.
- Charging time depends on both the charger output and the pack size. A 22 kW onboard charger filling a 60 kWh pack from 20 per cent to 80 per cent takes roughly two to three hours. DC fast charging at higher outputs shortens this but requires more substantial installation work on the mothership.
- Weight is not an afterthought. Before specifying any electric tender for an existing yacht, the crane or davit rated working load and the yacht's deck loading need to be confirmed against the tender's wet weight with a full battery pack.
Talk to us
We work with owners, captains, and project managers from the earliest stage of a brief through to delivery and handover. For electric and hybrid tenders specifically, the briefing conversation tends to cover four things: the mothership's charging capacity and infrastructure readiness; the expected operational profile by season and geography; the size and weight envelope dictated by the crane or davit specification; and the owner's priority ranking of range, speed, passenger capacity, and emissions performance.
Send us those parameters and we will return a shortlist of platforms with credible specification evidence within 48 hours. Where the brief is unusual - a very large electric tender, a programme with genuinely demanding range requirements, or a new-build where the tender and mothership are being specified together - we will tell you that honestly and propose the next step, whether that is a yard introduction, a naval architect review, or a comparative sea trial programme.