Tamil Nadu students’ solar-powered boat, YALI, is the first Indian entry at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge

YALI, an energy-efficient boat created by students from Coimbatore, becomes the first from India to compete in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge scheduled for July 

At the Seamen’s Club near Chennai Port, a rather unassuming boat, compact in size and simple in make (or at least at the first look), is docked. Unexpected rains and delayed permits stall the possibility of a quick cruise. 

Characterised by a small solar panel, white rudders, an electrical battery and a cockpit, the energy-efficient boat named YALI is now on its way to Monaco, as I write this, where it will compete in the ninth edition of the prestigious Monaco Energy Boat Challenge: a first for India.

Interestingly, YALI was born in landlocked Coimbatore, a city with little to no interaction with water sports or marine transport, in the garage of Kumaraguru College of Technology. It is the first student-made energy-efficient boat that will represent the country in July. The team, comprising 14 engineering students across departments such as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics and IT calls itself Sea Shakti.

It all began in December 2021 following an open call for energy-efficient designs for marine trade and transport.

“As it is a student-driven competition, there were constraints. Safety had to be the main aspect. By staying within the rules and requirements, we had to come up with an optimum design solution,” says Kiranlal, the faculty-in-charge of Sea Shakti.

Though students of the college have had previous experience with building Formula Student cars and Go-Karts, this is the first time they are dipping their toes in marine architecture. And that too, keeping energy-efficiency and environmental implications in mind.

“The most challenging aspect of the Energy Class is to reduce the weight [of the boat] as much as possible. There was no question of steel. We initially thought of using carbon fibre, but it was too expensive,” adds Kiranlal. Aluminium, then, came to the rescue.