At the end of January 2024, Bramble Energy announced the launch of their hydrogen-electric boat, which has an innovative design. This boat is a true breakthrough as it is powered by a circuit board fuel cell (PCBFC™). The boat is a narrowboat, it measures to 57-foot and was developed by Bramble Energy, during their collaboration with Barrus.

Through the use of its custom marinized fuel cell system, the boat completed emission-free testing and due to its fuel cell system, the boat should be capable of providing an estimated six hundred miles of range. This range will be produced through using 14kg of hydrogen which will be stored on-board. Along with the use of hydrogen, the boat will also have access to additional power from solar panels which have been installed on the vessels roof.

The company chose to design the fuel cell for the vessel themselves and they made this choice to display two important messages. The first message was to show how simple and easy it is for Bramble Energy’s technology to be applied and the second message was how important it is for businesses to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, Bramble Energy chose to exhibit at Hyvolution in 2024, in order to showcase this recent development and build its brand recognition.

Bramble Energy’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Co-Founder, Dr Vidal Bharath, commented, “It’s interesting fitting a fuel cell into a narrowboat. It was a very specific size we had to work towards.”

Barath also spoke about the company’s choice to exhibit at Hyvolution, “More and more, people know our logo and they know we’re a disruptive business, but they don’t necessarily know what we do. Often, you talk to technical fuel cell people and it’s always difficult for them to conceptualise what you’re saying and doing as a company. But for them to be able to see and touch the technology in real life is great.”

Bharath continued, “I have to give a shoutout to my systems team for integrating it, who spent a lot of rainy evenings along with the Barrus team on the cold canal. It’s amazing for us to say we have implemented a fuel cell into a marine vessel like that. We designed a fuel cell that was able to fit that limited space in the narrowboat, and have it manufactured at low capex, assembled at Bramble and then stored in the vessel.”