GCK will convert to electric power the fleet of the Compagnie de Navigation du lac d'Annecy 

Saint-Pierre-d’Albigny, February 24th, 2022 – The Green Corp Konnection (GCK) group confirms the attractiveness and diversity of its offer by announcing the signature of a new order with the Compagnie de Navigation du lac d’Annecy for the electric retrofitting of 5 of its cruising boats with thermal engines. 

This order, the third received by GCK since the beginning of 2022, illustrates the strong dynamics and industrial development of the group. After hydrogen retrofitting, it is the time the electric retrofitting that will be used to decarbonize mobility, helping achieve a cleaner mountain. Indeed, this conversion will make it possible to continue to preserve the purity of the waters of the Annecy Lake, considered to be the purest urbanised lake in Europe thanks to decades of effort and investment. 

An institution in Annecy since 1886, the Compagnie de Navigation du Lac d’Annecy continues to innovate by becoming one of the first tourism companies in Europe to have a fleet of electric boats. This order concerns five boats on the Annecy Lake, two catamarans and three monohulls built in the 1960s, which GCK will retrofit with electric power, while the Compagnie de Navigation du Lac d’Annecy will ensure the technical and regulatory upgrading of the boats. 

The retrofitting work will be divided into two stages. The first, carried out by the Compagnie de Navigation du Lac d’Annecy, will consist of restructuring each boat’s holds. Indeed, in order to comply with lake navigation regulations, the battery packs will have to be secured in dedicated compartments, an operation that will nevertheless allow the propeller shafts to be retained. 

In a second stage, the integration of the new drive will follow. As each boat has its own specificities, the dimensioning of the different electrification kits has been carefully studied by the engineering office of GCK Industry, GCK’s subsidiary in charge of the project, and by the design office of the Compagnie de Navigation du lac d’Annecy, with the support of the A.M.O. Facili office. These electric motors from the range developed by GCK Industry, of various power ratings from 100 to 350kW, will be incorporated alongside battery packs of 200 to 500kWh specially designed by IBS, another GCK subsidy. 

The boats will retain their current top speed (25km/h) but will cruise at a speed of 20km/h. Regarding their autonomy, the new powertrain will allow a full day’s operation without recharging. The recharge will take about 10 hours and will be carried out at night when the boats are stationary. 

All the conversion work will be carried out in the Compagnie de Navigation du Lac d’Annecy’s workshop, on the shores of the lake. The first boats, the Savoie and the Belle Etoile, will be converted in September 2022 after the summer season, before being approved between November 2022 and early 2023.  The Libellule will be converted to be ready in the spring of 2023, a few months before the Cygne and L’Allobroge, whose conversion will take place in the spring of 2024. 

For Éric Boudot, General Manager of GCK: “We are delighted to write a new chapter in our history with this emblematic order. It is a great step taken by GCK as well as a diversification of our retrofitting offer, always at the service of the decarbonation of different mobilities. I applaud the boldness of the Compagnie des Bateaux du Lac d’Annecy and its President Philippe Gausset, for having chosen the path of an innovative and carbon-free tourism offer”. 

For Philippe Gausset, President of Compagnie de Navigation du lac d’Annecy: “Our choice towards an electric propulsion is to participate in the decarbonation desired by the public authorities for 2050. This will preserve the exceptional setting of the Annecy Lake, as well as its air and water quality. This is not a militant approach, but rather one of responsibility towards future generations. Guided by the concern to promote the regional economy, we have entrusted this change to a regional company, since GCK Industry and IBS are respectively based in Savoie and Auvergne.”