Electric boat with a cabin: which ones exist and what do they cost? Leines 870 and Tender 08C compared

An electric boat with a cabin and a berth from the factory is rare in the German-speaking countries. We found only two models that offer both and are sold there: the Leines 870 from Grassau in Bavaria, from €84,900, and the Tender 08C from the Bootswerft Heinrich in Kreuzlingen on Lake Constance, which is only priced on request. Both need a licence in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Leines 870 and Tender 08C compared

Sources: Leines 870, Leines 870 price list, Leines, designboats Tender 08, Torqeedo Deep Blue technical data.

Leines 870: cabin with a berth

The Leines 870 is the Bavarian yard's largest model and the only one with a cabin you can use to lie down and sleep in. As standard it has a bow cabin with storage and a sliding door; the actual berth with storage and wall panelling costs €5,900 extra (price list). The 870 is available fully electric or with a petrol engine of up to 250 hp.

In electric form it runs an Aquamot Trend 11.0 UF with 11 kW or a Trend 15.0 UF with 15 kW, with four lithium batteries and two 48 V, 20 A chargers. Leines does not state the battery capacity. According to Leines the boat costs from €84,900 including VAT; the price list shows the electric motor package separately at €17,900 (11 kW) or €19,500 (15 kW). The documents do not say whether the base price already includes a motor. If not, the 11 kW package plus the berth comes to €108,700 by our calculation. Ask for a full quote before you compare.

Leines only gives running times for all its models together, and explicitly without guarantee: about 9 to 10 hours at slow speed and 1 to 2 hours at full speed (Leines). How much speed determines range is shown in Electric boat motor range: how far can you go on one charge?. The smaller, licence-free Leines boats are compared in Leines and MY-Electroboat compared.

Tender 08C: cabin boat with electric car technology

The Bootswerft Heinrich sells its boats under the name designboats directly in Kreuzlingen, with a permanent in-water display. The Tender 08 is 7.47 m long; the cabin version "C" has two berths and a water connection in the bow (designboats). The Tender comes with diesel or electric drive, the latter with one or two Torqeedo Deep Blue 50i and battery and charging technology from BMW. The boat has CE category C.

With one motor, designboats quotes 50 km range at 10 km/h and a top speed of 15 km/h; with two motors 105 km at 10 km/h and 50 km/h top speed. 15 km/h from a 50 kW motor looks low for a planing boat, but that is what the builder's page says. designboats gives the power as 50 kW per motor without further detail. According to Torqeedo's datasheet, the Deep Blue 50i has a continuous input power of 55.1 kW and a shaft power of around 50 kW (Torqeedo). designboats does not publish a price; the page only has an enquiry form.

Do you need a licence for an electric boat with a cabin?

Yes. Both boats are above every limit in Germany (7.5 kW), Switzerland (6 kW), Austria and on Lake Constance (4.4 kW) (§ 5 SpFV). Leines writes on its website that Bavaria has a special rule of up to 11 kW on selected waters. We found no official source for this, so do not rely on it and check with the responsible authority. All limits with sources are in Electric boat without a licence. In the UK, every boat on Canal & River Trust waterways needs a boat licence, with or without a motor (CRT).