Help, I'm Addicted!

I think I have a problem. I have developed a full-blown addiction to electric vehicles, and it is spreading beyond boats.

Car2Go Amsterdam

On a Saturday afternoon in Amsterdam, I found myself crouching on the pavement to photograph electric Smart Car2Go vehicles. For those who don't know, Car2Go is a car-sharing service that has deployed a fleet of fully electric Smart cars around Amsterdam. You can pick one up anywhere in the city, drive it where you need to go, and leave it there for the next person.

The cars are small, agile, and completely silent. They slip through Amsterdam's narrow streets effortlessly. And because they are part of a shared fleet, each one replaces multiple private car trips — reducing both emissions and the number of vehicles on the road.

Why I Love This

The Car2Go model is clever for several reasons:

• No charging anxiety: The operator handles charging, not the user
• Right-sized: Small electric vehicles for short urban trips is exactly the right application
• Shared: One car serves many users, improving utilisation dramatically
• Silent: Amsterdam's canals and streets feel different when the background hum of engines disappears

The Parallel to Boating

This is exactly the model I would love to see applied to electric boats. Imagine a fleet of electric day-boats available for hire on Amsterdam's canals — silent, emission-free, and available on demand. No maintenance headaches for the user, no charging to worry about, just clean and quiet time on the water.

Some rental companies are already moving in this direction. I hope the trend accelerates.