Yamaha Marine’s big reveal at the 2024 Miami International Boat Show was its latest effort: to build a hydrogen-powered outboard engine. Yamaha joined forces with Regulator Marine and Roush Performance—known for its high-performance vehicles and hydrogen expertise—to convert a 450-hp gas-burning Yamaha XTO into a hydrogen-burning outboard and feed it from hydrogen-storage tanks inside a modified Regulator 26XO hull.
Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit President Ben Speciale explained that some of the XTO’s internal parts were replaced, among them fuel lines and fuel injectors, to allow for hydrogen consumption. Besides the engine, the prototype hydrogen-powered Regulator 26XO hull was on display with three very large storage tanks installed below deck level sans deck. Speciale said the hydrogen storage on the 26XO was equivalent to a 25-gallon gas tank, giving the Regulator a range of only up to 50 miles. The boat will be tested in the summer of 2024.
Roush Performance was brought into the project because of its decades-long hydrogen expertise, which includes land speed records and spacecraft. Matt Van Benschoten, vice president for advance engineering at Roush, explained that the technology to store compressed hydrogen is limited at this time. The hydrogen for the Regulator was compressed at 700 bar because it is the current and most common standard to which hydrogen storage tanks are being built. Van Ben Schoten said 1,000-bar tanks are becoming more common, which should extend the range of hydrogen-powered boats. Van Benschoten said that the hydrogen-powered outboard produces less than its 450-hp rating, but more than 400 hp.
Speciale said this is an early attempt by Yamaha to see what hydrogen can do for the marine industry and the planet, but that the technology wouldn’t advance unless someone pushed the envelope. “Yamaha is exploring all possibilities to achieve carbon neutrality, and we’ve made commitments for our operations to be carbon neutral by 2035 and our products to become carbon neutral by 2050. That goal within the marine market can only be reached through an approach that leverages multiple solutions.”
Yamaha continues to bring new gas-burning outboards to the market—its new 350-hp outboard was mounted on numerous test boats at the Miami show—but the company is quickly taking a multi-technology approach to carbon neutrality. Yamaha recently announced plans to acquire the German electric propulsion company Torqeedo and using alternative fuels like hydrogen inside its internal combustion outboard engines is another approach. “We believe hydrogen is a viable method of achieving [our carbon-neutrality] goals,” Speciale said. “Yamaha wants to be a leader in this space, and we encourage others in the marine industry to become involved as we look for ways to build infrastructure and new policy around innovations.”
