Friends, my book is complete. It took almost a year and many productive early morning sessions, 2-5 AM (overlaps with the Brahma muhurtam time). I am deeply indebted to all those who helped me complete this work: my family, friends, colleagues, industry experts, and enthusiasts. The e-book is available in Apple iBook and Amazon Kindle. The print edition would be ready by next month.

I thank Naveen Munjal, MD Hero Electric for writing the foreword. I thank J Dasgupta, President of the Institution of Naval Architects, Jeff Butler, Editor of Plug boats, and Kevin Desmond, President Electric Boat Association for providing review and guidance. I received much feedback based on my social media post on the book draft. For each of them, I will send the print version once it is ready. Abhay Srivastava, Akshay Jain, Angad Tiwana, Benedict Raj, Bibin Soman, Girish R, Jon Squires, Madhu Kumar Krishnan, Nakul PS, Melvin Mathew, Sangeet S Ulhas, Sibi George, Sivaramakrishnan, Zahir Ummer, and many more friends provided valuable feedback to improve the book. 

When I look back to why I decided to write the book, I can think of four reasons. The first was that right from when I set out to make our first solar boat in 2009; there was not much reference material in books or other resources to provide insights and proper guidance. Not much has changed in the last twelve years. The second reason is that since the launch of ADITYA, I have interacted with many decision-makers and enthusiasts. I felt that if I could convey the lessons, we learned over the years in a business language to them, then there is a good chance of improving the adoption of solar ferries.

All about the book here
https://www.solarelectricboats.in

Thirdly, in the last few years, there have been numerous choices in technology when one sets out to make solar-electric boats. However, a proper assessment of the technology and selecting them based on function need driven by economics is not available.

Finally, I hope that if the policymakers and decision-makers could get a consolidated view of the benefits and impact of solar-electric boats, they would be more likely to support faster adoption and implantation of solar ferries.

In the book, I have tried to cover six broad points:

  1. Get a clear answer to the question, “Why do we need solar boats?
  2. Understand the philosophy of solar boats and how it is different from fossil fuel boats.
  3. List of all technology choices when we make a solar-electric boat.
  4. Learn the step of the design and construction of a solar boat.
  5. Understand the teststrials, and post-delivery operationsmaintenance of a solar-electric boat.
  6. Learn about ADITYA, its impact, and the steps to be taken for faster adoption of solar-electric boats.

The book is now available for pre-order as an e-book in Apple iBooks and Amazon Kindle. The print version will be available by mid of next month. See details here.

I hope you find the book an exciting read. Do share your feedback. Enjoy reading.