{"id":191802,"date":"2025-10-29T19:19:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?p=191802"},"modified":"2025-10-29T19:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:37:16","slug":"from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/","title":{"rendered":"From diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo, Oct 29 (EFE).\u2014<\/strong> Solutions exist for sustainable transport in Brazil\u2019s Amazon.<\/strong> What is lacking, researchers say, is funding<\/strong> to support those solutions. The Federal University of Par\u00e1 (UFPA)<\/strong> in Bel\u00e9m<\/strong>, host of COP30<\/strong>, is developing electric boat prototypes<\/strong> for a region where transport still largely relies on diesel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ceamazon works to improve daily life through applied technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Professors, researchers, and technicians at the Center of Excellence in Energy Efficiency of the Amazon (Ceamazon)<\/strong> are working toward a shared goal: applying technology to improve life in the world\u2019s largest tropical forest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One of its research labs specializes in electric mobility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nearly 30 million people<\/strong> live across the Brazilian Amazon<\/strong>, one-quarter of them in rural areas<\/strong>, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

With 16,000 kilometers of navigable rivers<\/strong>, water transport is essential in a region long affected by infrastructure deficits<\/strong>, mining, and agricultural expansion.<\/p>\n

In response, Ceamazon is developing renewable-energy-powered boats<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Undated
Undated handout photo released by Norte Energia showing an electric boat sailing on the Guam\u00e1 River in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. EFE\/ Helderlana\/ Norte Energ\u00eda \/EDITORIAL USE ONLY\/ NO SALES\/ ONLY AVAILABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE ACCOMPANYING NEWS STORY (MANDATORY CREDIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Electric catamaran powered by lithium batteries and solar panels<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n

\u201cWe developed from scratch an electric catamaran with capacity for 25 seated passengers,<\/strong>\u201d said Maria Em\u00edlia de Lima Tostes<\/strong>, professor at UFPA\u2019s Institute of Technology and coordinator of Ceamazon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The vessel is built from aluminum<\/strong>, a lighter material that supports lithium batteries<\/strong>, and is equipped with solar panels<\/strong> on the deck.<\/p>\n

It has an eight-hour operational range<\/strong> and is already in use<\/strong> on UFPA\u2019s campus in Bel\u00e9m<\/strong>, where travel distances can reach nine kilometers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Two electric buses<\/strong> now complement the catamaran, forming what Silvia Cabral<\/strong>, director of Regulation, Commercialization and Sustainability at Norte Energia<\/strong>, called \u201cthe first green corridor in the Amazon.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Undated
Undated handout photo released by Norte Energia showing an electric boat sailing on the Guam\u00e1 River in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. EFE\/ Helderlana\/ Norte Energ\u00eda \/EDITORIAL USE ONLY\/ NO SALES\/ ONLY AVAILABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE ACCOMPANYING NEWS STORY (MANDATORY CREDIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Partnerships expand electric boat development<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The project is supported by Norte Energia<\/strong>, operator of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant<\/strong> in Par\u00e1.<\/p>\n

Norte Energia<\/strong> is also investing in the development of electric speedboats<\/strong> in a joint initiative between Ceamazon<\/strong> and UFPA\u2019s Naval Engineering department<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The small voadeiras<\/strong> are deeply rooted in Amazonian daily life<\/strong>. They are essential for fishing<\/strong>, commuting<\/strong>, and local trade<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Replacing diesel motors to solve environmental and social risks<\/strong><\/p>\n

In parallel, Ceamazon is engineering electric motors<\/strong> to replace the rabetas<\/strong>, traditional diesel-powered boats with exposed propeller shafts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The shift would reduce river pollution<\/strong>, protecting the primary food sources<\/strong> of many riverine communities.<\/p>\n

It would also reduce serious accident risks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith electric motors, this problem would be reduced to practically zero,<\/strong>\u201d Tostes said, noting Finep<\/strong> is supporting the initiative.<\/p>\n

Medical transport and hybrid systems in development<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tostes and her team are also developing a hybrid medical boat<\/strong> to enable long-distance travel<\/strong>.
The project is supported by the National Service for Industrial Training (Senai).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Due to limited public funding<\/strong>, partnerships with private companies<\/strong> have become crucial to advance these initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many skilled and well-trained people in the Amazon, but what\u2019s missing is investment,<\/strong>\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

COP30 may unlock long-term zero-emission transport<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite challenges, Tostes believes zero-emission transport in the Amazon is possible<\/strong> in the long term.<\/p>\n

She said COP30<\/strong>, which will take place in November, will be \u201cfundamental<\/strong>,\u201d and expressed confidence that international delegations will be open to seeing the reality of the Amazon<\/strong>. EFE<\/p>\n

EFE published this report with the support of Norte Energia.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo, Oct 29 (EFE).\u2014 Solutions exist for sustainable transport in Brazil\u2019s Amazon. What is lacking, researchers say, is funding to support those solutions. The Federal University of Par\u00e1 (UFPA) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198164071,"featured_media":191803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[123782],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon - EFE Comunica<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers in Brazil\u2019s Amazon are developing electric boats to replace diesel-powered vessels, showing that zero-emission river transport is possible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon - EFE Comunica","description":"Researchers in Brazil\u2019s Amazon are developing electric boats to replace diesel-powered vessels, showing that zero-emission river transport is possible.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/"},"author":{"name":"EFE","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38c335f1ce4cd42430576ef5499343b8"},"headline":"From diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon","datePublished":"2025-10-29T18:19:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T18:37:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/"},"wordCount":627,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe312e728e0ffd68afa2c75dae55a8551ce5007e8cw.jpg","articleSection":["Sustainability"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/","name":"From diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon - EFE Comunica","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe312e728e0ffd68afa2c75dae55a8551ce5007e8cw.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-29T18:19:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T18:37:16+00:00","description":"Researchers in Brazil\u2019s Amazon are developing electric boats to replace diesel-powered vessels, showing that zero-emission river transport is possible.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe312e728e0ffd68afa2c75dae55a8551ce5007e8cw.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe312e728e0ffd68afa2c75dae55a8551ce5007e8cw.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Undated handout photo released by Norte Energia showing an electric boat sailing on the Guam\u00e1 River in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil. EFE\/ Helderlana\/ Norte Energ\u00eda \/EDITORIAL USE ONLY\/ NO SALES\/ ONLY AVAILABLE TO ILLUSTRATE THE ACCOMPANYING NEWS STORY (MANDATORY CREDIT)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/from-diesel-to-electric-boats-zero-emission-transport-is-possible-in-the-amazon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"From diesel to electric boats: zero-emission transport is possible in the Amazon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","name":"EFE Comunica","description":"Contenidos para empresas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization","name":"EFE Comunica","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","width":1080,"height":486,"caption":"EFE Comunica"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EFEComunicaAgenciaEFE","https:\/\/x.com\/EFEcomunica","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/showcase\/efecomunica"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38c335f1ce4cd42430576ef5499343b8","name":"EFE","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5fcf26bedbd04dc20896c519164a13fe69c6913f5830d7db51543fa04eb30b4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"EFE"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/efe.com"],"url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/author\/efedesarrollo\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rss-efe312e728e0ffd68afa2c75dae55a8551ce5007e8cw.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcEg1r-NTA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198164071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191802"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191818,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191802\/revisions\/191818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}