Catherine Lye, CEO of Advanced Manufacturing Aotearoa (AMA) on a recent business trip to Northland, suggested a focus on the movers and shakers and innovators up there. Fiona Bycroft of Naut gets the ball rolling…

Fiona Bycroft, CEO, Naut (left)

 What does Naut specialise in?

Naut enables customers to head out on the ocean or lakes, have an amazing day doing everything they usually would, and sometimes more, and return home leaving nothing but wake!  We do this by providing electric propulsion systems that fit into the boat of the users choice with the final drive of the users choice, be that stern drive, jet unit, or the Naut outboard.

A key difference between a Naut system and a conventional system is the reduction of noise, fumes and pollution and higher reliability.

A key difference between the Naut system and other electric systems is the power – the Naut system is 350hp+ and can easily get a boat planing.

How is Naut finding current business conditions?

Naut has technology that is ready to go to market.  Like any new tech, it needs those early adopters to come on board to demonstrate the technology in different sectors and use cases.   Naut is excited about where the conversations are going with these early adopters, so watch this space (or maybe I should say watch the waterways near you)

Are there export opportunities for your products?

Absolutely! We are keen to see more systems sold to NZ based individuals or companies first, and then Australia and USA are natural next markets.  However we have already received interest from a number of other countries, and are always open to talking to either boat builders or boat users from around the globe.

How easy is it to find the right staff members?

Because we are doing exciting work, it is easy to attract highly capable people.  As we are a small team with a physical product that we manufacture, we are expecting people to spend quite a bit of the week working out of our Whangarei based office.

While Whangarei is an amazing place to live, work and raise a family, people outside of the region aren’t necessarily aware of this.  So we are finding that people with school aged children are a little more resistant to relocating, and therefore we can’t always bring on the people that do apply.

Saying this, we have also had at least one amazing person that is either local or happy to travel or relocate, for all roles we have advertised to date!

In the marine industry are you seeing growth?

We consider two users in the boating market:  the recreational boater and the commercial operation.  For the recreational market, we are hearing there has been a large downturn in orders which has impacted many players in the boat building or retail market.

There are still some sales in the higher price market, which in the boating world is $500k and upwards.   The recreational market is by far the biggest sector (compared to commercial) and so it is this segment that has really affected the decline in boat sales.

Within the marine industry, electric boating is a new market, and this absolutely is seeing growth.  New Zealand as a keen boating country, has many innovations to offer in the electric boating sector and there is success to be seen across all companies in this sector.

As it is relatively new technology, users tend to underestimate  what is actually possible right now, let alone what will be possible as the technology continues to improve.  We have found that a ride on our demonstration boat converts even the most pessimistic resistor to electric boats.

What are the technologies Naut uses for product excellence?

The key aspect that drives the performance of the system is the battery packs. The battery packs are what provide the power and energy to the system and are the largest aspect of the system both in terms of weight and size.   We have selected battery packs that have passed incredibly high safety tests and come with an international marine certification.

With electric propulsion, are there other industries you would work with?

Absolutely yes.  There are the industries that we want to sell in to – tourism and aquaculture industries are perfect for electric boating.  We are also keen to work with adjacent tech in the industry.  Because electric propulsion means having electrical energy stored on boat, this can be used for a range of purposes other than propulsion.