Elettra UniGe

Introduction: Who We Are

Elettra UniGe is the sustainable nautical team of the University of Genoa, composed of 50 passionate students from various engineering and design disciplines. We design, build, and race high-performance electric boat prototypes in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge (MEBC), the world’s most prestigious event for green yachting.

Our team has a proven track record of excellence:

• 2025: 2nd place in the Energy Class and 1st place in the Eco Conception prize at MEBC.
• 2024: 1st place overall at the Sardinia Innovative Boat Week.
• 2023: 1st place in Eco Conception and 1st among Italian universities at MEBC.

Technical Challenge: The 2026 Hydrogen Transition

For the 2026 season, our team is tackling an unprecedented engineering challenge: integrating a Hydrogen Fuel Cell system into our prototype. This paradigm shift required a total redesign of our custom battery pack, which must now deliver the same power output but with half the energy capacity compared to previous years.

To overcome the limitations of our previous versions (which relied on heavy, mechanical copper busbars), we have developed a dedicated Interconnection and Sensing PCB. This solution does not only optimize the electrical layout between the cells but also directly integrates the BMS (Battery Management System) monitoring traces into the board.

Our primary goals are:

• Maximize power density and packaging efficiency.
• Minimize overall weight of the energy storage system by transitioning to this PCB-based architecture.
• Significantly increase performance and efficiency of our vessel on the water.

Why Partner with Elettra UniGe?

Sponsoring Elettra UniGe will allow us to bridge the gap between complex theoretical design and the high-performance reality of our hydrogen-electric transition. With PCBWay as our technical partner, we can accelerate the prototyping and testing of our battery systems, enabling our team to solve the critical engineering challenges of the 2026 season.

In exchange, we offer PCBWay exceptional international visibility. The 2025 Monaco event achieved:

• +5 Million content impressions and +400,000 YouTube views.
• +2,000 press coverage articles in leading magazines like Barche and SuperYacht.
• Exposure to over 20 nationalities and 29 universities worldwide.

Your support will be instrumental in building a more efficient, hydrogen-powered future while inspiring the next generation of engineers.