Life cycle assessment comparing electric and petrol-powered rigid inflatable boats for recreational and harbour-master applications

This study presents the first cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA), focusing exclusively on environmental impacts, comparing electric and petrol-powered rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) under low-usage recreational and high-usage harbour-master scenarios. The study follows ISO-compliant LCA methodology and emphasizes transparency in data and assumptions. Ten environmental impact categories were analysed, including global warming potential (GWP), particulate matter formation, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity, and resource scarcity. Results show that switching to electric RIBs reduces GWP by 34 % for recreational and 52 % for harbour-master scenarios, despite higher production-phase impacts across all categories. The electric RIB delivers notable operational benefits in GWP and fossil resource use, while the petrol RIB shows lower operational impacts in other categories. Thus, the key advantage of electrification lies in reducing fossil fuel reliance and GWP. Sensitivity analysis reflecting the UK's evolving electricity grid mix from 2014 to 2023 further revealed GWP reductions of 22 % and 25 % for electric RIBs in recreational and harbour-master scenarios. These findings highlight the growing benefits of electrification as the UK decarbonises its grid. A break-even analysis showed that electric RIBs become environmentally preferable after 900 kWh of annual energy use, equivalent to 45 h at cruising speed, emphasizing their sustainability advantage in high-utilization settings.