Nicolas Lapp, Vice President of Sunreef Yachts

“We build catamarans because they are more environmentally friendly than monohulls”

Since its creation, Sunreef has followed a slightly different path than many of its competitors, one that is above all more environmentally friendly, without sacrificing comfort on board. To learn more, we asked Nicolas Lapp, the brand’s vice president, about the shipyard’s philosophy on environmental protection.

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Published 04/07/2025

By Dominic Salander

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Issue: SP24

Published: sept. / oct. 2025

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Multihulls World: When did Sunreef first become involved in environmental initiatives?
Nicolas Lapp: In fact, environmental concerns have been a priority since Sunreef was founded. We chose to build catamarans because they are more fuel- efficient and therefore more environmentally friendly than monohulls. Then there was the project with Laurent Bourgnon in 2008, where we designed a catamaran with elongated bows to be more efficient and improve fuel consumption.
In the same vein, in 2013, we built a carbon fiber boat for a customer who wanted a light and fast catamaran. This reduced fuel consumption, and carbon fiber is also a recyclable material. Finally, on this boat, we also installed a separate electric circuit for air conditioning, which marked the beginning of the use of a battery bank for the shipyard. Following this project, we started using more and more lithium batteries for on-board appliances.
We reached a point where the only thing missing was electric propulsion, so in 2017 we launched our first models equipped with electric motors, a 50-foot sailboat and the 60 E, an electric powercat.
It was also at this time that we started using solar panels, then decided to switch our batteries to 620 volts and very quickly the generators, motors, and all the electrical equipment on board to the same voltage.
Finally, in 2022, we launched the first models in the Eco series, with solar panels integrated into the hull of the boat. However, the process doesn’t stop there. We design each catamaran as a whole and always try to find the most efficient system, the one that consumes the least energy. This includes appliances, but also gas air conditioning and water heaters that are five to six times more energy efficient than traditional models.

MW: Was this easy to do with the technology available at the time?

NL: Yes and no. In fact, we quickly realized that what was available on the nautical equipment market wasn’t suited to what we wanted to do. So we started from scratch and designed our own electrical power system for our catamarans. To do this, we found components that we could adapt, but sometimes we had to invent new elements, such as the solar panels integrated into the hull. This is a Sunreef patent and we are now in the fourth generation, as we are constantly improving our products.

We recently broke a record by installing 1 megawatt of electrical power on a Sunreef 80.
Similarly, when a system works, we roll it out across the range. Today, non-Eco models incorporate many features that were first used on Eco versions, starting with the batteries and electrical circuits, which are now 48 volts on all our models.

MW: Is this environmental concern limited to the electrical circuit and the propulsion system?
NL: Not at all. As I said before, we think about the boat as a whole. This means that we try to use more environmentally friendly products at every stage of the manufacturing process. For example, we use bio-sourced resins, ...

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