Dhamma Blue DHB-P01 Review: Hydrogen-Electric Hybrid Dayboat with 65 nm Range at 12 Knots
Spanish yard Dhamma Blue has built a 7.9 m hydrogen-electric hybrid dayboat that combines a 63 kWh lithium battery with an 8.4 kg hydrogen tank to deliver 65 nm at 12 knots and a 28-knot top speed — all with zero exhaust emissions.
Dhamma Blue DHB-P01 Review: Hydrogen-Electric Hybrid Dayboat with 65 nm Range at 12 Knots
Spanish yard Dhamma Blue has launched the DHB-P01, a 7.9 m dayboat that pairs a 63 kWh lithium-ion battery with a hydrogen fuel cell system to push cruising range well beyond what a battery-only boat of this size could manage. The headline number: 65 nm at 12 knots, with a 28-knot top end and capacity for seven passengers.
That range figure comes straight from the manufacturer, and there’s no independent test data yet to validate it — so treat it accordingly. But the architecture behind it is coherent, and the team building it has credible credentials.
What It Is and Who Built It
The DHB-P01 is a planing dayboat — Category C, rated for coastal cruising and inland waters. It displaces 2,100 kg (4,630 lb) and has a 2.55 m beam. The founding team is worth noting: Robin Imaz is a naval architect, marine engineer, and 15-year professional sailor with multiple world championship wins, and he leads the design side. Philippe Esposito co-founded one of Spain’s largest green hydrogen developers, H2 Energy, which builds solar farms that produce hydrogen via electrolysis. That’s not a marketing backstory — it directly shapes the company’s approach to fuel supply.
The Propulsion Architecture
Four components make up the system:
- Hydrogen tank: 350 litres / 8.4 kg at 350 bar (5,000 psi)
- Fuel cell: converts hydrogen to electricity
- Battery: 63 kWh lithium-ion
- Motor: 140 kW continuous / 210 kW peak (188 hp / 285 hp), shaft-drive
The key design decision is a parallel configuration: the fuel cell and battery both connect directly to the motor, managed by an ECU that adjusts the input ratio based on speed and load demand. At lower speeds and during long-range cruising, the fuel cells carry the bulk of the load. For acceleration, water sports pulls, and top-speed runs, the battery steps in to deliver peak power.
This differs from the series layout used in some other hydrogen-electric vessels — including America’s Cup chase boats — where the fuel cell feeds the battery, which then feeds the motor exclusively. Parallel topology gives the DHB-P01 more flexibility but adds complexity to the ECU logic. Whether that ECU delivers optimal efficiency across the full power band isn’t something that can be assessed from spec sheets alone.
Key Numbers
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| LOA | 7.9 m (25′ 11″) |
| Beam | 2.55 m (8′ 4″) |
| Displacement | 2,100 kg (4,630 lb) |
| Motor (continuous / peak) | 140 kW / 210 kW |
| Hydrogen storage | 8.4 kg at 350 bar |
| Battery | 63 kWh lithium-ion |
| Top speed | 28 knots |
| Cruising range | 65 nm at 12 knots |
| Capacity | 7 passengers |
| Category | C (coastal / inland) |
At 12 knots cruise, 65 nm gives you roughly 5.5 hours of running time — useful for a full day on the water without any refueling stop. The 28-knot top end is genuine performance territory for a boat this size and weight, and it opens up water skiing and wakeboarding use cases that purely range-focused electric dayboats often can’t support convincingly.
Layout and Interior
Naval architect Carlos Orive, part of Imaz’s team, describes how the weight distribution challenge of the hybrid system — motor aft, battery and fuel cells mid-ship, hydrogen tanks arranged for trim — drove some of the interior decisions. The most visible result is a split sunbed arrangement at the stern rather than a single full-beam unit: one section slightly wider than the other, with the propulsion components housed beneath. The layout keeps the swimming platform accessible and avoids the step-over ergonomics common on boats with a single wide sun platform.
Up front: pilot and co-pilot seats, two rear-facing passenger seats, and the split sunbeds leading to the swim platform. Seven-passenger capacity in a 7.9 m hull is tight but workable for day use.
Hydrogen Infrastructure: The Honest Caveat
The biggest friction point with any hydrogen vessel right now isn’t the boat — it’s refueling. Dhamma Blue states there are approximately 200 hydrogen filling stations across Europe, and the company is in talks with marinas to supply green hydrogen dockside. Tank-delivery programs also exist. None of that is seamless compared to plugging into shore power, and 200 stations spread across a continent means coverage is patchy outside major hubs.
The boat does accept standard electric charging as well, so you can run it as a pure battery-electric vessel when hydrogen isn’t available — you just lose the range extension that makes the system worthwhile. Dhamma Blue’s green hydrogen supply chain, built around solar-powered electrolysis via H2 Energy, is a genuine differentiator if it matures into marina-side availability, but that’s a future state, not a present one.
For buyers in urban waterway cities — Venice, Amsterdam, Seville — where emission restrictions are tightening and hydrogen infrastructure can be shared with ground transport, the case is more immediate. Dhamma Blue specifically targets those markets, and the Category C rating fits.
Verdict
The DHB-P01 is a coherent piece of engineering, not a concept study. The parallel fuel cell and battery topology, the 63 kWh pack, the 140 kW shaft-drive motor, and the 8.4 kg hydrogen storage all add up to a system that can plausibly deliver the claimed 65 nm at cruise and 28-knot sprint performance from the same platform. The team behind it has both the marine design experience and the green hydrogen supply chain expertise to back the concept.
The caveat is infrastructure. Until dockside green hydrogen is available at more than a handful of European marinas, this boat works best for operators who can secure a reliable local supply — or who live within range of an existing filling station. If you’re in that position, the DHB-P01 offers a range and flexibility envelope that no battery-only dayboat of this size currently matches.