Solar boats set sail in Vietnam

18 Jun 2015  2108 | World Travel News

DONG THAP  Solar-powered boats made by four Vietnamese farmers could soon be ferrying tourists along national park waterways.
Tuoi Tre News quoted Dong Thap province deputy chairwoman, Tran Thi Thai, who said six solar-powered boats almost silent and pollution-free, would be purchased this September.
“The purchases should be done urgently as the province needs the boats to showcase at a tourism festival scheduled for September,” she said.
Tram Chim National Park in Tam Nong district, Dong Thap province was tasked with contacting the four farmers who built a prototype boat.
inside no 1“The money to buy the boats will be taken from a budget to develop Dong Thap tourism for the 2015 to 2020 period.”
Four farmers in Tam Nong district, who were called ‘crazy men’ in local media, made headlines, last week, after they demonstrated a solar-powered boat that was supposed to achieve a cruising speed of 20 kmph and have enough power operate throughout a typical sunny day.
The men, Huynh Thien Liem, Nguyen Van Dung, Huynh Van Trang and Thai Van Hoang, said the idea to start making the boat came from the need to save money on fuel costs.
Their successful test run of the boat was completed at Tram Chim National Park, 31 May.
The boat has two large solar panels that charge two batteries that supply power to an electrical motor that drives the boat.
The farmers are proud of the fact that their boat can operate without making any noise or pollution. They also claim it can cruise at 20 kmph, but that still needs to be verified independently.
Using quiet transport was considered very important in the national park so tours could approach noise sensitive wildlife.
“Besides the solar-powered boats, we will use electric cars and other environmentally friendly means of transportation to serve tourists during the tourism festival,” said Le Hoang Long, the director of a tourism centre at Tram Chim.
Dong Thap is a province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam that enjoys a tropical climate long hot sunny days and even enjoys enough sunshine filtering through the monsoon rains to charge a battery.
It is 165 km from Ho Chi Minh City and is bordered by Pray Veng province (Cambodia) in the north; Vinh Long and Can Tho in the south; An Giang in the west; and Long An and Tien Giang in the east.

sourced:ttrweekly.com 

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