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VoltSafe Blog Team – February 9, 2024
The VoltSafe team took a deep dive into the AMI (Association of Marinas and Industries) Conference & Expo last week with a goal of learning more about operational efficiency and safety from the eyes of marina operators and industry experts.
The conference serves as a premier platform for influential figures, stakeholders, and visionaries to come together, collaborate, and drive changes in both safety and innovation. In addition to being an exhibitor on the trade show floor, our team members were able to learn a lot from the informative and engaging topics covered at the lectures surrounding AI integrations, changing standards, EV-boating and more. VoltSafe CEO, Trevor Burgess, attended numerous lectures at the conference, participating with key questions and sparking engaging conversations around marina maintenance, checklists and best practices.
At VoltSafe, we believe that marinas should be equipped for sustainability, safety and efficiency. There was a lot to take away from the breakout session on Day 1 at the conference which centered around the future of electric vehicles and boats in marinas. The transition from replacing traditional internal combustion engine vessels with electric vessels presents a range of issues including charging infrastructure to shore power fire hazards and water safety. This is especially important when infrastructure changes introduce 100A pedestals (the J3400 standard for North America moving forward). That’s a whole lot of electricity on a dock.
One of the key speakers of interest to the VoltSafe team was Gary Loftis who’s lecture covered peak demand challenges and rates. Loftis, a registered professional electrical engineer with over 30 years of experience in the electrical field, specializes in marina and waterfront electrical design throughout the US. He is a principal member of Code Making Panel 07 of the National Electric Code which regulates electrical standards for marinas and floating structures. He takes an interest in economical designs that are also electrically safe. His work and vision falls in line with the goals of VoltSafe when it comes to our marine solution for shore power and EV charging.
Several marinas approached Trevor and our team during the conference, interested in learning more about our award winning shore powered solution. Amongst them were Marine Max, Intrepid Marina, F3 Marinas,Safe Harbor, Suntex and Oasis. Electrified Marina connected with Trevor after the EV Boat lecture, expressing their excitement over what they are doing and how that could potentially mesh with VoltSafe’s business.
The companies and industry influencers that our team spoke to at the show shared positive feedback. Many expressed how impressed they were in terms of our company’s quick pivot and major improvement from the initial boat side versions of VoltSafe Marine shared at last year’s show to the new dockside version currently being piloted at select marinas. They were very excited with the update from initial iterations to the current one and eager to learn more about all of our pilot projects in the works. Some of the marinas expressed a keen interest in installing a 50A version of VoltSafe Marine on their docks, something our team is working towards as well. Gathering this feedback and witnessing such excitement from the marina industry as a result of all of the hard work this past year is very validating. We are listening to the key pain points of the industry and actively incorporating it into our marine shore power ecosystem.
Throughout the show, many marina owners and operators showed a keen interest in VoltSafe Marine’s automated billing solution. For large marinas, it can take upwards of 60 days to complete a billing cycle, however, our automated billing feature can cut this time down dramatically. As well, some marinas are moving towards charging boaters for power usage by slip instead of flat rates. The aim is to produce fair billing as each boat owner will be charged for their individual usage. Slip-by-slip control and power usage detail is also something VoltSafe Marine can handle with ease.
The ease of connection/disconnection also makes VoltSafe Marine attractive to both marina operators and boaters alike. In addition to convenience, a major safety feature that piqued interest was the intrusive control VoltSafe Marine offers. What this means is, if a power pedestal gets too hot, it will not just issue a warning, it will also automatically shut off. Many of the marina managers at the show fell in love with this unprecedented level of safety. The reduction of shore power fire hazards as well as contributing to lowering ESD (Electrical Shock Drowning) incidents is a major focus area of the industry for obvious reasons.
The many conversations that took place at the conference throughout the week have already evolved into post show meetings. Our team remains committed to driving positive change and shaping the future of marine safety and operations. If you missed this year’s AMI Conference & Expo and would like to learn more about VoltSafe Marine, contact us at marine@voltsafe.com.
About VoltSafe Inc.
VoltSafe Inc. is changing the way people connect to power. Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, the Canadian tech startup has reinvented the electrical plug by eliminating prongs, adding magnets and an “electrical fingerprint”. Using patented technology, VoltSafe has created the world’s safest, simplest, and smartest plug design since electricity came into homes more than 140 years ago. The company’s product pipeline includes magnetic plug replacement solutions for household, commercial, industrial, marine, electric and autonomous vehicles, emergency services, data centres and more.