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Among the many new features of the 37th America's Cup, one concerns the support vessels that follow the AC75s within the boundary which, for this edition, are the hydrogen-powered HSV foiling catamarans (Hydrogen Support Vessel).
Faced with the choice of buying a turnkey vessel from Emirates Team New Zealand or designing and building its own in-house, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team opted for the second possibility in order to maintain control of the entire process and acquire, at the same time, new skills and knowledge in a key sector for the future of on-water mobility.
© lunarossachallenge.com
Conceived by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's design team, in collaboration with French naval architecture firm VPLP, this catamaran features the now well-renowned style that has always characterized the Italian challenger's boats. Built at Persico Marine with the same state-of-the-art technology and metallic livery as the AC75, the HSV carbon catamaran also benefits from the expertise of the HPE Group (Electrified powertrain) and Genevos (fuel cells) and reflects the following parameters imposed by the regulations:
© lunarossachallenge.com
«The HSV was an important and complex challenge for the team» said Umberto De Luca, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's special projects manager. «Hydrogen propulsion for civil use, in fact, is a field that is still being explored and the know-how to draw on is very limited. This is why we are proud to have built and developed an incredible boat, advanced in every respect and, above all, equipped with such an innovative motorization. The hydrogen catamaran required a lot of commitment from the entire team and will be an important benchmark for future projects».