Mike Hammond: ‘We need to get ready now’ for electric boat rescues

When Mike Hammond walked into a boat show, he expected to see a few small electric dinghies quietly buzzing around. Instead, he found an eight-metre foiling electric boat, carrying a dozen people at 25 knots. 

“That was the moment I realised,” he says, “we need to start preparing much sooner than expected.” 

Hammond, Superintendent of Marine Rescue New South Wales, has just returned from a Churchill Fellowship that took him through Europe, Japan and the United States, meeting manufacturers, regulators and rescue agencies. His report, Navigating Our Future: How marine rescue services in Australia must adapt to new boating technology, warns that search and rescue (SAR) services risk being caught flat-footed as electric and hybrid craft move rapidly from prototypes into the mainstream. 

Over a year of research, including six weeks on the road at major boat shows, he saw impressive engineering advances and a strong public appetite for low-emission boating, but limited readiness in the global SAR community to deal with the very different hazards these vessels present. 

Training and data come first 

Lithium-battery fires don’t behave like petrol blazes. “It’s about buying time,” Mike explains. “You cool the cells to stop the spread and evacuate people. You can’t fight it the same way as a traditional fire.” 

That means training must change, fast. He also points to gaps in public education, particularly for DIY conversions where safety depends on every cable, connector and switch being part of a properly engineered system. 

Equally urgent is better data. Most agencies don’t record propulsion type or battery chemistry in their case files, masking early warning signs. “If a house battery overheats on a petrol boat, it won’t show up as an ‘electric boat’ incident,” Mike says. “We miss the signal completely.” 

New tech, old systems 

Standards are emerging but patchy. Mike wants regulators to adopt international frameworks quickly and manufacturers to harmonise hazard signals. “Right now, each brand uses its own lights, sounds or apps. SAR crews and harbour masters can’t be expected to learn them all. We need a common external signal for when a high-voltage system is in distress.” 

Then there’s what happens after an incident. Towing a damaged electric boat back into a busy marina is risky: delayed ignition is a real possibility. Mike suggests dedicated emergency moorings away from the public, but that raises environmental concerns if batteries rupture at sea. In some cases, scuttling might even be the least-bad option, though only with clear guidance from environmental regulators. 

Internationally, he notes, countries like Sweden and the Netherlands are already moving their own rescue fleets to low-emission craft. “Public donations follow sustainability,” he says. “SAR services want to be part of that story, but procedures have to keep pace.” 

Building a global response 

The evidence base is still thin. Few countries can even say how many rescues involve large batteries, let alone compare lessons. “If one country sees a case today, another may wait years before facing the same problem. That’s wasted preparation time,” Mike warns. 

He believes the IMRF could play a pivotal role, setting shared reporting standards and creating a safe space for open, non-blaming information exchange. “I might have started the conversation, but it needs engineers, firefighters, naval architects and more. The IMRF is ideally placed to bring them together.” 

Back in Australia, Marine Rescue NSW will begin training more than 1,000 South Coast volunteers to spot lithium-battery issues, approach safely, and prioritise evacuation over firefighting. Mike is also pushing regulators to move quickly on standards and manufacturers to agree on clear, uniform warning systems. 

“I don’t want to discourage innovation,” he says. “The factory-built electric boats I saw on my trip are beautiful pieces of engineering, and many are designed with safety front-of-mind. But responders and the public need clear guidance now, so when someone calls saying, ‘there’s a strange smell, the lights are blinking, what do I do?’, we can give them confident, science-based answers.” 

For those who wish to learn more about the report, please note that Mike will present his research at the Global Maritime SAR Forum (GMSF) in early 2026. Keep an eye out for the date by visiting Global Maritime SAR Forum | International Maritime Rescue Federation or by reading about it in our Weekly newsletter, which you can join by signing up here.  

The IMRF also launched a groundbreaking international project, led by the University of Queensland (UQ) and funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which addresses the growing challenges posed by lithium-ion battery fires aboard ships. For more information on this, please click the link: Addressing the challenges of lithium-ion battery fires on board ships: A collaborative approach | International Maritime Rescue Federation  

Call to action  

The IMRF’s #SaferSAR initiative aims to make the seas safer by sharing lessons learned from incidents and accidents. That call now extends to electric, hybrid and hydrogen vessels: organisations are invited to submit their experience, near-miss reports and procedures via the #SaferSAR portal. Every contribution will help build global guidance to protect both rescuers and the public as boating enters a new era.