But the old boats were the only ones that worked!

I’m sure there’s an obvious way to make a hybrid boat work like a hybrid car, but it’s not jumping out at me. Cars can capture energy from braking, but boats have to accelerate in the other direction to stop, and generally aren’t in stop-and-go traffic all that much.

Maybe we put sails on the boats and only run the engines when the wind isn’t going the right way?