电动船是电动载具的一种，是由蓄电池或船用发电机等产生电力推进的船只。太阳能电动船借由船上的太阳能电池直接将太阳光转变成电力以取代燃油产生动力，减低对环境的冲击，并减少消耗能源。

尽管大多数船舶使用柴油引擎，但电力驱动的船只已有120年历史。1880年代开始，电动船曾流行一时，直到1920年代，内燃机引擎取而代之。而自1970年代能源危机以来，尤其是太阳能电池出现后，人们对安静并可能是可更新的水上动力再次兴趣日增。第一艘实际的太阳能快艇可能是1975年英国建造的。全球第一艘全太阳能远洋船是瑞士制造的MS TÛRANOR PlanetSolar；而亚洲第一批太阳能船队于2010年2月成立于台湾高雄市爱河观光航线。

While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power and gasoline engines also remaining popular, boats powered by electricity have been used for over 120 years. Electric boats were very popular from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the internal combustion engine took dominance. Since the energy crises of the 1970s, interest in this quiet and potentially renewable marine energy source has been increasing steadily again, especially as solar cells became available, for the first time making possible motorboats with an infinite range like sailboats. The first practical solar boat was probably constructed in 1975 in England.