Electric Outboards what are the possiblitiies.

**wish2fish** · 10-30-2012, 07:22 PM

Saw this online. What do you think the potential for electric motors in boating truly are? I would be concerned about how much you could use the boat and how far could you go?

http://www.boatingindustry.ca/index....ews&Itemid=473

**1956olds** · 10-30-2012, 07:37 PM

Looks like it rides on plane nice,those batteries have to be heavy though.I wonder if you can charge them while underway with a honda generator?

**rcon** · 10-31-2012, 01:02 AM

I've been trying to think of a way to make KERS work w/ boat..... be a nice earner if you could :)

**nowakezone** · 10-31-2012, 05:27 AM

Interesting stuff. I followed the link to ReGen which builds out of SE Florida. They did a refit of a 45 Grand Banks with exceptional results. Bering Trawler Yachts is using these power options, too. An article said the current cost...pun intended...of refitting the Grand Banks would be about $80K, but costs are expected to come down markedly over time. That 180 HP outboard, regardless of battery weight, pushes the day boat pretty well. It won't be long until the HP is higher and more applications are available.

Several years from now we hope to move up to a Sea Ray 550 Sedan Bridge, used of course unless I win the lottery which I don't play. A system like this would be perfect for a then 60 year old man and his wife who love being on the water full time.

**moparlvr4406** · 10-31-2012, 06:59 AM

looks to me like the weight reduction in the motor would be greatly offset by the weight of the batteries to run it
IMO this would be like the electric cars ...for someone who wants to putt or short trip it might be ok except the initial
cost but for the "traveling guy" ...totally impractical and difficult to get serviced.

**nowakezone** · 10-31-2012, 01:27 PM

The smaller boat pictured above doesn't look like it's putting around nor does the yacht in this picture look like it's putting around....

marinedemo.jpg

The serviceability of these systems is a good question although the claim is far more reliability than diesel propulsion alone. Looking at the BAE system which is pictured above, the total weight per system looks to be 1500-2000 pounds which includes the deisel engine, the generator and the storage system. The storage system is 800, the generator is 200.

Coincidently I've been researching using solar energy to power the AC/DC systems aboard versus the gasoline generator. Hybrid propulsion and solar energy collection and storage go hand-in-hand. The hybrid systems all have options to power the on-board systems as well, thus making charging the system by means of generator or solar possible. A very interesting option for sailors is what Re Gen calls regenerative charging...ie., when under sail the same propulsion system can be used to charge the energy storage system by allowing the propshaft to spin freely. Yes I know that means drag...but they're sailing, slow is a lifestyle for them.

The first 340 I looked at was named Adagio... slow tempo...any bigger boat I've been on...like the 45's and 55's....I'm in no hurry to get anywhere because life on the water is good. I think the ideas above will boil down to initial cost of a system versus cost of using traditional fossil fuel systems. In the Trawler example I posted above the system to refit the trawler was 80K. At $5 gas that's 16,000 gallons. At 1mpg...a good number for a slow-cruising larger boat....that's 16000 miles. Running at cruise speeds cuts that number nearly in half. One's cruising habits then dictate whether it's a good deal or not. The aforementioned precludes any and all concerns for being green, or less dependent on fossil fuel. To the extent those two factors provide value is subjective.