Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

[Mason78]

Just wondering what everyone thinks about this new electric outboard?

180 HP Electric Outboard - YouTube

http://regennautic.com/products/e200-outboard/

 

[JB]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Note the prices, $53,000. Can buy a lot of gas for that.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Hmmmm..... interesting.

I did a little research on that, with batteries the net weight is only about 150 pounds more than a 175 HP outboard plus fuel. Imagine taking that to an electric-only lake!!!

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Cool. Out of my price range, but its got o start somewhere.

 

[SumDumGuy]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Should be good for a 15 minute ride and a 6 hour charge. :lol:

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Should be good for a 15 minute ride and a 6 hour charge. :lol:

Actually according to some articles I found about it they've been running it for close to 2 hours at an average of 45 mph, and with an optional quick charger the batteries can be fully charged in about 20 minutes. Here's a link to an article in Boating World:

Boating World Magazine | The Leader in Recreational Trailerboating

 

[SumDumGuy]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Interesting article... of course you know the comment was a jab.

I wonder if they could ever get a small boat size that would perform well, too. 600 lbs of battery is a bit much for me. Well, that and the cost of the entire thing.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Actually according to some articles I found about it they've been running it for close to 2 hours at an average of 45 mph, and with an optional quick charger the batteries can be fully charged in about 20 minutes. Here's a link to an article in Boating World:

Boating World Magazine | The Leader in Recreational Trailerboating

High speed electric chargers and water - shocking!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

High speed electric chargers and water - shocking!

No more dangerous than carrying around a highly explosive fuel!

 

[Natesms]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Have to start somewhere, not very practical right now but in another 10 years might be something there.

However, the music in that video is awesome. If it came with Doc or a hoverboard I'm in.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

It's not really THAT new... In fact this is the 3rd thread that I've seen here at iboats showing that same boat.... last one was IIRC late last year

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Should be good for a 15 minute ride and a 6 hour charge. :lol:

180 HP is the same as 134 KW.
The largest Battery Bank offered at $69,000 is 46.1 KWh.
46.1KWh / 134KW = 0.34 hours = 21 minutes.
At 1/3 power (60HP) you can theoretically last an hour at most.

Their 5KW charger is going to be drawing the 21 amps from a 240 volt circuit.
Assuming 70% charging efficiency, it will take ~13 hours to recharge. (46.1KWh / 5KW / 0.70 = 13.2h)
5KW for 13 hours is 65 KWh. At $.10 a KWh for electricity it only costs $6.50 to refill the batteries. That's the Good News!

Compared to the 4 gallons of gas ($14) to do the same trip with a gas engine, you would save $7.50 per recharge.
After just 9,200 charges it would pay for itself.

The 5KW generator you took with you to the camp site would still take ~13 hours and about 25 gallons of gas to recharge it. Ouch!

Their Marketing Department is playing real loose with the numbers!

When Di-Lithium Crystal power becomes available it may be practical. :joyous:

 

[Mason78]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

They are clearly not there yet, but I do think that within 10-20 years a significant portion of the auto market will be electric vehicles. Its not a far reach to think that electric boats will be a viable option.

Technology usually gets better, less expensive, and smaller over time, just look at cell phones.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

They are clearly not there yet, but I do think that within 10-20 years a significant portion of the auto market will be electric vehicles.

That's what they said 10-20 years ago

There have been electric boats for many decades... Most are are small light and can run all day at 2 mph on one battery

Electric bots are no problem and I have seen all sorts of em including a 30' catamaran that got 7 mpg with twin engines powered by a generator when there wasn't enough sun to run it on the solar cells or when the captain wanted to run faster than the solar speed and push it to it's blazing top speed of 7 mph.

Electric speed boats... practical ones...... eh, not in this lifetime or the next

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Unfortunately the physics simply are against the electric outboard. Gasoline (or other fossil fuel) has a much greater energy density than batteries. It is also much cheaper per BTU. This makes the elec OB or other large marine motors impractical, for all but niche uses, say elec dingys to get to the diesel-powered yacht.

If the laws of physics change (and that has happened before), maybe it becomes practical. My bet is on Natural gas power. It is cheap and clean, but a bit dangerous....for now

 

[Mason78]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

That's what they said 10-20 years ago

10-20 years ago they didn't have govt CAFE standards breathing down their neck. Automakers have to get their entire lineup over 54 MPG average by 2015. One strategy for doing that is to offer electrics to bring up the average. Ford, Chevy, and Nissan all have electrics.

There is even an electric ATV.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

It would be fun to see the power delivery on one. I'm not a big fan of electric, but when you get such instant and efficient power delivery (like on the electric cars) it's pretty neat.

... man, if they'd come up with an electric shift then we could REALLY go places :laugh:

 

[dingbat]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

Compared to the 4 gallons of gas ($14) to do the same trip with a gas engine, you would save $7.50 per recharge. After just 9,200 charges it would pay for itself.

I was thinking the same thing. Our local rate would make a savings of $5.00 per recharge. That would put us up to 13,800 charges to break even. That's one recharge per day for the next 37 years.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

10-20 years ago they didn't have govt CAFE standards breathing down their neck. Automakers have to get their entire lineup over 54 MPG average by 2015. One strategy for doing that is to offer electrics to bring up the average. Ford, Chevy, and Nissan all have electrics.

There is even an electric ATV.

And we already know this 2015 deadline will come and go, auto companies will just pay the fine and keep making what Americans want, and it isn't electric cars. Electric cars seem to be nothing more than a fad, kind of like the Wankel, they will not be main stream transportation ever in the US, especially when we sit on the worlds largest oil deposits. The electric car market will always be there, but it will never be the "main" type of transportation. You will see propane before you will see electric, again because of the domestic abundance of fuels we have.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Electric Outboard? Thoughts?

They are clearly not there yet, but I do think that within 10-20 years a significant portion of the auto market will be electric vehicles. Its not a far reach to think that electric boats will be a viable option.

Technology usually gets better, less expensive, and smaller over time, just look at cell phones.

I just don't think it will ever (in my lifetime) be a viable powerplant for a boat. The high-load environment that a boat operates in causes an electric motor to drain batteries extremely quickly, and without much of a weight savings over the dino-powered engines. I would imagine that for short runs (water sports tow boats at competitions), they would work extremely well when only needing to run for 3-5 minutes at a time to pull a skier/wakeboarder through a course. The immediate torque/acceleration is a definite advantage there. However, when I couldn't do more than an hour or two of cruising at 60% power, it would be worthless.

I do think the auto market has a better place for the tech, where a car can get around on much less power. When the electric cars are able to run 200 miles on a charge (yes, a few can . . . Tesla), then you will see many people buy one as a DD and keep the gasoline-powered vehicles for longer trips where electric recharging is inconvenient.