Electric boats are coming of age ...

[OldePharte]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I'd buy an electric boat in a heartbeat, if I had the $$$. And yes, it would have to hold a charge at half WOT for at least 8-hours. We boat on a big *** lake.

 

[colobiker]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

love it, love it.. love it..

A few years ago I worked for a company that made electric vehicles, i have dont lots of work on electric vehicle development.

I love that people are looking to boating electric. it seems a good fit to me, lots of surface for PV(photo voltaics)(sp).. I am personally tired of gas over $3.50/gallon..

I am not rich and I am not a greenie.. I just dont like doing things that everyone else is doing.

the technology is coming for EV's (electric vehicles) and once that happens, it will be a slam dunk to make it work in a boat... I will be watching this stuff very closely. the only problem I can see, current batteries (lead acid) are sooo heavy.. but litium ion.. thats the ticket..

I even have a couple of those Briggs and stratton E-Tech motors sitting in my garage right now. (like that one photo with the small electric outboard)

I actually know the PM at Briggs and stratton who developed this motor.. specifically for small outboards. Briggs got out of the market and sold it to a company called mars manufacturing, they currently build and import the motors and controllers from china. those motors are brushless DC motors. (essentially an AC motor with perminate magnets) the will spin at 2000 rmp all day and run on 24 to 48 volts. and are rated at 5hp...


(keep in mind electric motors are rated for continuous output, and IC motors are rated for peak HP) typically so your electric motor rated at 5hp, is 5hp continuous, if it were rated peak it would be 8 to 10 times that amount.. lots of power availble in a small package..

that boat with the twin 9"dc motors.. awsome and the wiring would be so very simple. like I said.. batteries are heavy.. all day cruising.. lots of heavy batteries..

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Water and electric,,,,,what a combination Just how expensive would the repairs be when the bilge gets swamped compared to combustion powered? Then finding the parts to get back on the water,,,Would it be like a Volvo unit or worse?..........SS

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Electric or not those are some very good looking crafts.

 

[lockey32]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I bet fishing is easy with one of those.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Something about large amounts of electircity and large amounts of water scare the carp out of me

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Something about large amounts of electircity and large amounts of water scare the carp out of me

That was kinda my thought... on the other hand, if it used a fuel cell, that might not be as much of an issue for me as it is with the banks of batteries.

 

[bowman316]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

If money were no object then I would take TD's idea of hybrid power, my love of steam, good accommodations, high sustained speeds, environmentally friendly fuel and roll them all together to have a vessel that would impress the neighbors. My Uncle Sam has one, but I am still trying to figure out how he trailers the Sea Wolf!

I don't think you could ever make a hybird boat, because the engine altenator does not put out enough voltage to charge up all those batteries.
Maybe with some sort of high electric output diesel it would work, but idk about outboards.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I don't think you could ever make a hybird boat, because the engine altenator does not put out enough voltage to charge up all those batteries.
Maybe with some sort of high electric output diesel it would work, but idk about outboards.

Already available:

 

[QC]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Yeah, but be very careful how you interpret this. There is no braking force in a marine application, so there is no wasted energy to "recover" that would result in better efficiency . . .

The benefit of the Steyr system is that it can double as a Generator. Soooooo, if you have an application that uses a small 5 kW generator annnnnnd, you can live with 4 kW (5.5 b hp) then maybe this makes sense. But in an application that needs 12 Volts and 35 AMPs along with 250 horsepower for propulsion, this would be simply stupid . . .

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

.... There is no braking force in a marine application, so there is no wasted energy to "recover" that would result in better efficiency . . . . .

Not so fast QC. You could have a paddle wheel that drops into the water every time you decelerate. That would give you near instant braking while it charged up the batts, huh?

 

[QC]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

OK, you test it and get back to us

 

[bowman316]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

but there is virtually no coasting on the water, so the second you drop the paddle wheel into the water, you are going to stop, you would need to be running the engine against the wheel, which would be counter productive

 

[angus63]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I built a hydrogen fuel-cell powered 14 ft boat in my lab with twin high thrust electric outboards. Working on the finishing touches and will be launching in the spring. Trying to get an accurate accounting of all the data to compare costs to inboard diesel, gasoline outboard, etc...
Hope to cruise New York Harbor this summer very quietly.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Definately start a thread in the boat building forum, I'd love to hear how everything goes...

 

[ebry710]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I already have an electric boat most of the time. I use my electric trolling motor for most of the day.

Now if I could get a reasonably priced electric or hybrid motor that would push my whaler 30 mph to get to my fishing spot and be able to move around the bay, I would consider it.

I think it is doable.

 

[chiefalen]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

When you doing that angus let me know i'll back ya up on the water in case something happens.

Now how's it work you running a electric motor with a small gas powered motor?

Thats how i would do it, get 120 mpg that way with alot of power and can go all day don't need 3000 pounds of batteries.

 

[QC]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Now how's it work you running a electric motor with a small gas powered motor?

Thats how i would do it, get 120 mpg that way with alot of power and can go all day don't need 3000 pounds of batteries.

Dude, like wow . . . whachu talkin' 'bout Willis? You're going to use a small generator to power an electric motor and your going to get more power than the small engine driving the generator? I'm pretty sure we went through this with Sargent Major . . . Why don't the car companies do that? They sure as heck wouldn't need no dough from us . . .

 

[angus63]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

Hydrogen generator on shore in the lab. Fill pressure vessels with gaseous hydrogen mounted under the gunnels. Introduce hydrogen to the fuel cell. Electricity generated in the fuel cell charges 3 12VDC 4D series linked batteries to power 36VDC motors. Looking to get 100 nm on two 20 lb bottles of hydrogen at hull speed of 8-10 kts. Not sure about the legal issues for posting pics of this (gov't funded research). If I can, I will. Did a test ride in the boat basin with 1 motor not long ago. Working out some kinks (leaks, melt downs, weight distribution, motor position, etc..). I'll keep ya posted.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Electric boats are coming of age ...

I know what you mean angus. I work in the detention industry and the feds can be pretty touchy about pictures.