Electric Outboards - how long has yours lasted

[Refueler]

I have to admit that I bought the dinghy / motor combo for use in the Stockholm Archipelago ... mainly sheltered waters ... if I had to anchor and needed to get ashore. I am sure it could never be used in tidal or where weather .... it really is just an Egg-beater !!
If it proves really useless - then I will look at upgrade - as long as it fits the dinghy mounts.

interesting to read others posts about distance etc.

 

[Supertramp]

Torqeedo 1003. 13 years old, bought used. Two batteries, the original is about 50% of new but thats ok. Originally used on a trailer sailer, now on a tender - it works harder pushing an inflatable! Several shear pins replaced, plus one propellor as the shear pin mashed the plastic - probably the wrong shear pin. New plastic cap for the underwater engine housing as the threads stripped. Very occassional electrical hiccups requiring disconnect and reconnect to restore.

Dislikes? The self tappers into plastic! Hard to replace o-rings and gearbox lube (sealed for life never is). Takes a long time to recharge via 12V.

Better than petrol? Definitely.

 

[papaver19]

More than 6 years now with my Torqeedo 1103, still going strong. Zero maintenance issues, other than the tilt mechanism breaking off and going overboard into the drink, lost forever. Replaced with a block of wood on a string

 

[migs]

Our Torqeedo 1003 is13 years old and we've not yet had a problem with it. We're on our second second battery, but that's only because we wanted a bigger battery. Our dinghy once got flipped over by a 'williwaw' in the Yealm, and the outboard spent the night under water. In the morning we turned the dinghy the right way up, and the outboard ran perfectly.

Supertramp, how did you measure the the capacity of the battery ?

 

[nestawayboats]

Several stories here back up our findings (having sold several thousand electric outboards since 2008) that they seem to be lasting pretty well, albeit with noticeably-reduced battery capacity from somewhere around 8-10 years. This is not particularly surprising as all batteries lose 2-3% per year just by existing, regardless of charge cycles and even with optimal storage... those 2 percents accumulate.

The very early Torqeedos - models 401 and 801, sold up to about 2011/12 - are mostly out of circulation now because (I forget the exact terms) somewhere in the 20-teens Torqeedo offered a fairly attractive trade-in deal (scrappage scheme?) against a newer model. If looked after (mollycoddled) the 401/801 were OK but some of the connectors/seals were shall we say not as good as they might have been... didn't mix all that well with salt water.

Torqeedo learnt, and the next series - 503 and 1003 - were a step change for the better. No telephone network connectors here! The 503/1003 will be very recognisable in appearance as the 903 (still available) still looks all-but the same. They can get a bit ratty through (largely cosmetic) surface corrosion to the aluminium parts but we still see early ones (now 13-14 years old) working, even including the original batteries. But as some of those original batteries only started with 250Wh capacity (or 400Wh if you splashed out for the upgrade) that combined with 14 years of those 2 percents means those 2011/12 1003s don't run for that long in 2025. However you can still buy batteries backwards-compatible with those motors - now up to 915Wh in the same-size casing - as some here have chosen to do.

The biggest "problem" with Torqeedo 503 and 1003 motors is they had/have shear pins made from quite delicate steel. Nobody ever really worked out why except it may have been to protect the gear box. If you replace the shear pins every couple of years they're usually OK but if you don't - if you have one that's 14 years old - then you are now driving your propeller with something akin to a rusty hair. If you have a niggling feeling that might be you take the propeller off and have a look!

The 1003 gearbox could get quite noisy (not compared to a petrol motor but not silent either)... you soon get to recognise the "Torqeedo whine"
Next to the party was ePropulsion, about 2015. Whilst much-accused of copying Torqeedo, the Spirit 1.0 innovations included a direct-drive motor (no gearbox), only one cable to connect, a floating battery, and a battery capacity of 1018Wh (25% more than Torqeedo's then-largest battery at 915Wh). The most common problem with these was the plastic cable connector but we think most of these problems were to do with "overenthusiastic" tightening of the bayonet-type fitting (it only needs half a turn)... nobody ever admitted that of course, but nobody ever broke two either. There were a few corrosion issues with the motor body on early Spirit 1.0s.

The later Spirit PLUS (current) had a metal cable connector, even more battery capacity, and more anodes protecting the now-anodised (and painted) aluminium motor body.

2019-ish Torqeedo came out with the 1103 (and downrated 603) that looked exactly like the 1003 but had a direct-drive motor (no gearbox, it's very nearly silent)... and a mahoosive shear pin! And the option at least of a shaft anode.

So that tells you some hopefully useful things about relatively old electric outboards. One could summarise that not much of significance goes wrong since about 2012.

If you're considering a new one... as I've outlined above both companies have tended to eliminate recognised faults as they've introduced new models. I'm sure other newcomers to the party (Temo, Remigo, etc) have not been unaware of the few things that went wrong with early Torqeedos and ePropulsions when they were developing their rival products.

The newest model Torqeedo Travel XP and ePropulsion Spirit 2 have got rid of the connector cables altogether.

So that leads us to the conclusion - and our experience as retailers - that the newer ones are tending towards ever-better reliability, and we'd expect them to have better corrosion-resistance etc over time too (as yet untested, they're not yet old enough). And bigger batteries. Batteries are where the real progress has been made over the last 17 years, you get much more capacity now for the same (or in some cases less) weight/cost (inflation-adjusted). Losing 2% per year of a 1276Wh battery will still leave you a pretty useful battery in 10 years, its then-reduced capacity still being more than a similar-size battery 10 years ago even started with.

As ever I will make it clear that we sell some of the above, we love electric outboards, we are not unbiased. But one thing's for sure, we will always hear from the customers who have problems... and it's been a remarkably low percentage.

Ian, Nestaway Boats Ltd

 

[cpedw]

It looks as though I was unlucky then. I got an Eprop Spirit in 2022 and it worked fine until April 2025 when it stopped altogether. It had to go back to its maker and, £200 later, it came back fixed. Something had failed in the tiller arm. I hope my bad luck has now passed!

 

[Egret]

Good though that it can be repaired.

 

[Openelectron]

I use the trolling motors, got 3 years from the first one and two years in on the current one

 

[Supertramp]

Supertramp, how did you measure the the capacity of the battery ?

Nothing clever - by comparing the range at 150W of output (which was my normal ctuising power). The original battery gave about 15 miles at that power on the inflatable, now down to about 7/8. The second battery is still 10 yrs old but gives about 10/11 miles. Only valid if ypu compare one up in the same vessel in calm conditions.