Electric outboards - more competition on the way?

[wonkywinch]

Apart from ePropulsion, Temo and Torqueedo, I couldn't help notice a good handful of new manufacturers independently representing themselves at BOOT this week.

Aquamot Electric Motors GmbH (Austria)
BLADE MARINE TECHNOLOGIES Ltd (Hong Kong)
BlueNav (France)
DEWJET ELEKTRİKLİ MOTOR ÜRETİMİ SANAYİ VE TİCARET AŞ (Turkey)
FUBER PROPULSION Co. Ltd. (China)
MITEK SRL (Italy)
MOLABO GmbH (Germany)
The Kinetic Option Pte Ltd (Singapore)

All Exhibitors & Products

 

[westhinder]

Yes, that struck me too, the proliferation of electric outboards and electric propulsion in general, compared with last year.

 

[nestawayboats]

Yes indeed, many more electric outboards on their way... but most notably of that list Aquamot might protest that they have been around a very long time, I'm pretty sure even before Torqeedo. They've just never been that active in the "consumer market" and don't have much (visible) representation in the UK.

Integrated battery electric outboards are a lot more mature than many realise. Torqeedo arguably kicked off the leisure market for electric outboards around 2007/2008 (nearly 20 years ago), ePropulsion came along in 2014 (12 years ago). Technology has moved a long way in those two-decades-ish. Torqeedo are now on generation 3 or 4 of their Travel motors (depending how you look at it, upgrades vs new design altogether), ePropulsion are launching generation 2 or 3 of the Spirit.

Below about 4hp equivalent, our sales of electric outboards have exceeded our sales of petrol outboards since 2012.

Ian, Nestaway Boats

 

[dunedin]

Yes, that struck me too, the proliferation of electric outboards and electric propulsion in general, compared with last year.

Entirely expected. And more competition will drive down the prices which have been the main deterrent to adoption of electric over small petrol outboards - if the price were closer there would be no petrol engines sold.

 

[wonkywinch]

One thing I noticed with the Spirit 1 vs 2 models is the old one is 1kw with a 1,276WHr battery, ie 1 hr 17 mins theoretical limit and the new one 2kW with a 1,539WHr battery, so only 46 min theoretical limit. If usage was linear then that's 60% "range" of the old one.

It's a shame the battery capacity couldn't be increased to match the power rating although in real life loads of other things are going to affect the actual range achieved.

 

[nestawayboats]

One thing I noticed with the Spirit 1 vs 2 models is the old one is 1kw with a 1,276WHr battery, ie 1 hr 17 mins theoretical limit and the new one 2kW with a 1,539WHr battery, so only 46 min theoretical limit. If usage was linear then that's 60% "range" of the old one.

It's a shame the battery capacity couldn't be increased to match the power rating although in real life loads of other things are going to affect the actual range achieved.

The Spirit 2 battery has 20% more capacity than the Spirit PLUS battery, so the run time/range will also be 20% more at the same speed. It may even be slightly better than that, as the 2kW electric motor, running at any level the 1kW motor could achieve (eg 500, 750 or 1000W), will be slightly more efficient than the 1kW motor.

Yes the Spirit 2's run time at full power is less, because full power is double (2kW vs 1kW).

If they'd kept the run time at max power the same, ie doubled the battery capacity, the battery weight would also nearly double (ie close to 20kg), and everyone would then say the battery was too heavy and "not portable"...

Both motors can be run from external batteries if preferred eg in larger dayboats etc.

 

[wonkywinch]

The Spirit 2 battery has 20% more capacity than the Spirit PLUS battery, so the run time/range will also be 20% more at the same speed. It may even be slightly better than that, as the 2kW electric motor, running at any level the 1kW motor could achieve (eg 500, 750 or 1000W), will be slightly more efficient than the 1kW motor.

Yes the Spirit 2's run time at full power is less, because full power is double (2kW vs 1kW).

If they'd kept the run time at max power the same, ie doubled the battery capacity, the battery weight would also nearly double (ie close to 20kg), and everyone would then say the battery was too heavy and "not portable"...

Both motors can be run from external batteries if preferred eg in larger dayboats etc.

Thank you Ian. Any forum discounts on the Spirit 2? In the market for one.

 

[nestawayboats]

Thank you Ian. Any forum discounts on the Spirit 2? In the market for one.

I don't want to be seen as not answering. But I suspect answering that question directly on the forum would "break the rules" and/or be called out as "too commercial"...

We like to believe our input is useful, so we tread the line carefully in order that we are allowed to continue posting.

Ian, Nestaway Boats

 

[Mark-1]

The year before last the outboard store at our club was half empty. I took that to be a (very pleasing) sign that people had switched en masse to Electric Outboards. (People don't leave E OBs at the club.)

Last year it was chocka-block again. I hadn't thought about it until this moment but I wonder if that is because all the people who switched to electric keep a spare ICE for the trips an electric won't work for them.