Haswing Ultima 3 electric outboard

[Mike Bryon]

Thinking of buying one to push a Highfield 2.2m aluminium rib. The price seems competitive (£1.7K) and using it convenient given the weight is divided between removable battery and engine.

Are there known problems with the Haswing? Anyone know of a more recent yacht press review (YM reviewed it in July 23)? First-hand experience of using one most welcome?

 

[nestawayboats]

OK I'll jump in!

The Haswing Ultima 3 electric outboard is a 1kW motor with a 900Wh battery, at about £1700. As such it is a less well-known but quite-similar specification competitor to the better-known contenders in "the 1kW integrated battery outboard" market. Biggest advantage I can think of for the Ultima over its rivals is no cables to connect, battery clicks on a bit like a (massive) cordless drill. It doesn't have a tiller display but does tell you how much battery left (which is what most people really want to know from their tiller displays) by means of 4 LEDs on the battery.

The main rivals are:
- Torqeedo Travel 903 which has a 900W motor with a 915Wh battery, current RRP (recently dropped to) £1739 with a bag set. Torqeedo are generally seen as the "premium brand" in this market and a German company (although now owned by Yamaha). The 903 is the last model in production of Torqeedo's "older architecture", not necessarily a bad thing (well tested) and I'm told available for at least two more years. But it does have two cables to connect which their newer, more powerful, and more expensive Travel and Travel XP motors don't.
- ePropulsion Spirit PLUS which has a 1000W motor and 1276Wh battery, current RRP £1875. One cable to connect. ePropulsion, once the "cheeky new contender", have been selling motors in the UK about 10 years now and so far as I can tell actually sell more units than Torqeedo in the UK, but are still not as well-known because Torqeedo are or have been bigger on marketing (and been around longer too). A bit more money than the other two yes but to make fair comparison you have to factor in it has roughly 40% more battery capacity than the Haswing Ultima and Torqeedo 903. More battery capacity means more range or (just as relevant to some users) more days between needing to recharge it. The battery is also a bit heavier but bigger batteries are heavier...

All three of these motors have removable batteries to make handling up and down easier, you're talking about 10kg for the heaviest bit (lighter than any petrol outboard). And all do basically the same thing in the water. Whether it's a 900W or 1000W motor will make no difference on a 2.2m dinghy. The typical inflatable yacht tender reaches very close to (displacement) hull speed on about 500W, and using the other 500W adds maybe another half knot (whilst using the battery twice as fast). None of them will get a small lightly-loaded dinghy on the plane though, which is where the "3hp equivalent" marketing breaks down (how I wish they'd never started that!). The biggest difference between them is the battery capacity, for which the useful comparitor, or lowest common denominator if you remember your school boy maths, is Wh (Watt hours)... don't get confused by comparing amp hour ratings as they are different voltages (and none of them are 12V which is what a lot of customers think in).

For tenders there are also now a few contenders in the "ultralight" class, with about half the power (ie 500W motors) and significantly less battery capacity. Significantly less battery but still enough to get you to the pub and back or take the dog ashore if that's all you do with your tender, as many customers tell us is the case. And key thing, priced from about £1000. Examples of those include the ThrustMe Kicker and ePropulsion eLite.

I should as always point out we have a commercial interest in this as we sell most of the motors mentioned above. But that does also put us in the position of knowing what all of them are like, and we do use them ourselves, whereas most forumites only have experience of one of them. We don't sell the Haswing but do have one (and have used it) if anyone wants to see them all alongside each other

Ian
Nestaway Boats Ltd

 

[justanothersailboat]

Not having cables sounds like quite a big plus. The Torqeedo is a fine thing but the cables on the Torqeedo are not its best point.

 

[DJE]

Does anybody have any experience of the Remigo One?

 

[Mike Bryon]

Useful summary of market thanks.

I like to row hence choice of Highfield aluminium rib. So looking for an electric outboard that will cover long trips, against spring tide/adverse sea state or when loaded up with people and gear. So conditions not ideal for rowing. This is why I’m opting for a ‘3hp’ equivalent rather than the ultra-light such as the thrustme kicker.

The click in feature and price point are the reasons for preferring the Haswing.

If anyone has owned one I would welcome to hear their experience.

 

[nestawayboats]

Does anybody have any experience of the Remigo One?

The Remigo One is similar in terms of motor power (1000W) and battery capacity (1085Wh). It's lighter in total than the Torqeedo 903 & ePropulsion Spirit, but the battery doesn't come out so the "irreducible minimum pass up and down weight" is a bit more, at 12.5kg. No connectors or cables to worry about though. On the Remigo the tiller is just for steering; forwards, backwards and power output are controlled by buttons on top of the main shaft (so you have to reach back behind the transom). Battery status is also indicated on top of the main shaft. The main shaft is bigger than most rivals - because the battery's inside it - and foil-shaped which means it works as a rudder even at slow speeds or with the motor turned off, nice when you're coming alongside. It's height adjustable, useful if you want to use it on more than one boat, but that and the non-removable battery means it's a physically larger single thing to stow than most rivals.

If you're interested in the Remigo then you should also look at the new Temo 1000. Superficially similar, battery in shaft, but the battery is easily-removable (click fit) from the main shaft, which makes it lighter to pass up/down and in some cases more convenient for charging (as in you don't have to get the whole motor to the charging point, just the battery). Like the Remigo the Temo is height-adjustable and works as a rudder, but a bigger thing to store than the Torqeedo or ePropulsion or Haswing (and unlike those three doesn't get any smaller when you take the battery off/out).

Ian, Nestaway Boats

 

[nestawayboats]

Useful summary of market thanks.

I like to row hence choice of Highfield aluminium rib. So looking for an electric outboard that will cover long trips, against spring tide/adverse sea state or when loaded up with people and gear. So conditions not ideal for rowing. This is why I’m opting for a ‘3hp’ equivalent rather than the ultra-light such as the thrustme kicker.

The click in feature and price point are the reasons for preferring the Haswing.

If anyone has owned one I would welcome to hear their experience.

Yes your use case points towards the 1kW class (ie approx 1000W motor, approx 1000Wh battery) rather than the ultralights.

Nobody has come back on owning/using one but we did buy one for comparison and our experience is it does much the same, but is not quite as quiet, as the ePropulsion or Torqeedo. I personally prefer the tiller LCD readouts (Torqeedo, eProp) to the LEDs on top of the battery (Haswing). Yachting Monthly measured the Haswing as about 10% slower on a RIB than the other two, which I would guess as the power is same is mostly down to propeller (H is 3 blade, E & T use larger diameter 2 bladers). I quite like the Haswing's click-in battery but don't find the connector cable(s) on the other two particularly difficult (there is a slight learning curve or knack to it). I don't know how many Haswing Ultima motors have sold but anecdotally very rarely if ever see them on the backs of dinghies in the Solent harbours, unlike the Torqeedo and ePropulsion. Haswing has been around several years now, but is not as widely available as those two.

The biggest difference in this class, that most people seem to care about anyway, is the ePropulsion's extra battery capacity compared with all the others. Haswing 900Wh, Torqeedo 915Wh, ePropulsion 1276Wh.

If you're within reasonable distance of us (Christchurch, E Dorset) we have examples of the Torqeedo 903, ePropulsion Spirit, Haswing Ultima, and even the thus-far hard-to-obtain Temo 1000 that you can see next to each other.

Ian, Nestaway Boats

 

[mjcoon]

Pure curiosity on my part, but do removable batteries make it possible, at least in theory, to take a spare charged battery around with you to extend range?

 

[justanothersailboat]

I see no reason why not, but it's a rather expensive option.

 

[Boathook]

Pure curiosity on my part, but do removable batteries make it possible, at least in theory, to take a spare charged battery around with you to extend range?

Yes you can. I did consider a spare battery for my ePropulsion but decided to save money and see how the single battery lasted. So far I have no desire to purchase another battery.

 

[chubby]

Yes your use case points towards the 1kW class (ie approx 1000W motor, approx 1000Wh battery) rather than the ultralights.

Nobody has come back on owning/using one but we did buy one for comparison and our experience is it does much the same, but is not quite as quiet, as the ePropulsion or Torqeedo. I personally prefer the tiller LCD readouts (Torqeedo, eProp) to the LEDs on top of the battery (Haswing). Yachting Monthly measured the Haswing as about 10% slower on a RIB than the other two, which I would guess as the power is same is mostly down to propeller (H is 3 blade, E & T use larger diameter 2 bladers). I quite like the Haswing's click-in battery but don't find the connector cable(s) on the other two particularly difficult (there is a slight learning curve or knack to it). I don't know how many Haswing Ultima motors have sold but anecdotally very rarely if ever see them on the backs of dinghies in the Solent harbours, unlike the Torqeedo and ePropulsion. Haswing has been around several years now, but is not as widely available as those two.

The biggest difference in this class, that most people seem to care about anyway, is the ePropulsion's extra battery capacity compared with all the others. Haswing 900Wh, Torqeedo 915Wh, ePropulsion 1276Wh.

If you're within reasonable distance of us (Christchurch, E Dorset) we have examples of the Torqeedo 903, ePropulsion Spirit, Haswing Ultima, and even the thus-far hard-to-obtain Temo 1000 that you can see next to each other.

Ian, Nestaway Boats

what is your view on the best of the lightweight models? the epulsion elite seems good and would be just right for getting from jetty to nearby mooring!

 

[nestawayboats]

what is your view on the best of the lightweight models? the epulsion elite seems good and would be just right for getting from jetty to nearby mooring!

At the ~£1000 mark the ePropulsion eLite gives you the most battery for the money and is still only 6.5kg to pass up/down to/from the dinghy. The ThrustMe Kicker is about 2kg lighter, partly because it has less battery and partly because it makes more extensive use of plastic (the eLite feels more "substantial").

We have yet to do a truly valid "head-to-head" test but I have used both and the eLite appears to make a better job of turning its 500W into forward motion than the Kicker, probably because of the difference in propellers. However the Kicker's smaller, faster-spinning, enclosed propeller may be advantageous in terms of safety, although you still wouldn't want to put your fingers too near!

The batteries for both are sealed into the shafts, but ThrustMe now offer a clip-on range extender battery (for an extra £400) that doubles the capacity available. It can run in real time from this or other external batteries (of the correct voltage) by means of some clever wiring in the charging port. The eLite does not offer this ability but its internal battery has roughly 50% more capacity to start with, so arguably less likely to need it.

ePropulsion eLite 500W motor with 378Wh battery, RRP £995
ThrustMe Kicker 500W motor with 259Wh battery, RRP £1100

As a very rough guide you can say 100Wh of battery capacity will gives you about 1nm of range at 3-4 knots. But there are many many variables affecting that: dinghy size/shape, load, wind, tide and so on.

As an aside if doing research outside the forum there are a lot of websites saying the ThrustMe is a 1000W motor but if so the battery would only last 15mins flat out. And if it is 1000W it doesn't put that 1000W into the water anywhere near as effectively as the Torqeedo 903 and ePropulsion Spirit type. But since the ThrustMe official runtime chart says it runs for half an hour in "max full boost mode", that suggests it's 500W (the battery being 259Wh)... something doesn't quite add up.

There is also the TEMO 450 which takes a different approach, more like the "longtails" most associated with boats in SE Asia, but electric instead of a chuntering old diesel! There is a bit of a learning curve in terms of steering but is very quick and easy to tilt up when operating in shallow water. Beautifully made (in France) and very light at just under 5kg, but the price (£1500) puts it perilously near the next size up.

Ian
Nestaway Boats

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Yes you can. I did consider a spare battery for my ePropulsion but decided to save money and see how the single battery lasted. So far I have no desire to purchase another battery.

Same for us. We opted for the solar charger, and have a 100w dedicated panel we connect when the battery is not actually in use. Never needed more.

 

[Fantasie 19]

what is your view on the best of the lightweight models? the epulsion elite seems good and would be just right for getting from jetty to nearby mooring!

Alex on "Alex Goes Sailing" did a mini review of his Kicker in the last episode which was quite interesting.. minute and a half in..