Hybrid technology to the rescue ?

[segaerta]

This hybrid boat was presented at HISWA Amsterdam last week :

http://www.greenlinehybrid.com/

I thought it looked an interesting concept and wanted to hear the thoughts of forum members on how the future fossil oil depletion would impact your motor boat buying decisions ?

Not having won the lottery, I sometimes wonder how the inevitable evolution of oil prices over the coming years would affect the second hand value of my recent (2007) twin engined sportcruiser and when would be the best time to sell and replace it by a larger but more economical boat that would be suitable for both coastal and inland waters.

Just wondering ... but meanwhile still enjoying every minute of it

Alain

 

[dragoon]

Hybrids

Like you, I've contemplated this for quite some time (usually whenever I do a fill-up : - )

The article is interesting, they make some claims about using 10x less fuel than an equivalent twin engined boat. I doubt as this is really comparing "apples with apples", as they certainly haven't acheived those sort of savings with hybrid cars.

I'm actually quite dubious about the hybrid concept. The purchase cost tends to be higher, and after looking at cars like the Prius, the results are not really that astounding either, at least compared to a modern efficient diesel engine. Plus I don't see them as being green at all - the environmental cost of manufacturing and disposing of an enormous battery has to be unscalable.

With a boat, which you expect to last for quite some time (several times that of the average car), I doubt as the batteries are going to have the same life expectancy as the diesel engines, and will just add cost through the boats lifetime.

I would stick with your diesels and enjoy them while you can.

Cheers,
Paul