New ePropulsion eLite?

Nowt wrong with small outboards if they're in regular use but, having had my Mercury 2.5hp two-stroke since new twenty years ago, my experience is that they are heavy and usually smelly or messy, and aren't reliable for the few weeks every summer one needs them just to run the small inflatable a few hundred yards to the shore from an anchorage and back again twice a day so the dog can get get a good run etc, for which job they're actually massively over-powered. So I gave mine away last autumn to a youngster at the club.

If I needed to power a bigger RIB or hard tender regularly against a strong river current for extended periods then I'd get a decent four-stroke outboard.

In the meantime I'm looking forward to testing out the E-Lite on the 2.3m dinghy! I'm also looking forward to not risking life or limb getting this much lighter unit into the dinghy in bouncy conditions!
 
In the meantime I'm looking forward to testing out the E-Lite on the 2.3m dinghy! I'm also looking forward to not risking life or limb getting this much lighter unit into the dinghy in bouncy conditions

I have one, so have some thoughts on the " criticisms", usually from people who do not have one.
Not powerful enough- if you want to run to the beach etc, it is fine. I think it is marginally slower than my old 3.5 2 stroke, but even on half throttle it will get you there just fine.
It is no use against a 5kt river- correct. Who expects it to be?
It is too expensive- well, I guess that depends on the size of your wallet, and what value you attach.
It is very easy to store- a big,big plus for me. No petrol.etc- a big plus for me. It is very quiet- not a big win on a short spin to the beach.
Easy to carry,put on/off the tender- good plus for me.
Security- bit of a problem, really. Not too concerned up on the beach, but not sure I would want to leave it in a mooring dinghy park overnight,.l tho I have no idea of actual theft levels, so who knows.
So, if your intended use it what it is designed for, I think you will be very pleased with it !
 
I have just bought one (from Nestaway) and also have high hopes.

The alternative for me is usually rowing so I compared the power: The eLite goes for about an hour at 500W output. At the peak of my fitness I could get about 800W, and that only for a few minutes, and now (in my late 60s) it's probably below 500W. And if I have to row for an hour it's probably only a little over 200W. Yet I've never been unable to make progress rowing the hard dinghy.

Hence I think the power will be adequate. Throwing away the Mercury 3.5, and its cans of petrol and 2-stroke oil will be a blessing also. And I won't have to shout to my companion when out in the dinghy. It's not a matter of not knowing how to store petrol or service carburettors, it's just nicer!
 
AngusMcDoon said:
And for those that don't have any suitable storage for a petrol outboard. The eLite is so small it can go anywhere. I keep mine in my bed.
Click to expand...
Are you trying start another argument about lithium batteries, fire, and insurers 🤣. Still, a lot safer than storing a petrol outboard in your bed.
 
At risk of repeating myself from earlier threads (or possibly earlier in this thread)...

The ePropulsion eLite at 500W will push most small inflatable dinghies - ie the typical yacht tender - up to or near their displacement hull speed, which as a broad generalisation is "somewhere about 4 knots". At 400W, which won't be much slower, it will last just under an hour, so for this type of dinghy you get 3 to 4 nautical mile range at 3 to 4 knots. That is plenty for many, but no means all, yacht tender users. Going across the river to the pub, or taking the dog ashore for example. If you've got a strong cross-tide or whatever it can go into "boost mode" up to 750W for a minute or so, which can be repeated so long as the battery and motor are happy (state of charge, temperature etc).

The relatively long-established "1kW class" motors such as ePropulsion Spirit PLUS, Torqeedo Travel etc aren't actually much faster on this type of dinghy as 500W already gets them to displacement speed. Another 500W isn't enough to get them out of displacement speed into planing mode, so if you use them at 1kW most of the extra power goes into digging the transom a bit deeper in the water and making a bit more wake. So most users of the 1kW motors end up using them at 500W most of the time anyway (and often less), as a good compromise between speed and range. The main reason people still buy these larger motors is that they have a lot more battery capacity and therefore range... running at 400W the Spirit PLUS will go three hours vs the eLite's one hour. 10-12 nautical miles at ~4knots is a lot for a small dinghy. Several days use for many tenders, so you won't have to charge it as often... you probably won't need to charge on board if going away for a weekend, even a long weekend. And yes in the right/wrong conditions, when it's arguably a bit marginal for small inflatables, the extra power will help against headwind and chop.

The very recently-introduced - even newer than the eLite - 2-3kW electric outboards, that can still reasonably be classed as portable, should be enough to get a lightly loaded inflatable on the plane. I've been playing with a pre-production ePropulsion Spirit 2 - stock not in UK yet, but soon - and at 2kW it will get me (100kg or so), in a 2.9m slight-V-floor inflatable, going along at 7.5 to 8 knots. Boost mode of 3kW doesn't work on that pre-production model but clearly it won't be slower at 3kW than 2. Of course that extra speed comes at the expense of battery consumption but they come with bigger capacity batteries and 7 knots is definitely usefully quicker than 4 knots, where conditions/regulations permit. Out to my swing mooring in the middle of Portsmouth harbour for example. Whether it's worth the extra cost and weight depends on your use case. There are also those who question if 7 knots is "really planing" but it's certainly well in excess of displacement hull speed for a dinghy of that size, so I'm not sure what else to call it. It feels reasonably quick when you're in a small dinghy that's powered by a motor that's near-silent and not belching two-stroke!

Ian
Nestaway Boats
 
Thanks Ian, very helpful to repeat that information.

I actually very rarely ever ran my 2.5hp two-stroke at full-beans, as that never significantly increased dinghy-speed over running it at half-revs, just dug the stern in harder while creating more wake and noise.

I'm also not too worried about the eLite's range given my expected modest usage when cruising, i.e. relatively short distances from mooring-buoy or anchorage to the shore.

But I'd be interested to know what charging-practice would be best for the longevity of the battery, given that it's a sealed non-replaceable unit. Frequent top-ups from the 12v system versus full re-charging from a 240v supply or, as is most likely, a mixture of the two? And long-term storage, i.e. over winter, what's best? Store at half-charge so as to not stress the battery or doesn't it matter?
 
Babylon said:
… long-term storage, i.e. over winter, what's best? Store at half-charge so as to not stress the battery or doesn't it matter?
Click to expand...
It does matter. Best not to leave them fully charged for long periods. This to me is the only downside of lithium battery outboards. My ancient Torqeedo is a thing of wonderment but it gets used once or twice a year and so it’s left at 50 to 70% charge which means that when I come to use it I never have full range. I think the eProp OB’s have a feature where they automatically de-charge down to a safer level if left unused and fully charged.
 
Babylon said:
But I'd be interested to know what charging-practice would be best for the longevity of the battery, given that it's a sealed non-replaceable unit. Frequent top-ups from the 12v system versus full re-charging from a 240v supply or, as is most likely, a mixture of the two? And long-term storage, i.e. over winter, what's best? Store at half-charge so as to not stress the battery or doesn't it matter?
Click to expand...
I don't know if the new model has it but my Espirit Plus will discharge its battery to abut 70% if it's left at full charge for a long (I don't know how long but it's weeks not hours) period.
I'm unsure of the science behind it but I get the impression that in general, it's better to charge up to near full and to discharge to near empty if you can cope with the range anxiety. But it seems to be less significant than leaving it fully charged for a long period. Whatever, the battery has a finite working life whether used or not, but shorter if cycled. For most of us, the life is measured in years.
 
I have an eLite and found it excellent. Used for getting from shore to my mooring. Had it for just over a year now. I like - it's QUIET and light to carry as mentioned. Much lighter than my Honda 2.3 so I take it home(saving £60 on outboard storage). I did have to use it last year when I had to leave my boat on a mooring about 3 miles away due to engine issues, no wind, with the tide and still only used 50% of battery. I bought the extra 12v & solar charger but not used it yet. Used on my 8' grp dinghy & on a friends 10' dinghy with 5 people. Very pleased.
I have tied on the pin with a length of cord so won't get lost.
 
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Interesting stuff Ian. I had a 3D dinghy with inflatable "V" floor powered by the Spirit Plus. I just accepted it for what it was and timed trips to the pub to avoid stemming any tides in the river. It was only when I put the motor onto a mates rigid rowing boat tender to visit his boat did I see how effective it was on a rigid hull.

It was so impressive, I sold the inflatable and bought a small rib (AB Lammina) to benefit from the lower drag. I'm yet to test it out but do have a Spirit 2 on order for July delivery but maybe I won't really need that as our standard use is anchorage to shore and a mile or two up a river to a pub/shop.
 
Re BATTERY STORAGE yes the ePropulsion Spirit self-discharges down to about 60% and then goes into a protective (for long term storage) sleep mode, after a few weeks. The eLite doesn't do this, not actually sure why, but perhaps because some customers don't like the Spirit's self-discharge/protect function. If the Spirit battery is asleep you have to attach it to a charger to wake it up again, which occasionally catches people out.

The cycle life is largely irrelevant to most leisure users, as they will all take several hundred if not thousands of charge cycles before any noticeable deterioration in capacity. Average UK yacht tender motor probably doesn't reach 20 cycles a year. But all batteries lose some capacity just by existing (+/-2% per annum) and this loss is a bit worse if they're stored at 100% for long periods.

So if you have a Spirit PLUS don't worry about it, it looks after itself. If you have an eLite, or any of the others that don't have the self-discharge function, don't worry too much in season - leaving it at or near full for a couple of weeks won't make much difference - but if you're putting it away for the winter then it's better at somewhere near half than full. Exactly what percentage doesn't really matter, just not full, even 80% is better than 100%.

Re CHARGING PRACTICE, lithium batteries are much more tolerant of partial charging than other types, partial top-ups on 12V won't do any harm. But we have had the occasional problem with batteries that are never used more than say 20% (ie never below 80%) then immediately recharged... in extreme cases of this and over time that can upset the BMS (there is a way to reset it). It seems to be better if you can run them fairly low (say down to 20% or 30% remaining), occasionally. I'm sure it's more complicated but I think of it as a sort of reminder to the BMS that it has all that capacity available to it.

GENERAL FEEDBACK. We've sold quite a lot of the eLites over the last two years and - as a few on here have also said - as long as you've bought it understanding what it can/can't do then it really is an excellent piece of kit. The low weight, compact size, quietness and ease of use are delightful. However if you've been told that it will drive your 8m RIB with 8 people in it at 8 knots then you're probably talking to the wrong retailer...
 
wonkywinch said:
Interesting stuff Ian. I had a 3D dinghy with inflatable "V" floor powered by the Spirit Plus. I just accepted it for what it was and timed trips to the pub to avoid stemming any tides in the river. It was only when I put the motor onto a mates rigid rowing boat tender to visit his boat did I see how effective it was on a rigid hull.

It was so impressive, I sold the inflatable and bought a small rib (AB Lammina) to benefit from the lower drag. I'm yet to test it out but do have a Spirit 2 on order for July delivery but maybe I won't really need that as our standard use is anchorage to shore and a mile or two up a river to a pub/shop.
Click to expand...
The 2kW Spirit 2 might well get your AB on the plane, if lightly loaded ie one person on board (the 1kW Spirit PLUS definitely won't). In fact having had the opportunity to play with pre-production ones I'd go so far as to say I'd be quite surprised if a Spirit 2 won't get it on the plane in boost mode (which goes up to 3kW) but we are still "on the edge of just enough" so it will be dependent on trim (particularly fore and aft), hull shape and so on.
 
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