Electric propulsion..... would you?

[goldnrod24]

I posted this at another forum and thought you guys might like to weigh in, too.

I don't know about you, but I'm 55 year old and plan to boat until the day I die. For most of my life, I've just figured that gasoline would always be there, cheap and plentiful as ever. But the events of time sow seeds of doubt in my mind that gas for boats is truly a given and maybe not a sustainable (or affordable) option.

In that event, can you imagine converting your boat to electric power? There are some pretty cool propulsion applications available (or coming soon) that may make this possible. Yes, there the battery issues, but one of the cool possibilities is that a solar array could help charge those batteries while we are soaking up the sun on the shore, sandbar or even underway.

It's easy for me to get depressed about the present state of the world and the unstable oil market. However, I am starting to cheer myself up by considering the alternatives.

Would you, or could you imagine converting your boat to electric propulsion in the (maybe near) future?

 

[Friar]

Hey Randy - The short answer is "Yes" and sooner would be better than later. I do not really know enough about it, but would think with continuing improvements in micro-technology and battery technology, that use of solar and wind power would make this more feasible in the near future.

The long answer only depresses me too! It involves my age (61), when I think I will "croak", the shock we will all have if we end up paying the same individual fuel costs that europeans, for example, have been paying for a long time, the futility of encouraging ethanol, etc.

The third answer is "screw it", I will probably end up paying whatever I need to to go out! Been once this year already and if only temperature and wind speed around here would be normal for Texas, would have been out more. Some other expenses in my life would have to change - like my $120 a month cable bill, my $85 a month iPhone bill, etc. (Seems like I got along without that stuff okay about 6 or 7 years ago)

 

[goldnrod24]

Hmmm.....

 

[Friar]

Pretty interesting video - only wish they were more specific on some items like how long a charge would last at various rpms. I don't happen to know what "4 or 5 skiing sets" means in terms time and energy. Only specific I understood was that it would take about 4 hours to recharge, I suppose via being plugged into to an electrical source.

From the responses to your question on the other site, it seems most people only want to use gas; and then go off on other tangent discussions I personally think are futile to discuss.

In my limited experience last year, I found I am only using 4 or 5 gallons per trip out anyway and most of that comes from tubing with my grandson. When it is just my wife and I (and maybe our dog), we pretty much just float slowly around looking at the landscape or anchor and just hang out.

 

[sparkdr220]

Electric motors continue to evolve. Hopefully by the time we retire they will be good enough to replace gas power motors on sailboats totally eliminating the need for gas.[ assuming of course they haven't figured out how to tax the wind].

 

[kanop44]

I posted this at another forum and thought you guys might like to weigh in, too.

I don't know about you, but I'm 55 year old and plan to boat until the day I die. For most of my life, I've just figured that gasoline would always be there, cheap and plentiful as ever. But the events of time sow seeds of doubt in my mind that gas for boats is truly a given and maybe not a sustainable (or affordable) option.

In that event, can you imagine converting your boat to electric power? There are some pretty cool propulsion applications available (or coming soon) that may make this possible. Yes, there the battery issues, but one of the cool possibilities is that a solar array could help charge those batteries while we are soaking up the sun on the shore, sandbar or even underway.

It's easy for me to get depressed about the present state of the world and the unstable oil market. However, I am starting to cheer myself up by considering the alternatives.

Would you, or could you imagine converting your boat to electric propulsion in the (maybe near) future?

Unfortunately, battery technology has a long way to go before I would consider converting. The big drawbacks being weight, longevity, charge time, initial cost and replacement cost All of this talk about Hybrid and Electric cars sounds real enticing especially with gas prices on the rise. I owned a Hybrid car and got great mileage during the 8 years of ownership. Before selling it I checked what the replacement cost would be for the battery pack. It was $5,500. I have heard that the Battery Packs for the current Electric Cars run over $30,000. THey never tell you that in the sales pitch. I'll admit, they do offer 8 year warranties on them, so most of the original purchasers unload them by then. I'm excited about solar cell technology but it still is costly and inefficient. I could see a solar cell maybe for recharging the battery while your anchored.