Electric Boats

[Scott Danforth]

for my typcial boat launch, I have an hour trip from where I launch to the ICW (about 24 miles). from there, usually 2-3 hours of tooling around, then a few hours of anchoring.

total trip is usually 6-10 hours (about 60-100 miles)

no way I could use a boat like the ARCBOAT as its inboard/rudder. water I boat in is too skinny for an inboard. I have 4 miles of channel I have to hit when the tide is above charted depth and above 30mph just to keep the props from getting shiny

 

[GA_Boater]

Did you guys see all the pics? Neither did I, just a bunch of artwork. Only thing I see is sizzle. 425 HP and 24 MPH? I can do that with 50 HP.

Arc doesn't have a working prototype and production starts in 5 months??????????????

Jim- You're doing it right to see if the concept works for you.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Same as with cars - but more so with boats - it seems that electric is not quite ready for prime time.

But prime time is coming, about that I have little doubt.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Need a Mr Fusion to supply the 1.21 gigawatts

 

[harringtondav]

Planing speed boats are energy hogs. kwh consumption is huge. Unlike a cruising auto, boats use a lot of energy to stay on top of the water.
You can do your own calculations to see how long Tesla's 100 kwh, 1375 lb battery will last in any particular cruising boat. The answer is generally a short trip, and back to the charging station.
EV will eventually be the only game once the dead dinosaur juice dries up. I won't be around to see it, but I'm guessing pleasure boats will be long gone along with other energy thirsty toys.

 

[Jim Hawkins]

Interesting observations everyone but I'd like to interject something before this thread goes the opposite way I intended.

I did not mean to compare go-carts and sports cars, rather I wanted to address what many of you have pointed out, that recharging an electric boat is problematic and that is why the boat I propose is not just electric, but solar electric with an array of solar that is not only capable of powering the boat but also recharging the batteries without the need for shore power.

As to the applications, if your goal is to be first to the Gulf Stream or the Bass-hole look elsewhere. But if you enjoy a near silent cruise then consider it along the lines of a sailboat. Both harness natural sources of power, one wind, the other sunshine and both can make the journey the point, not the destination.

Solar technology has already produced Electric voltaic panels in the form of flexible panels, fabric and even paint so there is no reason the vehicle can not be it's own power source. Also, I see electric as an intermediate step and will probably be replaced with some new and more powerful tech in the future. In the meantime, I plan to build a craft that will take me across the water with a similar experience as sailing.

 

[dansmail26]

3-5 hours of use? Are they serious?? Then what? Plug it in at your local marina? Ohh wait....bet they need a special charging station like the electric cars which aren't around yet in any kind of numbers...

I was surprised myself with that low a number.

 

[Jim Hawkins]

Worked on my motor today, got rid of the vice grips holding things together. Runs smoother and quieter. Here's a test, first at 6 volts, then 12 volts then 18 volts. The motor is rated to 24 volts.

 

[MaddisonWells]

I'm not taking about meeting code.

And this may be where I'm going wrong.
I'm transposing what I know about solar and power to the boat industry.
or pretty much automotive/DC 12/24/36/48 volt and I know that too, but not like I know line voltage.

I'm talking about dependability, and the inverters and the charging.
And things fit where things were, per say. in tight places, like a cabinet or enclosure, or tucked in a already tight housing. screws fitting holes, alignment and such.
Batteries are just simple voltage, but the AH=amp hours need to match in a chain of batteries.
I figure you know what you're doing.
It's the folks that have to learn all this the hard way.
Forget Code. that went away in the houses and buildings.
BUT you still need to be able size wires and motors and should have overcurrent protection. some ability to look up things and keep it close to safe anyway.
Again I see overcurrent problems with folks just cobbling things together to make something just "Go" with battery power.

Will a 24 volt motor run on a 12 volt? It wouldn't have enough power...

 

[jhande]

They're experimenting already with electric open wheel Formula racing. The cars are much quicker than gas powered but the battery technology isn't up to snuff for long distance.

 

[racerone]

Saw a Tesla on the bed of a tow truck the other day.-----I was curios as to why that might be.-----Will never find out.-----But with a gasoline power car you can bring a gallon of fuel to the stranded vehicle.-----Hard to bring a jug of electricity to one of these EV's

 

[nola mike]

Saw a Tesla on the bed of a tow truck the other day.-----I was curios as to why that might be.-----Will never find out.-----But with a gasoline power car you can bring a gallon of fuel to the stranded vehicle.-----Hard to bring a jug of electricity to one of these EV's

How many times have you run out of gas? I can count on zero fingers the number of times in 30 years of driving for me. How many mechanical problems with your gas powered vehicles have you had? How many issues with the fuel? An EV will end up being *much* more reliable than a gas vehicle, and much cheaper/easier to maintain.

 

[racerone]

Local garage tells me of someone with an EV looking to get an anti freeze leak repaired.-----They said sorry we are not interested in finding where the leak is and how to repair it.

 

[flashback]

I could see a hybrid sail/electric motor if the sails could incorporate solar cells. batteries in the keel. might work. If gas prices keep going up I believe my power boat days are limited.

 

[Scott Danforth]

How many times have you run out of gas? I can count on zero fingers the number of times in 30 years of driving for me. How many mechanical problems with your gas powered vehicles have you had? How many issues with the fuel? An EV will end up being *much* more reliable than a gas vehicle, and much cheaper/easier to maintain.

I have run out of fuel no less than 20 times, usually when stuck in traffic for hours. Then again, in the same traffic jam, there are usually 2-3 teslas on the side of the road too.

mechanical problems - about 20 over the past 30 years (broken crank, broken rod, bad bearings, wheel bearing failures, etc)
electrical problems - about 100 over the past 30 years, with 75 of them in the past 10 years (failed BCMs, failed ECMs, failed sensors, failed fuel pumps, failed injectors, failed ABS pump, failed batteries, failed transmission solenoids, lightning strike).

fuel issues - 0 on the vehicles (refilling the tank every 2-3 days on daily whip and once every few weeks on the others) 4 on the mopeds and various small engines (sitting engines )

basically, if its man-made, it will fail

EV's for the consumer market will fail at about the same rate as the IC counterparts

 

[racerone]

Electrical / sensor problems will be the most difficult and expensive repairs on EV products.----Just look at parts availability for outboards when it comes to ECU / EMM modules.

 

[MaddisonWells]

I could see a hybrid sail/electric motor if the sails could incorporate solar cells. batteries in the keel. might work. If gas prices keep going up I believe my power boat days are limited.

If you compare electric, gasoline, and hybrid engines, the hybrid has the best chance of replacing gasoline-powered cars. I'm considering buying a Tesla or a hybrid right now. And I'll probably buy a hybrid car.

 

[fatlenny]

have you considered a small wind turbine for additional charging on any day including cloudy days?

 

[Jim Hawkins]

have you considered a small wind turbine for additional charging on any day including cloudy days?

No, I have not. Having built my own wind turbine from scratch years ago I know that the physics of wind power do not go well with a project of this sort. The amount of energy a wind turbine can produce is a mathematical formula based on the area of the circle defined by the rotor, and for a turbine to put out meaningful power that rotor needs to be Large. Solar power is far more practical and efficient and the slack has to be taken up by the new generations of storage batteries being developed these days for electric vehicles.

That said, I've finished and sold off two of my boat projects and am moving back onto the electric boat and it's first test run, coming soon.

 

[dansmail26]

New update from ARC - still $300,000 for a small boat... I dunno

​

Crew,​ We’re excited to announce that we've closed a $30M Series A fundraising round to accelerate our already ambitious roadmap. The round was led by Greg Reichow from Eclipse Ventures, with participation from all of our existing investors. Prior to joining Eclipse, Greg led much of Tesla’s early manufacturing, supply chain, and automation efforts, and has a wealth of experience directly applicable to Arc’s next phase. You can read more about the news in our blog post. Forbes, Bloomberg, Electrek, and The Verge covered the news as well. With this funding, we’ll be accelerating our pace of both hiring and production. In the short term, this means delivering the limited-edition Arc One to customers even sooner. Long term, it allows us to be even more ambitious in our pursuit of electrifying the marine industry. Thank you for all of your support along the way. We’ll be back with regular monthly updates next week! - The team at Arc