Electric powered 206: fact or fiction?

[SkiTundra]

Anyone know if this is for real?

http://crustylogic.blogspot.com/

[east tx skier]

From the blog ...

"So, when will we see this wonderful boat? Not anytime soon. Firstly, the above is all fiction anyway."

[Kevin_B]

minus the price tag that would be awesome

[BigBald]

seems like a logical next step....there are huge forklifts that run for 6 to 8 hours at a time doing major lifting and traveling. So, why wouldn't this be a good approach. The only thing that I can think of is that water and electricity don't always play well together?

[DanielC]

Forklifts travel at slow speeds, on hard rubber tires, on concrete floors. Forklifts also need a big counterweight on the end opposite the fork end, and a heavy battery does this nicely.
20 gallons of gas, and the tank to put it in weighs only about 150 to 200 pounds. That amount of gas has enough potential enegry, that even after losses, it can shove my Ford Aerostar about 400 miles, at 55 0r 60 miles per hour.
Show me a 200 pound battery that will do the same.
I could see an electric boat used on a slalom lake, where after a set, the battery is swapped out, and recharged, and another battery is run, but for a days cruising, I think almost all the interior space would be used for the batteries.

[kopp210]

I have heard that Epic is planning to reveal an electric wake boat at the Surf Expo. It has a mass amount of batteries that are also on a track system for wake leveling. The boat also has a generator onboard to re-charge on the go if needed.

I think it is likely we will see a production electric boat, but I don't know there are really that many benefits. You still pay for the energy, just on your home electric bill instead of at the pump.

[MHayes]

Maybe that's what EPIC needs to focus on, especially since they can't seem to sell many of their gasoline powered boats.

[SquamInboards]

A friend of mine did some design consulting for Epic and mentioned something about that project. Epic seems to have extraordinarily weight capacities so why not throw some batteries between the stringers and around the hull, it makes sense. Batteries cost $$$ to replace and you have to charge them, it probably not economical yet for an electric boat but I wouldn't be surprised to see one not too far down the road.

[Erik]

Everyone experiments with this stuff.
That Crustylogic site is rubbish.

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

All,

If it were that easy, 1) the american car manufactures would have done it, 2) the U.S. Navy would have done it (they can spend $ 200M for a ship any time). The problem is the batteries. A lead acid battery has a usefull life of 5 years. It would cost several thousand dollars to replace all the batteries every five years. Given that limitation, anyone care to anty up.

P.S. Watch the Chevy Volt. They announced they are going to make it available in 2010 with a rating of 40 miles per charge (that is about 60 minutes of running time, not much skiing time is it). BUT...check the net (google works great) and you will find that GM has not identified a battery NOR is there a manufacturing facility in the US. There is probably one or two familiar with car cycles on this site. IF the battery is not yet in production, will GM acutally be able to delivery Volts for sale in 2010?

[AirTool]

Well....a heavy electric boat shouldn't need launch bags anyway.

If you sink it, though...you'll need to pay environmental clean up costs.

AirTool

[Laptom]

All,

If it were that easy, 1) the american car manufactures would have done it,

I would argue this. In my believe the American car manufactures are really too consertative. Not flame intended!



For the discussion, I think it matters. True you still have to pay the bill, gasoline or electric. But the way we get the energy (oil or natural) is different. We really need to be independend (less dependend anyway) of oil.

[Rick]

Picking up on the last thread... Chevy is still trying to work out the problem of "Thermal Events" Engineering speak for fire... in the Volt.

[SkiTundra]

Is it all just a cost issue? The Tesla doesn't seem to have these issues. It's high performance and goes over 200 miles on a charge with 300 apparently possible with relatively careful driving.

Erik, I'm confused by your post. You say that everyone is doing it and then call the site that says CC is doing it rubbish.

Is anyone still trying to use lead-acid batteries for this application? I thought NimH and Li were the leaders.

[Mikeski]

From an electrical engineering standpoint it just doesn't work with todays technology, too much constant current delivery is required to keep a boat moving. A micronuke electromotive plant might be feasible?

The only reason my hybrid Prius has any additional efficiency benefit is the result of the regenerative braking. Energy lost as heat in traditional brakes is captured with the motor-battery system.

Boats don't have brakes, that should be the first clue why this won't work.