Recently my wife and I attended our local boat show, and aside from it being smaller than usual, we did run across a very interesting new product line. It is an electric motor for sailboats. It is being built by a Minnesota company, Electric Yacht. This is a full replacement so that one may end the hassle of owning and maintaining an internal combustion engine. Of course, there is the issue of range, but the company feels that with the attention the auto makers are giving to batteries, this will be addressed soon. In fact, they are confident that in ten years we will all be using electric motors in our sailboats. This is what they have to say about range on their website. “A typical system will have 60 – 90 minutes of run time at full power. At 6.5 knots, this translates into 6.5 – 10Nm. Reduce speed to 4 – 5 knots and the power consumption drops off dramatically. Range will increase to 10 – 15Nm. Range can be extended further at lower speeds. As a rule of thumb, every 1.25 – 1.5 knot increase in speed requires a doubling of power.
I’m sold. For the kinds of sailing we do now and for the next decade, at least, I can see no reason not to have one of these instead of an internal combustion engine. They are competitively priced as well. Prices range form $3695 to $5495 at the time of this writing. If you are likely to have to re-power your vessel I would take a close look at one of their offerings. I also noticed they had an electric outboard on display which is not mentioned in their literature. Their literature does say that their motors are appropriate for vessels up to 40′ long. Our next sailboat is going to be in the 30′ range, so I think one of these would do nicely.
Think about it, no more fueling issues. Maintenance is practically zero, batteries are relatively inexpensive, no engine warm up period. Just turn the key and go. Another thing that really appeals to us is the quiet operation, there is nothing we dislike more than listening to an internal combustion engine when we are sailing. Also, all of their offerings will regenerate electricity, although how much is dependent on boat speed and propeller size. Add some solar panels and perhaps a wind generator and poof, you are off the “grid.” At least for day sailing purposes.
It looks to me like the hardest part of replacing your old engine with an electric motor is going to be getting the old engine out of your boat and cleaning up all those years of grime. Otherwise, installing their solution looks to be very straight forward. Placement of the batteries, there are 4 to 8 of them, depending on configuration, will be the most time consuming part of the installation process. The kit consists of the throttle quadrant, a battery monitor, power switch, shaft coupler and a battery fuse. There can also be a weight advantage as the smallest motor and batteries weighs in at around 350 pounds, whereas a conventional engine and all it’s tanks, etc. can weigh in at around the 400-600 pound range.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxx_OwhCCc
For us tree huggers, we really appreciate having green choices and if we ever need to re-power a sailboat one of these will certainly be in our future. Even if you are not a tree hugger, this option seems to be the most fiscally responsible option as well. Heck, I may consider buying a sailboat with a blown motor just so I can stick one of these in it. Save some money on the boat purchase and save the planet, how can we go wrong?
I agree, electric seems like the future.
Thanks for your post extolling the virtues of an Electric Yacht System. I will link your site to ours as soon as I get a chance, and I welcome you to link us into your Resources area.
I will be following your saga in “Pursuit of the Holy Sail.” We have been at three boat shows in the past two weeks and have given councel to literally hundreds of “between boats” sailors to: find a good boat with a bad engine, buy it right, install EY, and come out well on overall costs, and wind up with a clean, green, quiet sailboat.
Thanks agsin for your ++ marks.
Bill Tomlinson, Director of Marketing, Electric Yacht
Nice website. Great read. http://diysolarpanelsfordummies.blogspot.com/
Dear Mr. Do it yourself,
I’ve always been just a little curious why it was that what is basically sand and wire needs to cost so much. Wind generators are only slightly more complicated, but $30,000 for a couple hundred dollars in parts seems a bit much as well. I’m sure I am over simplifying, but I think basically true.
Bill, I’ve added a link to your site, Electric Yacht in the Resources area. It was nice talking to you at the Minneapolis Boat Show. Good luck converting those stinkpots as well. A number of years ago, I thought about burning recycled vegetable oil in marine diesels as a way to cut costs, but became a sailor instead.
This looks like a great idea but what kind of range can you get from those batteries? Let’s face it, we only want to run any engine when there’s no wind but if there’s no wind and we still need to get somewhere… how long does this setup give you?
Hi Newport 30,
Thanks for the comment. According to the folks at Electric Yacht, their systems provide up to 20nm of cruising under reduced power. With that said, it can be a great solution for a great many sailors in my opinion. My wife and I rarely motor more than 1nm, of course we are doing our sailing on an inland lake that is only 27 miles at it’s longest. To me, the electric system’s key selling points are no petroleum based fuels and limited maintenance issues.
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Great post! I totally agree, electric is definitely the way to go for boats- especially for auxiliary power on a sailboat. I wish more sailors were aware. They’re getting there, but there’s still some ways to go with getting the word out. I’m trying to help with that with an NPO/ blog we just started: http://www.electricseas.org. We’re trying to start a revolution, please join us! Thanks, -Greg
Hi Greg, What a great idea! Good luck with your mission! I am adding a link to your blog into the resources section of http://www.boatdejour.com. Electric motors seem like the future to me, they just have so many benefits over petroleum based systems. Just the range hurdle to get over and then its home free as far as I’m concerned. Of course the Pardey’s have been sailing for so long with out any motor at all, one begins to think that maybe the range issue is not an issue at all.
Good Luck with your mission and Happy Sailing.