How long until our boats are electric?

[Bruce]

I have been considering diesel electric sailboat options and I wonder how long it will be before Yamaha begins offering electric options.

Electric boats are likely to need twice the battery capacity of electric cars to have similar range to gas powered options.

I would think that Yamaha jet drives would convert easily and the small engines combined with distributed batteries would allow for a roomier and more balanced boat.

This article shows a couple of electric boats in development. https://electrek.co/2021/11/23/this...ngineers-is-the-latest-e-watersports-startup/

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

I just commented on that article actually. I suspect it will be many, many years at a very high price. Batteries are the bulk of the cost. Due to friction, water displacement, etc. That means significantly more cost for similar ranges as cars. I suspect electric boats will be much more popular on small waterways, but if someone expects long ranges like current gas boats, they need to be willing to pay WAY more. I mean, my 20 gallon tank on my little Scarab 165 gets about 160km of range. A similar tank on my Subaru Forester gets me like 600km. So even with a doubling of battery capacity (and thus, way more cost), you'd only get a fraction of the current range.

But for some lakes, that's not an issue.

And trust me, I'm planning on buying an electric car for my next one. Super into electric hence why I follow that website. I just don't see it happening in the boat world for quite some time for the masses.

 

[jimbobalu]

Nuclear batteries.

 

[Babin Farms]

I highly doubt most will have an electric boat in my lifetime.

 

[haknslash]

Where will the power come from to supply a grid demand for both cars and the recreational vehicles? Solar, water and wind alone won’t be enough. We can’t even supply cars infrastructure much less boats. I think it will be a long time until it’s mainstream and hopefully by then people will develop alternative methods than relying on electricity. We’ll likely either be too old to care or dead by then is my guess. There are EV boats now but as you said they aren’t really ideal for much use when considering their range. Take the Nautique Electric Wake boat for example. Nice in concept but falls short for reality for all but the most posh clientele who can afford to blow money.

 

[AZMark]

I like the looks of that thing.

The hydrofoil electric boat reviewed in the video on the same page is a cool concept. That would solve some range problems.

 

[suke]

You won't need any extra ballast with all those batteries. Look at the rivian, it's smaller than an F150, yet weighs as much if not more than a TRX. That's a heavy ass little truck.

 

[adrianp89]

I think electric boats will be a viable realistic choice in ten years.

 

[Bruce]

You won't need any extra ballast with all those batteries. Look at the rivian, it's smaller than an F150, yet weighs as much if not more than a TRX. That's a heavy ass little truck.

I am thinking that battery positioning could significantly enhance the wake for a wake boat or balance of other types of boats.

 

[haknslash]

I am thinking that battery positioning could significantly enhance the wake for a wake boat or balance of other types of boats.

Thing is with a wake boat you dump the ballast when you’re not doing any wake related activities to save fuel and wear and tear on things. Lugging around the extra weight when you’re not using it for its purpose just causes more fuel burn, more sluggish performance and in general is not ideal. In the case of an EV boat the heavy batteries is just dead weight you’re having to lug around which kills range. This is why I only carry 500 lbs of lead onboard and the rest is water ballast than can be filled and drained.

Battery tech is kind of limited until the next big thing comes along. That’s what is holding back the range with some of these EV’s. They have to haul so much mass just to operate. On a boat its even worse.

 

[Bruce]

These are outboards rather than boats but GM investing $150M shows a lot of interest.

High-Performance Electric Boats & Outboard Motors

Electric outboard motors and complete electric boat systems that make the switch to clean, quiet, hassle-free boating easy. Join the revolution.

www.purewatercraft.com

GM Buys Stake in Electric Boat Company for $150 Million

General Motors extended its electric-vehicle interest to boats, buying a 25% ownership stake in electric-boat company Pure Watercraft.

www.thestreet.com

 

[haknslash]

Yamaha already has been developing their EV “Harmo” outboard (horrible name lol). I imagine with time, some of that tech will possibly trickle into PWC and maybe these boats.

 

[haknslash]

These also other brands who are making electric outboards such as Elco and Torqeedo. So not really ground breaking or anything new. It’s just I don’t see them as a viable real world use compared to the range you can get with a traditional gasoline or Diesel engine. Imagine trying to do a Bahama’s run and you run out of e-juice. Then what? It’s not like you can sit for days on end trying to gather sun on a solar panel to charge while drifting at mercy of the seas.

Maybe add a tall boom to act as a lightning rod and run a cable to the flux capacitor to charge it to 1.21 gigawatts.

 

[Levi Weatherford]

I think electric boats will be a viable realistic choice in ten years.

Highly unlikely. As stated in a previous post, our electrical grid, as it sits right now, will not be able to handle all the EV dreams people are talking about these days. Much less electric boats. I work in the electrical distribution industry and it always makes me smile when I hear people talking about "going green" by buying an EV. Where does all this electricity come from? Most is produced by fossil fuels. But to sum it up, the U.S. electric grid is in no way ready for EVs. It will take years to get it up to standards.

 

[zipper]

Electric foiling boats.

 

[Bruce]

US electrical generation capacity is around 1.2 billion kWh per hour which is 28.8 billion kWh per day or 10.5 trillion kWh per year.

America's Electricity Generating Capacity | American Public Power Association

Our annual report on electricity generation capacity in the United States breaks down the current and imminent generation of electricity by type of fuel, location, and ownership type. The report also looks at retirements and planned retirements and cancellations since 2014.

www.publicpower.org

43% of that capacity is natural gas, 20% is coal.
In 2020 US electric companies generated 4 trillion kWh.

Electricity generation, capacity, and sales in the United States - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

U.S. annual electricity generation and generation capacity by fuel/energy sources and definitions of important electricity terms.

www.eia.gov

In 2020 total US electricity consumption was 3.8 trillion kWh.

Use of electricity - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

How and how much electricity is used by major types of end uses in homes, commercial buildings, and manufacturing facilities.

www.eia.gov

Electric generation in 2020 was 38% of the potential capacity.

I understand that we need to improve the grid for distribution and to add renewable capacity but we do have quite a bit of unused generating capacity.

I find it funny when my neighbors go green by adding solar panels. We have four hydroelectric dams within 20 miles that are used to supply peak capacity and a nuclear plant 50 miles away.

 

[adrianp89]

Highly unlikely. As stated in a previous post, our electrical grid, as it sits right now, will not be able to handle all the EV dreams people are talking about these days. Much less electric boats. I work in the electrical distribution industry and it always makes me smile when I hear people talking about "going green" by buying an EV. Where does all this electricity come from? Most is produced by fossil fuels. But to sum it up, the U.S. electric grid is in no way ready for EVs. It will take years to get it up to standards.

I think most of us don't give a crap about going green. Electric is simply superior to ICE. Faster and quieter boats with less maintenance, sign me up. We own a Tesla for a few reasons, one of the primary reasons was it being one of the fastest cars under 100k.

 

[AZMark]

I think most of us don't give a crap about going green. Electric is simply superior to ICE. Faster and quieter boats with less maintenance, sign me up. We own a Tesla for a few reasons, one of the primary reasons was it being one of the fastest cars under 100k.

“Going green” and trying to save on one’s energy bills get conflated a lot.
You’re right most would probably not care about the green aspect if it wasn’t at least presented as a cheaper option.

 

[NewGuy]

I'd say 10 years+. All of my customers are closely tied to the energy debate (utilities and factories with massive energy demands). The only sound conclusion I've come to is there is no clean energy except hydro and there isn't enough juice generated by hydro to amount to much. Solar is a fossil fuel consuming and highly toxic production process. Most ironic twist I've seen is the riches being generated by coal miners now. Since the much of the financial sector cut off capital to coal, the survivors found themselves not needing it. Scarcity = high prices = they're digging up their own capital now.

 

[zipper]

I like the orange one. I may be biased.