Is 2023 The Year For Electric Outboard Motors for Boats?

epropulsion kan be used with a separat battery

I recommend try it on water then behind desk :)

thank you with the information you research and provided. thanks

I just bought a deep cycle battery for my RV. It was 90 bucks with the core exchange plus tax... Almost exactly 100 dollars. Three of these is 300 bucks. I am not exactly sure what the amp hours real life comparison would be but one advantage besides you could get more amp hours per dollar is they don't have the all the power and instantly dead characteristic of lithium

Prices gotta come way down. 60k for a 200hp inboard? BS! Even 100hp is 14k plus batteries. Aint gonna happen until the got damn prices droppppp

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You can buy a 36v/ 100Ah battery for the Newport nk300 for $999.00

Considering the price of trolling motors, I don't understand why bigger electric motors are so expensive. They should be very simple to make.

I have a 40 year old 9.9 that runs well that I hope to keep going until these prices come down. I expect big improvements in motor and battery tech.

Also hoping for better battery form factor better integrated on the bottom of the boat that one can walk and put stuff on as well as providing better weight distribution.

I am curious of the performance of say a 10 hp at low speed. Could one troll with it at very slow speeds? Eliminating a trolling motor would be great for decluttering and should be accounted for in costs.

Weight?
Weight?
(including batteries)
This is critical.
I’m on a sailing boat, and I have to pass down the outboard to someone in the tender. PLUS I have to drag the boat up a steal beach.
Weight is critical.

As the size of electric outboards go up so does the weight of the battery! Plus the cost at this time is prohibitive! I will stay with my 9.9 Yamaha four stroke thank you!!!

Trust me we are never the winners. How about this my battery is dead do you have one I can use to get back to the dock. And it will need to be compatible with my elco. No a extra gal of gas won't work

I think most people who truly love and respect the outdoors love the idea of electric outboards. To this day I HATE seeing that little oil slick a 2-stroke leaves in the water. I didn't like it as a child, and I don't like it today. But, until they make a affordable outboard that truly competes in power up to 150hp, along with affordable batteries to run them.... it's just not practical. Now, these smaller trolling motors for kayaks, etc... There are some really cool options. A bit expensive for my budget, but the products themselves are neat. Great video! Thanks for sharing.

For extended cruising in remote locations, electric outboards come in handy. Yes, gas is relatively cheap. But you need to take into account the time and effort of the trips. Obviously, you can get more power and range out of gas, but independence by giving out a little bit of excitement sounds fair.

Nah i think ill stick to my 2 strokes, i just leave them under the deck in winter after running them out of fuel. Starts riht up the next season.

Thank You for the video. I have had a Torqeedo for almost two years in my wooden traditional archipelago sailboat. The price was no issue since it's a hobby. Things I like are: I never have to transport gas cans in my car to the cabin. The motor starts instantly, really easy to give a little push to finish a tack in light winds or to go straight headwind in small narrow passages. No noise, birds beavers and neighbors don't mind. No smell. Things I don't like: the Torqeedo connector.

Mercury 20e (5hp) and 35e (10hp) equivalents will be released later this year. A 10hp is about the smallest useful motor around here.

Don't forget DOC Daily Operating Cost. The more you use electric, the cheaper it becomes. Gas is not getting any cheaper and the more you use a gas motor, the more money you will spend.

That newport looks to have a much larger battery than the other two, i have a 1000Wh battery, its about the size of 4 of those smaller 12V UPS batteries, but not quite as small as those 12v batteries used for emergency lighting.

If i had to guess, the other two batteries are under 400Wh given the space available.

Now personally i'd rather build my own battery, i was looking the other day for options for whole home solar, and youv can get 16x 3.2v 280AH cells and a 16S 250A BMS for around $3700, so i bought it, i havent deployed it yet but building it looks super simple, just strap them down properly, bridge them with the included bus bars, wire up the 16S BMS and tighten them down(dont compress them, just prevent them from expanding)
Thats over 14KW of battery, for not much more than the torqueedo.
Oh and this pack should be capable of a constant output of at least 10KW/13HP, or up to 20KW/26HP if i cool it properly, but at that power draw it would only run for 1H/0.5H respectively

Thinking about it, a 10kw motor, on a pontoon, with a full length canopy, that is covered in the more efficient rigid solar cells(basically re-build the canopy to be a solar pannel) i could drive all day on solar around 3KW, and then have an hour of run time at 10HP

Now try the "4 HP " 4 stroke.

I think we have to factor in at least the cost of the petrol for your outboard. The figures I am presenting here I just looked up on the Suzuki and E-Propulsion websites. So, if they are way off let them know.

The E-Propulsion Spirit 1.0 plus has a 1.276 kW battery and can be charged about 3000 times. In my neck-of-the-woods that would cost $0.17 per kwH * 1.276 * 3000 = $650 for the whole life of the battery. You can run the engine flat out for about an hour on one charge. But you can certainly run it for much longer at 1/2 throttle.

The Suzuki 2.5 hp has a 1 litre (0.264 US gallon) tank, and the engine will use about 1.5 litres (0.4 gallons) per hour if you are running it at full throttle, and of course you'd have to fill it every 45 mins. So, to get the same run time you'd have to fill the gas tank 4500 times versus 3000 electric charges. Petrol where I am is about $1.8 / litre, so we get 4500 x $1.8 = $8,100. That is a huge difference in running costs, and does not include, oil, spark plugs and other general service which will be much more for the 2.5 hp gas engine.

It's more money up-front, but much less in the long run. I can't speak for the cost efficiency of the bigger electric versus petrol engines. But for me, the smaller electric outboard is clearly the way to go.

Thanks for the information and the food for thought.

Errrr.. No way. Imagine the stress of worrying about range and at sea. And as for the weight and astronomical cost of the batteries, utterly ridiculous. This is another net bonkers zero fantasy. Happy customers are those with small trolling motor, but forget 80hp +, totally impractical for cruising.

LiFePo batteries last 20+ years

80% of 8 years cost of fuel should be included in combustion calculations. Now which is more costly?

Can’t wait for pricing to come down. One advantage of electric motors over the fossil fuelled variety that I have not seen mentioned here is the instant torque which will get you going faster.

Another brand I have come across is ThrustMe from $2450. Not sure about their naming choices and expensive for 2hp equivalent but has a built in 259Wh battery and claims a 2.5 hour run time which seems good.

Also eclassoutboards from Australia offer outboards up to 60hp if you have a spare $10,000 USD!

Dump the electrics! If you haven’t figured it out yet, you never will!

Nice report, thank you!
And what about Hangkai e-motors?

I’ll stick with gas. I’ll take another look at electric in about 3 years.

We have seen a 1000 fold increase in video views on our channel on all topics electric boating. I believe we will reach the tipping point for consumer acceptance within 5 years. Kudos for the review

You can get a dirt cheap electric motor. I think I paid under 200 for mine

Great video, thanks! I have been using an electric car for years and I am happy, for my use it is perfect. The maximum efficiency today possible. This spring I will have to equip my little tender with an outboard. So far I was not convinced of the offer of little ones (2-3 kW) but, thanks to your video now I know the Newport NT300. Maybe it will be my next outboard ...

You might want to include the weight of all this stuff. When powering a small vessel, weight must be considered too.

Ive always wondered about the torque vs. horsepower in outboards.
It's really torque that is important.
A less horsepower electric motor may have more torque than its equal horsepower gas counterpart.
Hopefully you can do some comparisons!

Very good comparison and video but I’m surprised you didn’t speak on the run time, with batteries on full blast you will run out of power while with a gas motor you simply fill it up and can fish all day and night without worrying about run time. The cost and power will not be sufficient for most it seems.

But....when you buy the battery that should be good for 3000 to 5000 cycles. Compare that to the fuel expense and I bet its in favor of the electric. Those gas engines are with no gas.

Not interested in a motor that could turn my boat into something that will kill anyone that touches it. I'm gonna wait a LONG time for these to be perfected before I put that near water and a metal boat. Zero chance!

These things are toys not tools yet. What good is it when u can't use it because the battery needs to charge? Or spend the equivalent of another motor for an extra battery? Up time and convenience make these for little dingys and put putters. The usefulness is extremely limited! Can't take it to a back lake, on a trip, or anywhere too far from the dock. Great investment!

The POV expressed with regards to "you still need a battery" is incorrect.
One should view the battery in an e-outboard as the equivalent of fuel in a gas outboard!

Milwaukee will make one soon

holy fuck i thought this was Norm Mcdonald

Just the video I wanted to see, thanks!

Ill keep my two strokes

Excellent and invaluable

Fact 1) 750w =1hp. As of May 2024 a 12v 100ah lithium base LIPO on Amazon is around $130- $140. Fact check me. Batteries connected in series the voltage adds up. 12+12=24v. 5 batteries in series = 60v. Amazon 10hp 60v electric outboard $523.00. 6 batteries $700 . $1223 10hp including batteries 🎉😊

I grew up on a small electric only lake man made lake. My parents still have a house there so electric is interesting to me. But it's hard for these modern brushless high voltage deals to compete with a decent trolling motor. Some of them are so low power I'm not sure they're gonna out perform a trolling motor and deep cycle batteries. Batteries for an RV or truck can last a couple hrs going slow. But to last this long with a multi HP lithium setup is going to need a lot of battery storage as it's not safe to drain them entirely. You have to know the nuances of charging multiple cell lithium and the limits of the stock chargers. Chargers for lower voltages such as RC can balance cells with a balance cable. but for large packs it's usually the responsibility of a battery management board to prevent over discharging and shut down the battery with a low cell voltage. You have to hope the BMS board has the tech to keep the cells balanced, keep you safe and not discharge any cells when it sits idle. I've seen several lithium powered products that really don't like to sit idle. I've had Bosch drill batteries shut down and refuse a recharge without opening things and charging cells individually. I've had a one wheel thing I think by razor have a 5s section of its 15s battery be dead by way of the bms drawing from them disproportionately. Without a well engineered charging system it may still be safe but it can also be a setup for disappointment. Seeing these prices makes me want to use my Rc knowledge and diy a setup after developing a big distrust of the common electric bicycle and other systems.

You Crack me up! You mention , with glee , the cost of an electric motor with fuel cells , but never add in the cost of a gas motor with fuel cells and gas and oil. If you're going to be analytical , then be completely fair. Sheesh!

Great channel just wanted to ask you if you tried out that new Newport 3 hp yet

How does the total cost of ownership compare? Including fuel and electricity costs over the life of the motor?
Batteries have so far been having way longer lifespans than anyone expected

I use a Torqueedo Travel 1100 on my 19' sailboat. It works really nice. Moves the boat well against wind and chop in the water. I use it to get out into the bay and back in. And it's easy on my back, bringing it from the car to the transom of the boat. I'm very happy with how it functions.
However, one has to consider the cost of batteries. You're not done once you buy it. The batteries CAN last ten years, but I've had a few batteries die at five years. I figured, "I didn't use the boat that much this year, so the batteries should last a long time." Nope. Even with just a few charge cycles, the lithium batteries have a limited lifespan based on AGE. And they die suddenly. So you have HAVE to have a spare onboard, and you have to buy a new spare every five years to make sure you don't get stuck. So to keep two batteries that are no more than 5 years old, that's about $2k every five years, or $400 per year. A couple times I got batteries on Black Friday sales through West Marine, but this year there was no such option. So it's a little frustrating. There's a guy on ebay who will put in new cells in old Torqeedo batteries for half the cost of a new battery. Not sure how good it is, but it's something to consider. Torqeedo should offer this service, but as of yet they don't.
So, I'm happy with the motor, but kind of annoyed with the continued costs of operating it.

The torqeedo battery is made to be removed and swapped in under 1 min