Battery power has come a long way, whether considering automobiles, power tools, lawn and garden equipment, or marine outboard motors. Cost parity between electric and gas models is nearly at hand in the auto industry, and energy-dense Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFeP04) battery prices are expected to drop 11 percent per year, every year through 2030. The trends “should open a path to large electric yachts becoming not only viable, but more attractive to buyers,” according to marine industry trade publication International Boating Industry.
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How is it that you folks didn’t include the Momentum outboard? It’s a game changer.
, You mean besides having to pay $14,000 for a battery engine combination for relatively new technology, one US distributor in Florida, parts only available in Singapore?
Great article. Had a 2-stroke Tohatsu on my Hunter 26 from 2000-2002, and am SO glad to have moved completely to electrics on my sailboats since 2013. Had good experience with Torqueedo Travel on my Harbor 20 from 2013-2021, though it had limited range and struggled to drive this 1,800 lb boat through steep chop or 20 knot winds on the nose. Upgraded to Torqueedo Cruise 3.0R on my 2022 Tartan 245, which weighs 2,750 pounds, and this 6 horse 3-blade with 56 lb battery has all the range and power I need — goes from 0 to 5 knots in about 50 yards and pushes through chop beautifully. I raced the Harbor 20 and the Tartan 245, and liked the light weight of the Torqueedo Travel, but am ok with the substantially heavier Torqueedo Cruise for my 24′ Tartan, for which the Travel would have been insufficient. My boat is kept on a lift, so have easy access to shore power, and will never go back to gas power for my sailboats!
I decided to power my tender with an electric for the following reasons:
No noiise
No smell
No maintenace
No starting issues
No need to to carry gas (and oil)
No risk of the little rainbows on the water emanating from the engine
Ease of putting in and taking out while on mooring
Lightweight (with battery removed) even with it in, it is easier to handle.
Easier maneuvering in tight quarters with more control over low end speeds.
The convenience factor alone and not having to do maintenance was more than worth the higher purchase price to me.
Several years ago I bought a Torqeedo electric motor. It worked pretty good till the battery went bad. A proprietary battery I had to buy from them. Very expensive. (The expense precludes a backup battery also.) Keep it another couple years till that battery started to degrade. Switched to Newport electric. They do not restrict you to a proprietary battery from them like the other electric outboard manufactories do. Being able to hookup to a battery from anybody makes this a more dependable/consistent choice.
Great to see PS doing more stuff with electric motors. I would suggest, if you do an update or future article for this, that you include lower priced electric outboards, like Newport Vessels, which one can find used in many places and when new, are way cheaper than those you reviewed. I have a Newport 55 I got on Ebay and built a a 12v LiFePo4 battery from four “Eve” cells that fit perfectly into the Newport battery box. Could us a little more power but works well for getting to and from the boat. Many of us are looking for alternatives to gas or diesel engines but don’t want to spend crazy sums of cash, just to get there, and are looking for ways to do it that are DIY friendly and more affordable.
The power range of the guide is 2.5 to 9.9 equivalent, so I did not include lower-power trolling motors, like the Newport 55. Newport does offer the NT300, a 3hp equivalent. After reading and watching video reviews, I decided not to include in this roundup, but it is a low-cost option that works with third-party batteries.
A few observations based on 8 sailing seasons with electric outboards on our Achilles dingy. We, too, got sick of tearing down and rebuilding outboard carbs fouled by gasoline with ethanol.
While we loved the ease of use of the Torqeedo, we went through 4 of them in 7 years – 2 replaced per warranty, 1 purchased used after the 3d one died out of warranty, and finally gave up on Torqeedo after too many problems that were not user-serviceable. The skeg (and prop) are so fragile; the metal parts don’t hold up well in a salt water environment (I destroyed one motor trying to remove a stuck shear pin in the prop shaft), and the various error codes that show up when we’re far from home that can’t be resolved without “return to a Torqeedo service center” got to be too frustrating. Last summer we went with an E-Propulsion; so far so good (but we still carry our old gas outboard when cruising as a backup, just in case).
We originally purchased the E-Prop Spirit 1.0, but quickly discovered that the motor would not tilt up sufficiently to drag the dingy up the beach. The dealer graciously allowed us to return it and upgrade to the Evo model, which because it has a detachable tiller tilts 85 degrees (the Spirit only tilts 70 degrees).
With both the Torqeedo and the E-Prop we set up a system for charging directly from our solar panels, by wiring a switch to allow us to bypass an MPPT controller (that ordinarily charges our house bank) and instead feed the solar output from a couple of our panels directly to the outboard battery. With the Torqeedo, the internal BMS can handle up to somewhere around 45V (no need for a separate charger). With the E-Prop, the OEM “solar charger” will accept up to 52V. With both outboards, charging at the higher voltage produced from a direct output from the solar panels greatly reduces charging time compared to charging at 12V.