Now that we have learnt that it takes exponentially more power to push a boat through the water it will come as no surprise that the same applies to slower travelling speeds. displacement hulls. For the remainder of this article we will only be talking about applications for displacement boats that travel slowly. Therefore, at Eco Boats, we focus on the type of boat hulls where it does make sense to use electric propulsion: i.e. However, the cost of systems and batteries will be astronomical, you will need access to shore power to recharge and the range/running time will still only be a fraction, think 60 minutes at top speed, of what a comparable petrol-powered speedboat can offer.įor this reason, here in Australia we could say that an electric speedboat is not economically viable: too expensive and too many limitations. For example, on some freshwater lakes in Europe it’s simply prohibited to use petrol engines, so if you are a millionaire living on one of those lakes and like to go water-skiing then by all means you could get yourself a high-speed electric boat. Yes, there are electric speedboats out there and sometimes it is the only way to go. That is why you often see small speedboats with enormous outboards of 200hp (150kW) or more on the back, all this energy is needed to maintain this high speed.įor electric-powered craft in combination with speed, on-board energy storage is the next biggest limiting factor.Įven the best and most expensive batteries available today contain relatively little energy compared to fossil fuels, such as petrol and diesel.įor this reason it is technically difficult and expensive to have an electric speedboat. If you can make a boat go 5kn with a ten horsepower (7.5kW) motor, you do not simply need three times that to go 15kn more likely you will need a 90hp (67kW) motor or even more to get there. However, to get a boat up to that much faster planing speed, exponentially more energy is needed. Think water-skiing, fast tinnies and all modern speedboats. These are called planing hulls and they can travel at both displacement speed when going slow and at planing speed when going fast. Speedboats have a different hull shape that is designed at higher speeds to lift themselves up onto its own bow wave and rise up out of the water to skim across the surface. We call this type of boat hull a ‘displacement hull’. Many boats are designed to only go at slow speeds think old wooden designs, most sailboats, old ferries, tugboats, rowboats, most dinghies and tenders. To push a boat through the water fast at say ten knots, or to bring a hull up to planing speed at say 15kn to 20kn, requires exponentially more power than to go slowly at 4kn or 5kn.Īny small to medium size boat, up to ten metres long and five ton, can be quite easily brought up to a speed of 4kn or 5kn with relatively little energy required to maintain that speed. Generally, speed is the biggest limiting factor when talking about electric propulsion for boats.
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