ePropulsion Spirit electric motor

[jmckay123]

Wondering if anyone has any experience or comments on the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 electric dinghy motor? I had a chance to demo one yesterday, on a 12 ft inflatable dinghy. It seemed to perform decently, getting up to I think 3 or 4 knots, with no current or wind to fight. It will never get the boat to plane, but supposedly will last 1 hr at full throttle, more if you just putt along. It is supposed to be equivalent to a 3 hp gas motor. I don't like giving up the power of an outboard, but dang the savings in weight, gas engine problems, noise, pollution seem worth it. I'd prefer to have the next model up (6 hp equivalent), but it requires a honking big battery that costs like $3000 (just for the battery) which weighs 65 lbs, so no weight savings (the Spirit is 49 lb including battery). Thoughts?

[StuM]

From their website:

"The 1KW Lithium-ion battery". If they don't know that batteries are measured in KWh, not KW, I'd put little faith in anything else their marketdroids have written.

"one battery works for up to 1 hour" - the classic "up to" which actually means " generally a lot less than".

"And without gearbox, this electric outboard motor will greatly lower - even eliminate noise " - how much noise does a gearbox make?

And yet again we have the "magic electric Horsepower" from an EP vendor.

"Propulsive power - 500W"
"Comparative gasoline engine propulsive power" - 3HP

I guess it depends on how you define "comparative". It certainly doesn't mean "the same as"or to use your phrase "equivalent".
500W = 0.67HP, regardless of the energy source.Generally they mean that the "static thrust" or "bollard pull" (at 0 knots) is about the same as a gas outboard of the same size. But you don't use an outboard driven dinghy as a tug

[LoudMusic]

I spent quite a bit of time pouring over the numbers on the e-Propulsion offerings and they do seem to be the best bang for the buck. But I wouldn't have less than the 6kW model with TWO batteries and then you're looking at $10K and a lot of weight.

Really what I'd like is the Torqeedo 10kW but they don't sell a tiller model. Also it's crazy expensive, and would need a ludicrous amount of batteries to make it useful.

Maybe in another 5 years of development.

[Pieter66]

Had a plus short shaft for half a year now, when picking one know the short is longer than a normal short as far as I understood.

Use it on a 2.7m aluminium RIB of around 50kg, will do 4 knots on full for around 50mins and 3 ish on half power, for around 3 hours. All with no current and a bit of wind, in 20 knots of wind you need full to really advance but never had the feeling it isn't powerful enough.

I like it a lot as light in 2 parts and hassle free but know charging takes a lot of power, empty to full is around 100ah I believe so 50ah per charge is realistic and is ideally done on 220v, 170w, the optional 12v charger is rather slow, 12h for 80% I think.

Issues: not really but I see some corrosion on the battery to engine connector that I can't completely remove and now twice it turned off while running, will see what happens.
Questions?

[Sailer_Med]

I have one as well. Happy to get rid of the 2.5DF Suzuki which my wife found hard/impossible to start. Also happy to get rid of the hassle of sourcing gas.

We push a 2.4m inflatable with it. We use it for hopping from anchorage to shore. Pretty much light duty and nice weather. Works great, takes forever to charge on the optional solar panel as far as I can tell (haven't actually waited forever yet).

I like the quiet nature of the electric. While in total heavier than the Suzuki, the battery and motor are seperable with each part weighing less than the Suzuki. Haven't had and issues yet, but I always keep a pair of oars in the dingy...

[dksail]

We have used the spirit 1.0 plus for two seasons. When you add up the pros and cons, the electric works much better for us than our previous 6hp 4 stroke. You don’t get anywhere fast, but you get there with almost no noise or smell.

We use it on a 9’ RIB and usually go around 3 knots. I think your comment about an hour at full throttle is a stretch, but we can go almost 5 hours at 3 knots.

This allowed us to get rid of all gas on the boat as well as all of the other things you need to take care of a gas engine.

[silvercreek]

I have one and as others said, it performs reasonably well. That said, if I were buying one today it would undoubtedly be the new Torqueedo 1.6kW version. The ePropulsion is 1kW for comparison. Torqueedo also has a 12v kit you can wire to your battery/house electrical system to charge without firing up the inverter, with the associated efficiency losses that accompany it.

[Pieter66]

As our Spirit plus that is now 14 months old shuts down randomly it seems the battery to engine connector has failed. The engine has been returned to ePropulsion France but no fix yet and it has been almost a month.
So purchased a petrol one so we can be on our way as after a couple of emails no more news from ePropulsion.
I love the engine but wouldn't buy again with such bad service. (We are waiting in a marina at 50€/day and ePropulsion don't seem to care) A shame...

[Johan Leopard51]

Maybe the future development of electric tenders is an electric motor direct on impeller shaft like with a seadoo PWC. So motor and battery design part of whole tender design. Intake flush under hull would make for great tender in shallows and on/off beaches.

[mikereed100]

We replaced a Honda 2.3hp with the ePropulsion Spirit and so far love it. I would say that the usable power is closer to a 2 hp gas o/b rather than 3 hp as ePropulsion claims. It pushes our 12 foot hard dinghy at 4 knots at 3/4 throttle. 3 knots at half throttle. Pretty much equivalent to our old Honda. We've done some 4 mile excursions in it and had plenty left in the tank.

We love the quiet which makes it perfect for outings to see the local wildlife. Also, I will never have to take apart and clean one of those dinky carburetors again.

[Tillsbury]

They’re fabulous when they work, but servicing one when they die is almost impossible. There’s no information out there so you can’t do anything yourself. It took us a year to get our fault “repaired” (engine would cut out when over 1/4 throttle) and since return this is now only intermittent so it has been fixed a little. But the tiller is no longer connected to the prop so directional control is random. I don’t know whether I’m up for sending it away for months again. Meanwhile all the electrical connections with plastic fittings have long since broken away so they stay connected only by optimism.

The trouble is, the Torqueedo models are worse, and yes the separate gearbox versions are noisy and the good ones are furiously expensive.

I hope that one day a company starts making a decent electric outboard that can be repaired and is better built. The good parts of getting rid of all petrol are easily worth any downsides.

[Tillsbury]

In normal use, it lasts way over an hour. Only if you are punching into the wind in significant waves will you need anything like full power.

The noise thing is a comparison to Torqueedo, which has the motor on top and a gear drive down to the prop. Yes, it’s much noisier.

[seandepagnier]

anyone managed to rig a speaker to one of these to emulate the sound of a 2 stroke?

[Michael53]

I have had this motor since 2018 on a Hunter 216, mostly for movements to and from mooring but occasionally longer haul when becalmed. Very reliable. Very responsive. No problems with range. The one bug is a seal at the bottom if the shaft where it joins the motor bulb. The seal is poorly fitted and when it cones out is torn by the shaft. Turns out you can’t replace it! I’ve tried a few patch solutions with no great effect. Absence of the seal means the shaft has nothing to absorb vibration at the motor and makes a racket but also seems to reduce power.