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.