E FOY Fuel Cell Generator

[COLINFLTENG]

Just went to Vancouver boat show was show demo E FOY unit look interesting has any one used this unit a little price limit
Cheers Colin

[COLINFLTENG]

Sorry to see that no one has used this generator I may have to be the first what money Green power in BC

[bstreep]

Well, $10K to get a 90w system (nominal output, per literature, 2200w hours / 24) just doesn't seem like it makes too much sense. And, that doesn't include fuel.

Am I missing something?

[COLINFLTENG]

The price I was told was $5000 and $3000 at Vancouver boat show where did you get that quote trying to go green

[four winds]

I think the fuel costs would need careful research.

After ten minutes of research I notice the 5 liter fuel bottle has a capacity to generate 5.5 kWh of electrical energy.

And it looks like the Comfort 140 model will produce 1.7 kWh per day at a 12v 6amp output to charge a recommended 60-240 Ah battery bank. At about 140 Ah per day that sounds like a fairly common daily usage on a modest cruiser.

Assuming as such then a 5 liter bottle would last about 2-3 days. Appears to be a cumbersome 6 amp battery charger that runs out of fuel every three days to me.

The question is, at what cost and how to manage supply of fuel. Which by the way appears to be methyl alcohol or naphtha. Don't no if the bottles are proprietary or how hard to refill.

That's what I got after ten minutes, but I'm not intrigued by any means.

I could be wrong yet again, but seems to me a solar array producing the same amount of daily energy would be much more cost effective and simpler to use and maintain.

[COLINFLTENG]

EFOY 2200 charging rate is 180 ah / day
Rated output 90w
Fuel cartridge comes in 10 liter
Methanol consumption is 1.1/100 Ah

[four winds]

So if one used the rated output daily, with that model, the 10 liter bottle would be empty in 4-5 days.

Where does one purchase methanol? at what price? At usage rate of 10 liters per week to source, seems problematic.

I've never had a need for methanol, so I'm clueless.

But wouldn't a couple hundred watts of solar be a better idea? and more green? 180 Ah of solar per day doesn't seem as problematic to me.

[COLINFLTENG]

EFOY say that they can ship to any point I call from Methanol cell are safety tested as a back up to my wind generator and solar panels

[four winds]

As a backup, and not used daily, that does change the scenario somewhat.

Had not even considered shipping the fuel, with added cost and hassle of shipping a flammable liquid. Personally wouldn't want to do that too often.

Hopefully one wouldn't have to use it.

Seems like more trouble than it's worth, and I wouldn't expect this product for achieve much wide spread use.

They should try selling the units for pennies on the dollar to get them out there and make the money off proprietary fuel supply. That worked pretty well for ink jet printer makers for a while.

[denverd0n]

I just don't see much use for a product that requires a fuel source that is not readily available in the places that I'm going to be.

[OceanPlanet]

Handy for race boats as lightweight power backup (vs. a heavy diesel genset or engine). However the energy density of the fuel is less than diesel so after some point in time the diesel genset is lighter.

Solar is tough to beat over the long haul. Nigel Calder has often used an amortized average cost of $4/kWh for energy produced by diesel on the average yacht. That's figuring in the cost of eventually replace the diesel engine. He's put figures that calculate that some boat solar installations can actually pay for themselves in around a year.

Lots of variables to be sure. Anyway, I have heard of some racing boats using the E-Foy units.

[COLINFLTENG]

I think I can carry no problem for two weeks at time
Why has it worked in Europe
Maybe I could supply people going desolation sound

[COLINFLTENG]

Problem with fuel cell $67 little too high very two weeks $134 a month going wind and soler

[PUDDLE JUMPER II]

This thread is rather old since it's debut--- Anyone out there actually using Fossil Fuel visa vi E-FOY System or anything of its kind? I would really like for one of their sales REPS do the MATH for us and explain 1) How + 2) Fossil Fuel is cheaper/greener than Solar/Wind generation? Is that too much to ask? Anyone know if the IRS is still giving away TAX deductions for BUYING either a Solar System or Fossil Fuel System?

[Finistere]

Defender has these units for sale:

http://www.defender.com/category.jsp...985&id=1848741

$59.99 plus shipping for the 10 liter (2.5 Gal) fuel cartridge, that is only $24 a gallon methanol. I will pass up going green in this case.