Jump from propane to natural gas, however, and the plot thickens quite a bit. On top of those issues, 25 horses is not exactly what we’d call a “large” outboard. On the flip side, there have been some reported complaints about the quality of some of the parts used in these outboards, and they don’t run as smoothly nor as quietly as a modern four-stroke. Range issues are eliminated, since these engines can be run for short distances on those same small propane bottles used for camping stoves, or they can be hitched to the full-sized propane tank that’s sitting in your grill right now. They’re only slightly more expensive than a gasoline-powered outboard (a 15-horse model goes for around $3000 to $3500). Lehr has a track record going back to 2008 they burn far cleaner than gasoline, and the use of propane eliminates the ethanol issues many small outboards suffer from. In fact, propane and natural gas turn out to be excellent alternative fuel choices.īy now most boaters have had some level of exposure to Lehr outboards, which build 2.5 to 25-hp propane-fired outboards. But if you want more than a handful of horses, it’s probably best to look elsewhere. Many sailors find them sufficient for use on relatively small sailboats (Torqeedo says up to one and a half tons), and they certainly perform well as dinghy motors. A three-horse Torqeedo can hum along for hours at a time on its integrated lithium-ion battery, and these batteries are small enough to carry several spares.
If you’re willing to meander along at displacement speeds, electricity holds a lot more promise. The cost for the motor itself stays under the $20,000 mark, but when you add in the price of the four recommended batteries at $15,000 each, the cost for the complete package quickly starts looking astronomical. We ran the Deep Blue 80 on a 17-foot flats boat, and it had a top-end of 17 mph, which it could only maintain for about an hour. And while a go-fast boat may provide a rather extreme example, the same issues do have a significant impact on the appeal of the Torqeedo and ReGen. Nor is the price tag minor-league, hitting $5 million. That Cigarette is a perfect example-half an hour at cruising speed is hardly sufficient for most pleasure boaters, and in the case of the AMG Electric Drive Top Gun, even that requires two tons of batteries be crammed aboard. There is, however, one big problem with harnessing electricity for use on a boat: it takes an awful lot of juice.
300 hp electric inboard boat motor plus#
The 38-foot-long boat holds 12 motors which power a pair of stern drives to produce 2200 hp, providing a 70-mile-per-hour cruise for half an hour, plus “a few blasts” to the boat’s top-end speed of 110 mph. Even Cigarette got into the act, building a one-off, electric go-fast called the AMG Electric Drive Top Gun. At about the same time Campion powered an 18-foot bowrider with a 180-hp electric outboard made by a company called ReGen Nautic-and ReGen says they now have a 300-hp version on the way.
But in 2013 electric outboard industry leader Torqeedo introduced a whopping-big 80-hp model called the Deep Blue. A few short years ago only low-horsepower electrics were on the market, and there’s still a slew of small electric outboards made in the under-five-horse category. Using electric power is perhaps the most obvious way to leave the fuel dock in your wake, and in the past few years there’s been a lot of progress in this venue. And as more and more electric cars hit the roadways, one would think a similar alternative should be available to powerboaters, right? Surprisingly, there isn’t one alternative. Can you really enjoy powerboating without gasoline or diesel fuel? These alternative fuel systems make it possible.Īs fun as it is to blast across the water’s surface at planing speeds, burning all that fuel imposes a very real cost on the environment-and on our wallets.