Electric vs. combustion - are electric boat engines worthwhile?

We, therefore, recommend traveling at a gentler speed regardless of the engine. Of course, you can crank it up! However, you should always have enough battery capacity or additional fuel onboard so that you don't stay dry!

So the decisive factor is not the energy consumption, but rather the type of storage onboard and there are differences here. You can read more about the differences in the range below in the article.

An electric motor does not produce polluting and smelly exhaust gases when driving. Studies have shown that due to the lack of filter systems, 38 times more nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere. In addition, the engine does not need oil, which could leak.

You go to the lake with the family and have the smell of a gas station in the nose? For us personally, that was one of the most important reasons to get involved with the topic of electromobility. (Of course, there are exceptions who like the smell of a gas station). Nevertheless, we think of you and your health.

For animals and the environment, too, a lack of exhaust fumes or lubricants in the water has a major impact. In port facilities, we too often see a shimmering film of oil on the water. In addition to the animals, it also has benefits for the water quality in your area. Especially with the increasingly hot summers, the water quality of lakes and rivers in Germany is an important factor, which is favored by electric boat drives.

The payback period depends on the engine and your driving behavior. In the calculation, you compare the costs of purchase with those of operation: You buy a 15hp internal combustion engine for 4000€ and spend annually 800€ for gasoline and 200€ for maintenance. Or you buy a 11kw (15 HP) E-motor with battery system for 8000€ and spend only 200€ for electricity per year.

Your electric drive is already profitable after 5 years. After 10 years you have already saved 4000€. Fossil fuels are a limited resource. Do you think the price will rise in the future? We assume in the long term that gasoline prices per liter will increase significantly due to a CO2 tax or similar.

On the other hand, inexpensive solar cells offer the opportunity to generate electricity at zero cost. This electricity can be stored directly in your battery system.

If you use green electricity for your e-motor, operation is even climate-neutral. What does climate neutral mean? No harmful CO2 emissions or nitrogen oxides are produced that pollute the air and endanger your health. In addition, pollutants such as fuel, oil or other lubricants do not get into the water. With electric motors, there is no danger of endangering the local waters and animals.

To generate electricity on the water itself, there is the possibility of mounting solar panels or small wind turbines on the boat. Alternatively, you can also build plants on the dock or on your boathouse and are also safe from rising electricity prices.

This is particularly suitable for houseboats with a larger roof area, but also already for smaller boats. Many solar modules are collapsible or can be rolled up and are thus easily installed on the roof or railing of the boat.

Mid-season you need to have wear parts changed from their engine. Not with an electric motor. Most E-motors are maintenance-free and have an extremely long service life with high-quality workmanship. This saves you a lot of stress. Does the motor still have a warranty? Where can I have the motor repaired and how expensive will it be? Perhaps you are technically more experienced and the replacement of a few wear parts will not cause you any problems. Then this is not so dramatic for you. We would be honestly completely overwhelmed with it! Therefore, we prefer to play it safe with an electric motor.

Safety is the be-all and end-all. On the road, e-cars impress with their higher safety. On the water, care must be taken to ensure dry storage for the battery, although splash water is not a problem. Most motors are absolutely splash-proof. Some batteries are even fully buoyant.The risk of fire is low, a special fire extinguisher on board we still recommend for certain batteries for safety. We mainly work with lithium iron phosphate batteries. These are non-flammable and therefore absolutely safe.

There is no need to handle highly flammable and explosive gasoline on board. From our point of view, it is much more pleasant without a gas can on board.

If you use an electric motor, you always have electricity on board is. Other power consumers such as heaters, lamps, coolers and others can be operated on the same circuit.

Attention here early in the design of your batteries to the required capacity. When planning the route of your boat trip, you should also consider charging points due to the maximum capacity.

The good thing about electric motors: electricity is available almost everywhere! So you can recharge the battery both at your own jetty and in harbors, piers or at electric charging stations and are therefore still very flexible.

Petrol has an energy density 100 times higher than lithium-ion batteries. E-motors are 10 times more efficient. Effectively, the energy density is therefore 10 times worse and therefore has a negative impact on the maximum range.Therefore, battery weight and acquisition costs are an important aspect, especially for larger engines or continuous glide. It is therefore worthwhile to determine the battery capacity to the desired travel time and capacity optimally.

Indem you plan their routes or trips well, this disadvantage can be very easily circumvented. Electricity is usually available at any dock or port. If you use your boat during the day, it can be connected to the power grid overnight at the dock and will be fully operational again the next day at the latest.

While it is a disadvantage, because you either need more space in your boat for batteries or have a shorter range. Fortunately, an electric motor takes up much less space than a main engine with an internal combustion engine. From our experience, most conversions to an e-motor have not had any range issues.

Electric motors and battery systems have to be manufactured and transported to Germany. Resources are also used in the production process and CO2 emissions are produced. Also, the motors will mostly be produced in Asia and then imported.

We pay much attention to this fact and prefer manufacturers with a better CO2 balance. We have designed a special CO2 calculator on our website, with which you can calculate the CO2 balance in detail and see from when an E-motor is better for the environment.

In the media, just because of the E-cars much is reported about the production of batteries and the resulting damage to the environment. Here follows shortly a detailed article about the production and the associated emissions.

Pro kWh battery accumulates about 125 kg of CO2. This corresponds to the emission of about 60 liters of gasoline. Depending on the size of the battery, you can thus calculate very quickly after which consumption the conversion to a battery-electric vehicle is worthwhile. Mostly already within the first year!

The charging time until fully charged varies depending on the battery and charger. A boat can be refueled much faster with gasoline, diesel or hydrogen. On paper, this is another disadvantage of an electric boat drive. However, boaters are very rarely on the road for long periods of time without stopping.The charging speed of battery systems continues to increase and the flexibility of e-mobility continues to evolve. Tesla's Supercharger leads the way, charging a car battery up to 80% in 30 minutes. The number of charging stations on the water also continues to rise, so in the future even longer trips will be possible without problems.

Depending on your needs, we will be happy to jointly find a suitable charging option for your boat or an E-drive with the appropriate range. However, an electric motor is not really useful for every range and every area of application.