David,
I've been involved with electric car conversions for about 15 years, and I have seen the same emission arguments against electric cars. Some people have claimed that electric cars should have higher emissions per mile that average cars due to local power sources. There is now solid evidence to the contrary, the Nissan Leaf is recognized with EPA gas milage equivalent of 99mpg with holistic emissions much lower than the latest gasoline hybrids or hyper-efficient diesels.
As far as "what's the point", their use case is different than my boating needs; however, that doesn't make their use case any less valid. I know a number of large power boaters that use their boats for "sunset harbor cruises" more than half the time that they cast off from the dock. That usage is low speed and could be entirely covered by shore power charging, the diesels would not need to be started at all.
I agree that given the setup, the electric drives are probably not designed to add power beyond the capabilities of the IC engines, like some automotive hybrids, but again, the use case is different for a boat instead of a car.
The statement that you have no experience with this type of boat makes your arguments against the concept more speculative than practical. I didn't see anything in their marketing info that was any more misleading than what you see in regular promotional propaganda for non-hybrid boats (or cars, or cell phones, or coffee makers, etc...)
Like you, I personally don't believe that pleasure boats like the ones that we discuss in this group benefit from hybrid drive systems because of the additional complexity, weight, cost, etc. But I know that some people here feel differently and I'm not willing to discount other opinions just because I don't agree with them.
We all get to spend our money and time however we like, so more power to whomever wants to buy one these yachts. And I'm guessing that even we will eventually gain benefits from this type of "leading edge" product with the lessons learned from supporting mainstream users.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, David Goldsmith <suntreader@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for pointing that out, I just didn't explore their materials
> completely enough to find that spec.
>
> .... if you're charging at the dock then you're just displacing the > emissions and again, it might be more or it might be less depending > on distance to the power generation state, efficiency of the power > grid, type of power plant, efficiency of battery chargers, etc. In > general, point-source fuel use creates fewer emissions, but like I > said, there are so many factors involved it can go either way.
>
> They've got a bunch of best possible scenarios there, like the idea that the
> owner is going to idle along at 7 knots, well below hull speed, instead of
> shooting off at the 22 knots of cruising speed advertised.
>
> So, ultimately, my point is, what's the point of this thing?
>
> I don't have any experience in power boats of this size, is it often a
> problem maneuvering because the engines don't idle low enough?
> ..... I also didn't see it described that the
> electric motors could work in tandem with the diesels for additional total
> power, but they were two separate systems that could drive the same props
> but not at the same time.
>
> Its not really the product I don't like, its the implications in the way its
> described which strikes me as dishonest.
>
> David
>
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