Hi, Eric, that's interesting.
Have to admit, I can't for the life of me understand it, but it is
interesting.
I 'CAN' understand someone not being satisfied with an electric
powerboat, due to not achieving plane as easily. But most installations
seem to be for sailboats.
I read somewhere a while ago that quite a few sailboats, I think the
study was done in the US, never raise their sails from one season to the
next - I can't figure that out either.
After giving what you say here a little thought, I suspect that the
dissatisfied ones might have not properly considered their particular
boating situation, such as a member of another group I belong to, who
sold his boat and did not replace it, as he was 'fed up with looking at
the same 12 miles of shore' getting to and from his cruising place under
power. 24 miles per daysail would be an electric project killer for me,
too.
As for electric cars, paying $40,000 or whatever just to buy a car that
appears to be designed to be complex enough to maintain the auto service
industry is not my cup of tea either, but import a $4000 simple plug-in
car from India, that has a 50 mile or so range, and I would be in the
market, if they changed the ugly body.
Interesting that this seems to fit in with my own thinking that the
mindset has to pull away from direct comparison with ICE, as ICE might
always have the advantage of excess power and range due to wastefulness.
One wonders if there would be the same discontent as you mention, if the
cost of electric conversion were a lot lower. It will no doubt come upon
the heels of car development.
Anyway, with what I am up to in trying to see how low powered I can go
and still have a useful unit, it will be interesting to see if my
thinking, which is obviously non-mainstream, changes by this time next
year!
John
1b. Re: Pros and Cons of Lower Voltage
Posted by: "Eric" ewdysar@yahoo.com ewdysar
Date: Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:09 am ((PDT))
John,
Keep in mind that the people on this board are fans of the technology.
It would take a special kind of personality to stay in a group like this
if one didn't think that the time and money spent on their conversion
was worth it. Anecdotally, I know of a few boats that were converted to
electric and put up for sale in much less than a season. Even with the
conversion just completed, the asking prices did not reflect the
considerable investment in the drive conversion. While I didn't speak
to the sellers, one can assume that they weren't satisfied with the
results. At least one of those owners had already bought a similar ICE
version of their converted boat to replace the electric one.
Try going online and reading user reviews of Torqeedo outboards. There
are many people that are very disappointed in their purchase, they don't
have an electric mentality. That said, I own a Torqeedo Travel 801 and
I believe that it represents the top end of that market segment.
I will say again that I don't believe that electric sailboats can meet
the expectations of most sailboat owners today (a lot like electric
cars). However, for sailors that use their boats in a way that doen't
conflict with the obvious compromises of an electric sailboat, electric
drive can be very pleasant improvement.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...
No comments:
Post a Comment