Hi Michael,
You are correct, the complete drive systems that are available from various electric boat conversion vendors cost more than a bare motor and controller. And you are correct in recongnizing that there are many more pieces provided in those drive systems than just a motor and controller. Your potential drive system vendor should be able to provide a reasonable breakdown of what is included in their system.
When you buy a complete drive system, you're also buying the experience that the vendor has in successfully converting a number of boats. All of the recommended vendors provide exceptional support in getting your boat working and working well. They typically also provide a warranty. Once you add up all of the various pieces that make up a drive, you'll probably find that only 20% or less of the retail price can be considered "profit".
I have converted a number of cars to electric going back to 1995 and yet, when I recently considered converting my 30' ketch to electric, I chose to purchase a complete drive system. And I think that any premium that I paid was more than offset by the expertise that the vendor provided. It seems that virtually every mamber in this group that has chosen to buy a complete drive system agrees that it was a good idea.
Alternatively, we all considered going it alone (I know that I did). There have been a number of group members that have gone that route too. Some of them have gone back and re-engineered some of their installation or had to replace components that were lost to the learning process. Others have decided that their first version is good enough.
But I believe that you will get more predictable results if you go with a system that has already had most of the bugs worked out. On the other hand, some members are in it for the experimentation, doing it themselves may be more important than getting back on the water as quickly as possible.
So it all depends on what your personal goals are. If you are considering vendor supplied solutions, the vendors that are represented in this group are (in alphabetical order) Advanced Marine electric Propulsion, Annapolis Hybrid Marine (seller of ASMO drives), Electric Yacht, and Propulsion Marine. They all sell good products, I chose Propulsion Marine in Santa Barbara when I converted my Cheoy Lee Bermuda 30, I couldn't be happier with the product and the vendor support.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Michael Mccomb" <mccomb.michael@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am new to this forum and new to figuring out what is what in relation to electrically powering a ketch.
>
> I see a fairly large deviation in prices as I look at motor/controller systems of the prepackaged and self assembled nature. Because I would like to understand what is going on before I commit to this I need to understand these deviations.
>
> One purveyor of systems seemed to be charging about $1k/kw of motor power for a fully assembled system. As in $7,000 for a 7kw system and $10,000 for a 10kw system. That seems a bit of an extravagant markup to me when I then go to http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=147 and see a brushless DC motor rated at 10.5kw for $850 and http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=6 for a $490 400amp peak rated controller.
>
> I realize that there are other items involved in the prepackaged systems but to me these two would seemingly be the major components. Am I missing something dramatic???
>
> I am hoping that someone will take on this and the other questions that I have.
>
> Michael
>
No comments:
Post a Comment