Oh, I don't think the performance numbers are off-base. Page 18 of the catalog shows each battery has 13kWh. Let's assume that all this energy is available for use, and that their BMS keeps the operator from discharging to a depth that would invalidate the 9 year battery performance warranty.
So they have about 20kW available for about 2 hours. Can the center-console boats and rigid inflatables that is their current market get "over-the-hump" with 20kW? I'd think so, providing as you mentioned, the boats are lightly loaded. Might need to shift passenger weight forward while getting on plane.
I'd suggest that the run-time/cost numbers just aren't going to be popular in waters where ICEs are allowed. If my part of Puget Sound is any example, nobody runs a planing fishing boat/inflatable at 12 MPH if they can go 30 MPH. And allowing for the classic safety reserve of 1/3 fuel to get there, 1/3 back, and 1/3 for reserve, the boater has 40 minutes planing time to get somewhere (in smooth water).
Deep Blue is very cool, but I'll bet I never see one on a boat around here, unless they start closing more lakes to ICEs.
As you said, displacement hulls are an entirely different kettle of fish, and I just enjoyed a relaxing 4 1/2 knot cruise this morning in mine. Used about 500Wh. Nothing wrong with going slowly if you are warm and comfortable.
But I do sometimes like to go fast, and I'm considering building a 16'ish inboard planing hull. Just a fair-weather boat, very light weight cold-molded hull, retro-style, fully decked, 2 persons capacity.
I figure I can build the boat for about $8K, put in about $12K of CALB cells, another $7K of motor/controller/charger. Electric hot rod on the water! But still very limited run time on a plane.
It will be very interesting the impact Deep Blue has on boating.
-Tom
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "fneilss" wrote:
>
> I'd be surprised if you got anywhere near 2 hours of 'barely' planing, even with the 3 battery (~20KWh) config on that light boat. Particularly with any load (ie, several passengers). And that would be draining the batteries dry, which obviously would not be good for longevity.
>
> Why doesn't the world just slow down? I wish the industry would concentrate on ultra-efficient semi-displacement long range runabout hulls and electric motors/batteries, which would give us the ability to run all day, at say 10 knots, for less than $50k all up. But I guess that's too slow for today's boater...
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Tom" wrote:
> > It looks like Deep Blue is only intended for use with Torqeedo's Li-Mn batteries, so better add $49K for the mid-size battery bank, which allows about 2 hrs runtime at barely-planing speed on the 1100lb boat used in their catalog.
> >
> > I wish them success, but that sure seems like a pretty limited market... Maybe there are enough folks who need to run (briefly) at planing speeds on non-ICE waterways, but I'll bet most of them are in Europe, not the US.
> >
> > -Tom
> >
>
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