ELECTRIC SAILING: WHY THEY CANCELED THEIR OCEANVOLT SYSTEM 

We have an oceanvolt on our Bristol 35, truthfully we use it as if we did not have a motor, sailing in and out of harbors, waiting for weather windows, only motoring in flat seas, but that may not work for everyone.

Torqeedo produces a really good series hybrid, but they only really market to boat builders and commercial operators, I think it’s also quite expensive but it ends up using HV BMW batteries which seem to work really well

Interesting. Going electric is both absolutely possible as well as not for everyone. Last winter I build and installed a full electric system into Aku Wama, my Pogo 8.50. After one full season and 3000 miles I am still very happy with it, it turned out much better than I expected. I should do a video about it :). But, my electric engine is truly as powerful (6 kW) as the diesel engine (10hp) it replaced, a Pogo sails very well so I rarely do need to motor longer stretches (but traversing the Kiel Canal was not a problem), and the boat, engine and batteries are all a lot smaller than a 45 ft cat.

I also think the people asking for a parallel hybrid are using the same logic blackberry users used to argue against switching to an iphone.

We will have soon an monohull OVNI 430, aluminum boat , 24 kW Ocean Volt electrical motor, a 19in propeller, 2 x 24 Volts LiFe Po4 batteries ( if one set fails, the other one can work, a 11 kW genset that can provide automatically electricity to the motor if we have problem with the batteries and 940W solar panels. All the boaters with an hybrid system are very happy and will never return to a big diesel engine, noisy et smelly. But silence has a price and it is still costly. In 2035, diesel motoring boat construction will stop in Europe. Be prepared

Hoi Jessica, Bedankt voor de aanvulling op de vorige show van dit leuke koppel altijd interessant de discussie tussen een brandstof motor of elektrisch en de eerste interview van Hugo dat is ook een leuke show

Follow the logic of Toyota and a hybrid is the ultimate as a large battery has a huge expense and all your eggs in one basket. I want to be able to motor out of the way of a freighter a fishing boat or a storm if my rigging let’s go or,,,,got hit by lighting and fried the electrical systems. How green are batteries ? You can buy a replacement battery , just the cells, for a Prius that are better than the originals for cooling for around 2500 usd. eBay has complete battery packs for under 4000. Automotive systems are amazing for the safety of replacements. You have no choice and must cut the power coming out of the battery pack in order to remove it. Incased in metal has a cooling fan with a filter built in temp sensors and will be bolted in place. Bingo . These batteries would easily fit under your bed . If you aren’t sure just watch a RU-vid video of how to change a Prius battery. Using components from the automotive world is possible but not for everyone. The advantage of supply and universality are a no brainer. The safety factor as automotive products are designed for impacts roll overs and basically accidents. A Prius battery pack weighs 90 lbs and would basically fit in a large suitcase. So have two of them with some solar and power the whole boat and a separate starting battery for the engine. Thanks for the video peace on earth and ocean.

We’ve been discussing and think it’s great for sailing eg 50-100nm a day, no aircon on . But given we’re more likely to sail days on end 24/7 with multiple air conditioners and equipment on, we doubt it’ll work and that it’s worth the investment. Even though we’re looking at many kw of solar and regeneration.. the calculation so far seem off. Well discuss again before de finite order to build goes in. But so far I don’t see the point in financial terms at all. Given what we would spent in addition the financial part seems way off. Hence for that money we may redesign the hulls to sail more and motor less. And buy a diesel.

A day when u can add on the bracket to mount an electric piggybacked to the diesel on existing setup. Independant of and as an alternative to , when conditions are right. Perhaps a sprocket for a belt/chain between the transmission and coupler ? and a reliable, simple clutch. My yanmar 2gm20's are 40 yrs old now and running nicely. A simple retrofit is the day I'm looking forward to. Maybe I'll learn to weld 😊. Nice video guys and I agree with your decision .

People go PARALLEL hybrid because of redundacy of systems. Diesel dies then eltectric takes over or vice versa. That's the big argument. But comes the question of weight. 2 systems = weight of 2 systems. You double everything. Can anybody tell me how people can build performance carbon boats including such a design which does not care of the weight? This makes no sense at all as performance means control of the weight. I do not get either those same people as they say they will never use the diesel engine, or just in some rare situations as the recharge of the batteries is needed. This being said, they will use 99% of the time an electric motor which is not a true main electric motor, since it just an additional motor added to an existing thermal engine system, and in order to charge the batteries, they will use a diesel engine which is not a true dedicated generator...Reliable technology is there. A true electric engine combined to a true generator. SERIAL hybrid makes sense and seems to be a smarter approach!

Great video

Most of the electric and hybrid packages marketed today are for getting in and out of docks and harbors. They are substantially undersized. Motors on sailboats must be sized for the worse conditions and long durations. That is why the sucessful electric boats are large and can accommodate 100-120 kw emotors and 200-300 kw battery banks per motor. A lot of weight and a lot of money. After the initial start up of a big electric motor you can "motorsail" for 10-30 hours drawing about 15-30 kw per hour. I prefer an electric electric motor in bad conditions because torque is instant while diesel torque is wot.I have also have lost my diesel too many times in bad seaways because of overheating or contaminated fuel. Two 7.5 kw generators will extend your range substantially.

Can you explain your reasoning about electric being better suited for costal cruising than blue water sailing? I seems the opposite to me: one cannot afford to run out of power near the coast and one sails when on a passage, even if it means slowly when there is not much wind.

2:06 sorry, but no. Diesel engines are most efficient (highest torque/lowest consumption) at low RPMs, around 1700-1800 rpm. Typical optimal range of any ICE is hardly ever in use in typical application, but can absolutely be taken advantage of by generators or serial hybrids. 2:10 also no, as pretty much every new hybrid model nowadays uses serial generation. You cherry pick Prius as an example, meanwhile both Nissan and Mazda use serial hybrid in all their new hybrid models. 2:45 you don’t have to be underpowered, there’s no reason why you can’t have a generator powerful enough to drive powerful electric engine. It’s true, though, that it appears that marine manufacturers charge arm and leg for their more powerful engines, which is ridiculous considering how cheap automotive engines are. And there’s hardly any difference between them!

Hope all is well. We are having some hiccups with our OceanVolt. I hope all is going well with yours? SV Pumpkin

I wouldn't buy an Oceanvolt system simply because they are outrageously expensive.

PS There isn’t a battery made or is going to be available for the foreseeable Future, that can even get close to the Energy Density of Gasoline, Let alone Diesel Fuel.That a very basic Fact that people need to get their Heads around. That is why my Next New Boat, an Island Packet IP 439 comes as standard with an 80 horsepower Yanmar Diesel, and to guarantee proper Battery Care, it is also going to have a 6 kwh Diesel Generator which will not have very much use, though to keep it happy, it will be run regularly. Bob. 👍⛵️✨✨✨❤️

Do not buy a giant catamaran if you wish to convert to electric! Learn from so many who get huge boats. They think they need this but if you are serious and you have experience you know better. The software is not the problem!!!

Some great points here but I would recommend a serial hybrid system for the majority of sailboats. The parallel system has its benefits but where you really want that is in a larger powerboat where going fast for over an hour is necessary. Two sailing catamarans one 54' the other 64' with serial hybrid systems from Torqeedo sailed from Cape Town to Antiqua. no issues.

The industrial complex that has to be in place for manufacturing and services in general... there's no green option for boat owners..

Boats wait for hydrogen,it's on it's way

Please bare with me, but can you just use put on a bigger propeller?

This is timely for me. Thank you very much. My 65 + years in Alaskan waters (all seasons---that is winter, winter, winter, spring|summer|fall) have kept me from the all-electric drive. Too many two week northerlies with heavy icing conditions and as well anchor-draggings and wind switches in the middle of the night that had me having to run out into a large strait or sound. Then there was the time I was awakened at 0200 by all of the fresh water ice in one massive floe cutting loose from inside the bay during a howling SE and riding over my anchor line while crunching into the fiberglass hull. So even for inside waters of B.C.-Alaska there are times where you need the sustained power of a diesel for getting out of and staying out of a life-threatening jam. There are also places where the currents run much faster than the hull speed that you try to time your passage through but it doesn't always work out to plan. In summary, I agree.

for bluewater sailing I would always stick to simple diesel engines. Super reliable and prooven concept. Put as much solar panels as you can though.

The best realistic look at hybrids.

I am not sure what info you guys have or had … I do not think that 2 15kw SP ocean volt would not be enough! And bell marine sucks, the Reg. Don’t work! And no, HH doesn’t use Bell Marine electric at all!

I have heard these complaints and they seem valid, but I can't squate this with the Windelo boats that seem to use the BellMarine system with the generator backup quite successfully (maybe theyre not telling the truth?). Achieving 8 knots on the large Windelo boats does not seem to be an issue.

Its a personal preference. My opinion is that with regen you can charge you batteries and go on motor silent. Engine is just running when batteries are low.

It's a sailboat? What is this discussion about. Use the sails

Silent Yachts has apparently figured out serial hybrids.

I'm with Peter and Kiki on this. One diesel powering two electric motors and then decoupling to be purely electric when entering and exiting anchorages/marinas, would be my pick. There's a lot of "massaging the data" going on with electric systems but the reality is that they are slow, underpowered and their range is garbage, for the capital outlay of buying the latest shiny thing.

Thanks for sharing..!

I've gone back and forth over this question myself, and I still think the serial hybrid system is the best way to go in the long run for a catamaran. That is assuming they can get the kinks worked out. But for me the selling point isn't "being green" or efficiency at all. It's that a serial hybrid system on a cat will have 2 fewer Deisel engines (one DC genset vs two Yanmars and an AC genset) to maintain. That's a lot of time I'm not tightening belts, changing oil, or replacing impellers. And that is immensely attractive to me.