Hybrid Drives: Boats

With EV brands such as Tesla gaining greater recognition as far as clean mobility goes, not to mention their becoming an increasingly practical choice for the general public, it is only natural that marine mobility should tread the same path. 

Hybrid Drive Working Principle

A hybrid boat, just like a hybrid car, employs the coupling of a conventional ICE along with an electric motor. A variety of solutions exist for generating electricity for the boat, such as using a combustion engine generator or a renewable energy generator (solar, wind, water). 

ADVANTAGES OF HYBRID AND ELECTRIC BOATS

Hybrid and electric vehicles, including boats, bring with them a number of advantages over traditional ICE vehicles, including but not limited to being more silent, having greater fuel efficiency irrespective of speed and being cleaner, thanks to zero or very low emissions. 

Another noteworthy parameter is the comparatively inexpensive costs of owning an electric or hybrid boat. This is made possible via the elimination of oil changes as well as other preventive maintenance which is a part and parcel of gas/diesel powered boats. As far as appealing to the youth goes, electric motors especially have the ability to deliver maximum torque instantaneously, and hybrid vehicles support vehicle take offs, thereby making the vehicle or boat travel faster and reduce travel time. 

HYBRID BOATS AND THE CURRENT MARINE MARKET

As stated previously, both hybrid and purely electric powered technologies have begun making a mark within the automotive industry, although the same remains at a nascent stage as far as boats go. However, water transport is a very specific stream which follows a delayed approach when it comes to adapting newer technology. 

Boats are employed for use in a much more vast range of operations than cars, fragmenting the market into an array of different vehicles, including ferries, sailboats, and yachts, to name a few. Such a diverse collection of vehicles creates an insurmountable obstruction in the attempt to innovate a single, universal solution for water transport media, even though some brave entrepreneurs are hopeful of bringing about a significant change to this state of affairs.

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND HYBRID BOATING

The increasing popularity of a brushless permanent magnet motor and innovations in lithium ion batteries have helped catalyzed the transformation of marine mobility from fossil-fuels to at least partly electric. 

Because lead-acid batteries weigh twice as much as their Lithium counterparts and have a life approximately 65% shorter than them, they contribute to both, weight reduction as well as range increment of the vehicle they are the power source of.

Luxury car-maker BMW teamed up to modify the battery-packs used in the former’s i3 and i8 series cars to make them suitable for being used as power sources for hybrid boats. 

The aforementioned power source adds a 31% increase in energy capacity as compared to its earlier similarly sized variant, and their small size gives them the advantage to fit into the most constricted engine spaces easily.

Innotec Power: Hybrid Drives and Marine Motors

In a nutshell, a hybrid boat utilizes both, a combustion engine and a battery pack. These boats have much greater distance range and significantly lesser emissions as compared to their conventional counterparts, but they remain limited by their inability to recharge their batteries when they run out of charge, thereby giving rise to “range anxiety” and affecting the enjoyment/employment factor. This is where Innotec’s expertise steps in and can provide hybrid boat manufacturers with impeccable solutions to further the sail of their boats using their custom energy solutions.

Innotec has led the industry in both, the design as well as the manufacture of DC Brushless Motors, as well as custom Permanent Magnet Generators & Alternators for more than a decade. We possess expertise that can build a prototype for any range falling between 100 watts to 150 kW. In a manner of speaking, we have unique & unmatched expertise in power generation, while also ensuring our equipment isn’t a heavy, clunky hunk of metal.

Building our own PM Motors implies that we can provide almost complete customization, allowing you to achieve your goals without any encumbrances and leaving any concerns of power generation to us. However trying or tumultuous the application might be, Innotec Power will most definitely be in a position to offer tailor-made and capable solutions for it.