Mercury announced its first electric outboard

[Dwaynec83]

www.mercurymarine.com/en/ca/#emailPanel

Mercury announced its first electric outboard at the 2022 Miami boat show, it will be interesting to see what sizes they have in their line up, there's already companies out there with outboards like vision marine's 180hp.

 

[walleyes]

Pretty small yet hey. Be interesting to see them make some of some size.

Funny thing is there have been electric motors on the water for 50 years. Hummingbird and Minn Kota have been in the market for years now lol. I can’t get my bow mount running off of 2 full sized batters to last 8 hours trolling at .5 m/hr on a calm lake. Not sure how they expect to get a full blown outboard running off a pocket sized battery for much length of time.

 

[Dwaynec83]

They said they will be releasing a full range so curious to see how big they'll go, a 150hp electric would have more tq then a 300hp outboard,

The technology is getting there, have you seen

 

[walleyes]

I wonder how say a small inverter generator would be able to charge up your batteries. Maybe not to full again but be nice to have as a back up. I know with a gas engine you can run out of gas but it’s much easier to pack an extra can of gas or to get gas brought out to you but what do you do if your batteries die on you. You would be kind of hooped.

 

[walleyes]

But man a decent sized outboard would be sweet. Would be no need for a small kicker trolling motor cause with electric you can set them so fine and dial them right down. And quiet, be sweet for sure.

 

[Dwaynec83]

Could always troll on the kicker and charge em back up after a couple hours, my prokicker charges 12 amps at 12v

 

[seabeyond]

Pretty small yet hey. Be interesting to see them make some of some size.

Funny thing is there have been electric motors on the water for 50 years. Hummingbird and Minn Kota have been in the market for years now lol. I can’t get my bow mount running off of 2 full sized batters to last 8 hours trolling at .5 m/hr on a calm lake. Not sure how they expect to get a full blown outboard running off a pocket sized battery for much length of time.

I agree it'll take some battery advancements before it'll be feasible amd economic to retrofit our boats with main engine electric power. Can you imaging the amperage running down the dock for everyone? I'm sure there would be some hot dock issues to deal with.
I do like the idea of electric kickers as that would be a much easier to instal without huge battery packs. The noise reduction would be nice.

 

[vike47]

Wonder if they'd ever go hydrogen fuel cells for boats?

 

[kaelc]

Pretty small yet hey. Be interesting to see them make some of some size.

Funny thing is there have been electric motors on the water for 50 years. Hummingbird and Minn Kota have been in the market for years now lol. I can’t get my bow mount running off of 2 full sized batters to last 8 hours trolling at .5 m/hr on a calm lake. Not sure how they expect to get a full blown outboard running off a pocket sized battery for much length of time.

Have you looked at the lithium Lip04 batteries? You can use way more of the capacity and "should" last 10 years but they are pricy.

Too bad there are no details on the motor.

 

[Corey_lax]

The batteries go in the cowling of the motor for those mercs. That’s pretty cool. Free up lots of deck space. Even if it’s the equivalent of a 9.9hp, those electric outboard only lakes aren’t gonna know what hit them haha

 

[wildmanyeah]

I don't expect them to last long, the amount of resistance a boat has in the water, compared to a wheel vehicle is quite different.

 

[Corey_lax]

I don't expect them to last long, the amount of resistance a boat has in the water, compared to a wheel vehicle is quite different.

My minn Kota runs for hours on an old battery that couldn’t cut it in the truck. I think these will be fine for trolling with their battery technology. They aren’t claiming to replace the 200hp motors or anything. Likely just a 9.9-20hp tiller model equivalent

 

[sasqman]

Read an article saying this about the 7.5e model.
- Replaces a 3.5 HP gas engine
- weight with out battery 43 lbs
- 1 hour and 20 minute run time at full throttle.

Be good for a tender or lake fishing. Havent seen cost yet though.

 

[Sangstercraft]

My dad recently installed a Torqueedo electric motor in his 45' wooden sailboat. It bolts to the bottom of his hull, with a hole through the hull for the electronics and power cable. He's yet to run it as he has to build the rudder still, but it's projected to give him 25 miles of range, at a fairly slow speed of 5-6 knots. And dead silent. He's interested in sailing around the Strait in his retirement, no big ocean crossings or long motoring needed. He'll also have a generator and a solar panel on board to charge the batteries.
But it's a displacement hull, not planing like we're interested in.

 

[sly_karma]

I think a lot of us would love to replace our 8-20 hp gas kickers with something silent. Of course, the early adopters help to pay down the R&D costs so the second gen products are cheaper. Who wants to go first?

 

[BC Coast Pilot]

Read an article saying this about the 7.5e model.
- Replaces a 3.5 HP gas engine
- weight with out battery 43 lbs
- 1 hour and 20 minute run time at full throttle.

Be good for a tender or lake fishing. Havent seen cost yet though.

0.75 kilowatt = 1.0058 Horsepower
Something not right there. I'm skeptical that it's equivalent to 3.5hp
Bad math?

 

[sasqman]

0.75 kilowatt = 1.0058 Horsepower
Something not right there. I'm skeptical that it's equivalent to 3.5hp
Bad math?

Nope, your math is perfect!
Here is the clip from the Article I read.

"The Avator 7.5e isn’t a particularly powerful system, with just a 750W continuous-rated motor. That’s equivalent to one horsepower, though the electric drive means that the higher torque system can do more with less power.

Mercury says that the motor performs closer in performance to a Mercury 3.5hp FourStroke outboard with comparable speed and acceleration figures."

 

[BC Coast Pilot]

Power is power......but Captain my horsepower is more powerful than your horsepower, must be a greek Captain

 

[ship happens]

I think a lot of us would love to replace our 8-20 hp gas kickers with something silent. Of course, the early adopters help to pay down the R&D costs so the second gen products are cheaper. Who wants to go first?

You don't need to worry about being the guinea pig on a dumb little electric motor. It's not new technology whatsoever. There might be some wierd functions that are new to the product, however that's it.

What you do have to consider is battery power. I know lots of you dream of lithium batteries in your boats, however I'm here to tell you it's a bad idea. I know there's all this technology in there this and that but let me ask you this. Anyone here ever seen a lithium battery explode ? I have it's not nice. A lithium battery that size would blow the stern right off a boat 100 percent. If in any wierd situation it did short out or over charge or wrong voltage or whatever the situation might be. Not nice.

 

[Corey_lax]

@ship happens really misses two strokes and you can tell