While the much lower fuel cost has to be a bit of a shocker (we all know EVs are more efficient and cheaper to operate, but not 95% cheaper), the bigger surprise has to be how much more convenient the electric boat was in a certain key way. “We actually had range anxiety, but not for the Candela. The irony is that the photographer’s gasoline-powered chase boat had to refuel six times during the trip, while we only charged three times,” said Gustav Hasselskog.
Removed by mod
Admittedly it’s WAY easier to operate a motor boat than a sail boat, so depending on how you like to recreationally bleed your unlimited money I can see reasons for that choice.
But I fully agree that we’ve had renewable energy-based ships with unlimited range for millenia. The claim that “The aim was to demonstrate that zero-emission sea travel [is possible today]” broke my brain a little.
Removed by mod
Sitting here reading about sail boats being easier to maneuver in harbors cause of bow thrusters, after having dealt with major prop walk just the other day in high winds while docking. The trick is keeping water moving past your rudder. Once your down to a knot or under things get dicey. Even with thrusters.
Removed by mod
Hah. Your bar for “super rich” and mine may be in different places.
And you’re preaching to the choir, I’d much rather sail myself. But nerding out about the specifics aside, it’s very weird to leave it out of the renewable-powered sea travel conversation the way these guys are doing.
Removed by mod
The trick will be to get the super rich out of their shitty super yachts
…and into the bottom of the ocean.
Removed by mod
I don’t understand why sailboats have an advantage. What do they have for generating wind that the other boats don’t? All boats experience the same wind. Do the propeller+engine on a sailboat act as a generator when the boat moves with wind power?
Removed by mod
Interesting bit about the surplus wind! I hadn’t thought of that, and didn’t know that boats can have a dedicated hydro generator device. Thanks!
Removed by mod
Boats with electric motors don’t need a dedicated generator, as the motor can act as a generator when you put it in neutral. (If properly configured.)
Sailboats can operate at lower power levels, because their displacement hull is efficient at low speeds. (Where a planeing hull needs higher speeds to get more efficient.) When I had solar electric sail boat, I could motor at 2 knots with no wind using only 500w of solar without touching the battery. I usually ran it at 3.5 knots if there was no wind, which gave me lots of range on battery for a full day on the water.
They also have the sail as a primary power source when there’s enough wind, so you don’t always need the electric motor. Sometimes, if the wind is strong enough, you can use the water turning the propeller to generate electricity to charge the battery. Or if the wind is light, you can use the motor to add more speed than sail alone, using less battery than using electric alone.
Isn’t this massively misleading? Comparing the fuel consumption to a chase boat that is not a hydrofoil, and blaming the efficiency on the fact that it is an EV?
A sail boat does the same distance for free
I actually would have typed that into my comment too, but i have no knowledge of how much slower a wind powered boat would travel upwind or how dependent performance would be on wind. I totally understand the need for mechanically powered transportation instead of using wind. My comment is mainly targeted at the misleading comparison.
Exactly. Hydrofoils have a bunch of downsides (more expensive to buy and maintain, don’t work in shallow water, don’t work with big waves, etc), so it’s not like the average boat owner can simply switch to a hydrofoil boat. It’s a cool solution if it works in your particular area, but they’re not a drop-in replacement.
Finally someone addressing the absurbd cost and emissions of illegally immigrating
Sanest Lemmy user.
213kWh feels like quite a lot of juice. Admittedly, I usually don’t go at planing speeds.
I have an 80Ah lead-acid battery to power the electric trolling motor on my inflatable dinghy. That’s 80A*12V = 0.96kWh. That gives me 5-10Nm range depending on speed. My dinghy would sink with 213kWh on board.
My 7 tonne sailboat uses ~2l/h of diesel at twice the speed. 213kWh of lead-acid would double the weight.
I’ve dealt with storing energy from solar for a long time now, and from the deepest part of my heart: fuck lead acid batteries. The only thing they have going for them is being able to charge below freezing. But they’re shit in every other way, especially weight.
They have one other advantage: unit price. But Lithium is rapidly catching up, and is already better if you calculate price per lifetime charge cycle.
Recyclability, too
deleted by creator
Replace the keel with lead acid batteries
Removed by mod
Just don’t run a shore on anything
This says it uses the battery from a polestar. So it’s not lead acid but lithium. And 79kWh.
Oh, flying ferry is a nick name for hydrofoil, not an actual aircraft.
Removed by mod
Imagine tanks full of highly volatile combustible fluids on fire in the middle of the ocean 🫨
_
Something something sharks?
Not mermaids? I feel tricked.
That’s why most boat power systems use LiFePo4 (aka LFP) batteries instead of LiCoO2 like you phone battery. LFP is immune to thermal runaway, and can’t burn even if it did overheat.
What would happen if the boat sank from its weight and you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?
I like the idea of this match, but I’m cautious about the article. All they say about the gas-powered boat is that it’s a similar size; they don’t mention the actual type of boat the chase boat was, and I didn’t see it in a brief skim of the video. I suspect that a notable percentage of the electric boat’s efficiency is due to its being a hydrofoil. If the gas boat is the standard hull-in-the-water, it would naturally be less efficient.
Silja Serenade, hell yeah, been on that ship a bunch of times
