Thinking of going electric?

Electric propulsion is clean, near silent and can even be self-refuelling, but is it worth the investment? Jake Kavanagh considers the options

- Jake Kavanagh

The sheer versatility of the modern electric motor has been harnessed to offer a bewildering choice of drives,  but they essentially fall into three main categories: outboard, inboard and pod (or thruster). There’s a bit of crossover between concepts – sail drives, jet drives and hybrids, for example – but for any conversion project the propeller will be spun by one of the three. 

Before you start, there’s a key question to ask yourself. Why go electric? The engine hours of a modern leisure boat are usually low. The average season for a UK-based motorboat is only 50 engine hours and a sailing yacht is even less. So, your electric conversion won’t be to save fuel. For the cost of an installation you could probably buy enough diesel to see you out.

The reason for a switch to electric is more likely for the near silent running, total lack of exhaust, virtually no maintenance and the chance to ‘go green’ and replace your fuel from renewables. You will also have access to restricted waters. Norway, for example, is about to ban the combustion engine from some of its fjords. For these reasons, the electric drive should be seen as a long-term investment. “Our motors can last for more than 50,000 hours,” said Brandon Salls, CEO of US-based Elco. “We have one of our first electric inboards from 1890 still going strong today.”