Not before time – on litres of fuel burned per 100km, boats powered by international combustion engines (ICE) can be some of the most inefficient fuel users on the planet; see chart below. However, as we will see, while EPV technology has made giant strides lately in vehicles, it still has a long way to go before it can match the power-to-weight ratio of an ICE for boating.
Despite this, EPV can be an excellent option for specific, targeted applications, and the technology, systems and equipment for those applications are proven and readily available. The chart opposite looks at EPV’s pros and cons.
Looking closer at the limitations of electrically powered boats, the four significant ones are range, space/weight, speed, and capital cost.
extremes aside, practically,
