As we all know, speed kills range. On the highways you don't have a choice, but on waterways you do. I used to be a sailboat cruiser 25 years ago and always thought electric propulsion is a good fit for slow sailing speeds. First test of this theory was a kayak I set up with 64 lbs of LiFePO4 cells.
Put together (2) 12 volt, 100 ahr packs, one used as outbound battery, the other for my return leg.
An electric kayak is so quiet, and at a slow cruise speed of 4.5 mph, I have an unreal range of 80 miles, good for the entire 75 mile shoreline of Lake Tahoe.
Next project for the water is to scale things up a bit. Bond Yachts from Poland make a perfect candidate for electric propulsion. It is a 30' catamaran power cruiser that is so light and has such an efficient hull that a pair of 50 hp gas outboards can push it to 25 kt. Their designers have the same idea as me and have run some early tests with electric propulsion. 1500 watts gave an impressive 5 kt of speed.
If folks here are interested, I'll keep you posted.
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Topic: Long distance, go slow (Read 1583 times)