Big News from Yeargin?

[SNMike]

No new production 196, but an '07-'09 model will become the '97-'98 911 of the Porsche world:-)

That's right!!! With gas rising, there are times, split seconds really, that I wish this was a hybrid. But I'm jolted back to reality in half a nano sec.

[chris196]

Ski lake in a vacuum. Dare to dream.

What about something along the spray relief pocket where the boat has already, mostly, released the contact it had with the water. Forgive my limited knowledge (if not full on ignorance) of hydrodynamics, but I'm not talking about 100% regeneration. But if you could add some power back to the battery bank during use, you could extend the battery life. As far as I know, you don't hurt LI batteries by applying a charge before they are fully run down.

You would still be putting something in the water, causing drag.
What you could do is have some type of system that used the rotation of the prop during deceleration to turn the motor and recharge the batteries. Much like the brakes of a hybrid car during braking. The electric motor would then be in generator mode for a few seconds. I suspect this may not be worth it as the hydrodynamic drag will slow the boat so fast, you wouldn't recover much energy at all.

This is just a concept, right?
Eventually they'll get better batteries, a more efficient system. Just having a single motor instead of 2 with the gearbox would be an improvement. There's got to be efficiency loss in that.

I think it shows it's not that far off.

And yes, we're still burning fossil fuels for electricity, but new technologies and generation are coming on line all the time. You gotta start somewhere.
Oh, the idea that solar and wind can't be stored, don't be so sure about that. One idea is to use energy in times of excess to store compressed air in a chamber. Then release it during times of no wind/sun, thus turning a generator. The other idea is to pump water uphill during excess time and use good ole hydroelectric during peak demand.
Of course, not all this will satisfy all the needs, but again you gotta start somewhere.
We have plants now fueled by coal, natural gas, nuclear, oil, etc. Why is it so hard to believe those will be replaced by a conglomeration of other sources eventually? We'll always have a hybrid system so to speak. So, right now your electricity may not be very green, but it will shift over time to being more green.

[Oletimeskier]

Man, excuse me but I must disagree with this statement.

So, I am not trying to brag, saying "yeah yeah, I know everything, I'm so cool". But I'm friendly and on a first name basis with Bill Yeargin, so I have a little teeny tiny window into what they're doing in Orlando and an occasional conversation about upcoming stuff, a nod or wink if I ask the right question, but I wouldn't say I am in some elite inner circle. I am standing on the paint though.

That said, you are absolutely right that R&D costs are mitigated by CAD models being stress tested in Pro/ENGINEER simulations or something within Solidworks or Autocad. This is and will continue to be an expensive project with an expensive outcome - anything like this is. They don't have much to reuse, I am sure a good portion of the guts had to be chopped to shreds, with cars, planes or boats, this sort of thing is expensive. I absolutely think they need to sell this idea, then sell a few hundred boats to recoup R&D dollars. I had an inkling 2 years ago that this was in the works (again, a hybrid though, not all electric + batteries) - kind of by a "no comment *wink*" sort of answer by someone at Correct Craft who would definitely know. My point is this has a significant history.

So, right, bleached-white labcoat-wearing engineers wearing dark horn rimmed glasses aren't working at drafting tables perfecting every angle with their bare hands or anything like that, but this has been worked on for awhile. Enough to warrant the price, high as it may be. Too high? Probably. Don't know yet. But they made a lot of noise with this already. Let's see if it catches on.

ps. We need more photos of it too. With all the led going on, plexiglass, it was hard for me to see where everything is laid out. In one view it almost looked like there was some machinery under the bow. More photos will help inform this thread.

Erik...You are trying to brag to much on what you claim to know

[tdc_worm]

could care less about batteries and hybrids and their perceived impact on the environment (which i have read is worse than C02 emissions from oil). dont care about the $3 vs $4 gas....if I cant foot the extra $20, $30, $40 per day, I couldnt afford to own the boat anyhow.

what i do care about, and the major thing that fatigues me when on the boat is the god forsaken engine noise. in the lack of any effort to insulate the boat from engine noise, i would take a quieter electric motor (assuming these ones dont whine like babies) any day....

[chris196]

what i do care about, and the major thing that fatigues me when on the boat is the god forsaken engine noise. in the lack of any effort to insulate the boat from engine noise, i would take a quieter electric motor (assuming these ones dont whine like babies) any day....

I concur about the noise. That's why I thought it a bad choice to have the music in the video. Let us get a peek at the noise factor running an electric boat.

If you want to cut noise on your current boat, install a fresh air exhaust. I have one on my 98 SN and it's great for cutting the exhaust noise. Of course, can't do anything for the engine itself, but makes a world of difference on the exhaust. Some like the exhaust note, I prefer quiet. The CD player has been broken on my boat, for 2 years. I don't miss it at all.

[east tx skier]

You would still be putting something in the water, causing drag.
What you could do is have some type of system that used the rotation of the prop during deceleration to turn the motor and recharge the batteries. Much like the brakes of a hybrid car during braking. The electric motor would then be in generator mode for a few seconds. I suspect this may not be worth it as the hydrodynamic drag will slow the boat so fast, you wouldn't recover much energy at all.

This is just a concept, right?
Eventually they'll get better batteries, a more efficient system. Just having a single motor instead of 2 with the gearbox would be an improvement. There's got to be efficiency loss in that.

I think it shows it's not that far off.



And yes, we're still burning fossil fuels for electricity, but new technologies and generation are coming on line all the time. You gotta start somewhere.
Oh, the idea that solar and wind can't be stored, don't be so sure about that. One idea is to use energy in times of excess to store compressed air in a chamber. Then release it during times of no wind/sun, thus turning a generator. The other idea is to pump water uphill during excess time and use good ole hydroelectric during peak demand.
Of course, not all this will satisfy all the needs, but again you gotta start somewhere.
We have plants now fueled by coal, natural gas, nuclear, oil, etc. Why is it so hard to believe those will be replaced by a conglomeration of other sources eventually? We'll always have a hybrid system so to speak. So, right now your electricity may not be very green, but it will shift over time to being more green.

Okay, so no onboard charging. How about something on shore that captures the energy from the wakes (what little wakes there are) every time a boat, any boat, goes by.

[OKWAKEBDR]

Now we know why a new 230 is over $100k.

[DanielC]

This is why it is so difficult to store electricity in any kind of useful quantities. 746 watts equals approximately 1 horsepower.
I think the battery in a chevy volt is rated at 16 kwh (kilo watt hours) of capacity. That means it is capable of putting out 16,000 watts, for an hour. That sounds like a lot of electricity. That sounds like a lot of power. But lets divide the 16,000 by 746 (the amount of watts to make one horsepower), and you get 21.4477

The battery in a Chevy volt is capable of putting out about 21.5 horsepower, for an hour. And then you have to recharge is again, for about 8 hours.

The idea of pumping water back up a hill can be done. They do it at Grand Coulée Dam. There is a plateau above Lake Roosevelt, the lake behind Grand Coulée, with some irrigation canals. Part of the power from water falling out of Lake Roosevelt is used in pumps to push water up from Lake Roosevelt into the irrigation canals. This is done at night, when electric demand is low. The corp of engineers can reverse the irrigation pumps, and let the water flow back down the hill into Lake Roosevelt, and even back down through Grand Coulée. But you do not recover all the electricity you used to pump it up the hill in the first place.

I do not think there are that many places in the USA where this could be done.

[ClemsonDave]

Now we know why a new 230 is over $100k.

Cheap shot.... As I've said over and over. Do not assume CC flipped the entire bill for this project. Even if they did, it's not like this is a million dollar boat.

[Erik]

Just coming back to this - did anyone else have that feeling that this is an oddly configured v-drive or am I just interpreting the photos incorrectly.

[DanielC]

I was just looking at wikipedia for information on power generation, and found out this. The generating capacity of the generator-pumps by Grand Coulée is 314 MW (mega watts). This is the amount of electricity they make when water is flowing down them. To pump the water up through them, they consume about 600 MW.

[TRDon]

I am with many in thinking that this is not a big deal and I am very disapointed with this announcement. It is hardly new as others have mentioned with epic having a production model out for 1 or 2 yerars now, not even including that nautique hasnt set up a production date yet.

I dont care if other people funded this project in some way, nautique paid a lot I am sure, and the burden is being shared by buyers of new boats for years to come. The price if new boats for the 2011 model year has proven that in my mind.

The thought of using a boat for 3-4 skier sets and being forced to charge for 4.5 hours makes it unrealistic for most recreational people who use their boats for a weekend outing or weekday getaway for a evening. I ride with 2-3 people and I ride most of the time, 3 sets a night. This boat doesnt make sence for me, maybe for some, but it will alienate a lot of buyers for that reason making the prospective cost per unit higher to justify the technology for the few. I dont think this boat will be less than 6 figures.

Another over-hyped marketing ploy IMHO. I dont see this being realistic and useful, I see this being trendy.

[maxpower220]

what i do care about, and the major thing that fatigues me when on the boat is the god forsaken engine noise. in the lack of any effort to insulate the boat from engine noise, i would take a quieter electric motor (assuming these ones dont whine like babies) any day....

Spend the money on the Fresh Air Exhaust, it is SO worth it. I read threads on people putting thousands of dollars in their stereos, speakers, amps, etc. My FAE has made my boat extremely quiet. I love it! I don't know how much quieter the boat is, but you can barely detect a noise at idle.

[east tx skier]

I'll throw out that this announcement beats the snot out of a thirty foot wake boat. Just my opinion, I couldn't be wrong. It wasn't the end of the world when Dylan went electric either.

[BrennanK]

Personally I would really like to hear that video again without the music in the back round. I want to hear what this engine/motor sounds like.

I can tell you I am going to miss the nice idle sounds gas engines produce if this truly takes over the market. I guess I will just have to have a CD of engine noise.