The most powerful electric outboard

These provide portable electric power and just introduced is a 180 hp unit that at present is the world’s most powerful electric outboard. With this amount of power on the back of the boat it opens up the commercial harbour patrol and RIB sector to clean green electric power.

This new outboard has been developed by ReGen Nautic in the US and it is being marketed by the subsidiary company in Europe. It is supplied as a package complete with a battery pack and control units and a buyer can specify various battery packs depending on the range required. The price for a complete installation is close to double that of a matching petrol outboard but the electric power offers running costs of less that one tenth of those of the petrol unit, which could make it attractive to operators with a high use factor.

The current 180 hp unit has the electric motor and fittings packaged inside a Selva or Yamaha lower unit. Because there is no exhaust ReGen has had to introduce an air duct to ventilate the through hub propeller exhaust to prevent cavitation and reverse has to be obtained through the bottom end gears rather than through reversing the motor but ReGen is planning to develop its own lower unit to remove these constraints.

The electric motor is cooled with a closed circuit glycol system which in turn is cooled from a seawater intake. The complete outboard weighs in at around 200 kg and operates at 400 volts. It offers a very high torque at low speeds making it ideal for powering a ski boat. ReGen can supply the full package for installation including batteries, control units, chargers and generators so that there is a full guarantee of performance and reliability.

The position of this 180 hp outboard as the world’s most powerful outboard motor may be challenged in the near future as ReGen has a 300 hp unit on the drawing board which could add a whole new dimension to electric propulsion.

By Dag Pike