Sure, it's just a concept for now, but the
Aptera design team (Eleven) has unveiled this solar-powered boat, and it's looking pretty decent, so we thought we'd bring a few of the details over here for you. The Loon, as it's called, was designed for the Tamarack Lake Electric Boat Company, and it's got a pontoon shape to it, and is relatively lightweight for its size, with a 1000W solar panel roofing which is collapsible for compact storing of the boat when not in the water. It's 22 feet long, and is made of recycled materials, bamboo and natural fibers, with an estimated top speed of 7 knots (it should be able to travel about 35 miles a day). We don't know when to expect these bad boys on the waterways, nor do we know how much they're going to cost, but we're hoping they're not
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
[Via
Autoblog Green]
Read - Eleven
Read - Motive Industries
posted Feb 2nd 2009 8:35PM
No, it's not going to go 7 knots on 1.5HP (which is what 1000W is). Even peak.
As long as there's enough juice to keep the beer cold and the tunes blasting...
There better be coolers under those bench seats
My garage door opener is 1/2 HP and it can lift something pretty heavy. A 1.5 HP motor should be able to push a boat. The 7 knots might be in the full Sun with the wind at your back. But, if they put a big propeller on it, with the high torque that electric motors put out, I don't see why it couldn't move at 7 knots (8 mph for you landlovers or 11 feet per second for the physicists). They would also have to take into account the hydrodynamics of the pontoon design and how much weight was on the boat.
Then again, most people that use pontoons on lakes don't care how fast they go, and would rather not have to refuel it. This would also make a great fishing boat if there are batteries for the morning.
When I retire to a lakeside home in Arizona, I'll be getting one of these. Hopefully the price will have come down by then.
rcappo -
I think you mean "landlubber," though yours is an easily made mistake.
Actually, 1000w is 1.34 horsepower. But that is not the point. I'm sure it uses batteries.
rcappo:
HP (or kW) is torque times speed. If you want more torque output to run that big propeller, you get less speed. It's a zero-sum game.
There's no free lunch.
I think perhaps some of you are forgetting how much energy it takes to move a vehicle through water. Try it yourself. Get on a bike, then try one of those pedal-powered paddle boats. You go 1/5th the speed on the boat and get twice as tired.
rcappo:
Your garage door is sprung so it isn't particularly heavy to lift. You can do it yourself with one hand.
And besides, it takes torque to open that door. You can have infinite torque with very low gearing. The question is, how quickly can your garage door opener open that door? That's what takes HP. Answer: it can't open or close the garage door very quickly.
The motors that open and close the roofs of retractable dome stadiums are only a few HP. But they can't do the job quickly, they have to do it slowly.
thats not bad actually, I have no idea how fast a knot is, but the idea is cool and you wont go to far on a pontoon anyways. Thou im not a huge water fan, but Id go out
1 Knot = 1.85 Kph = 1.15 Mph
or for this electric floater.
7 Knots = 12.96 Kph = 8 Mph, which is quite good for what you'd use it for. This would make a really stable fishing platform for lakes and estuaries. Electric too, great for sneaking up on unsuspecting Barramundi, not sure what you guys in the US would fish for though!
This would be awesome to motor around in.
roughly 15 feet of solar panels = thousands of dollars
$4200, to be precise. I just priced it.
Just like Chuck Norris, the fish won't hear this coming.
with development, i could see this being at least feasible.
i imagine there's a decent amount of surface area on the roof of the boat. after all, with solar, surface area's the name of the game. :)
So, where's the place I kick Boba Fett off of?
Uh, aptera didn't design this solar-electric boat, the designer of the aptera did!
J
Eh, J.
I'd like to suggest you go back to school and learn to read properly, as that IS what the article says;
"the Aptera design team (Eleven) has unveiled this solar-powered boat,"
That said, I personally think it would read better as;
"the Aptera design team, Eleven, have unveiled this solar-powered boat,"
But that's probably just me.
i interviewed for 11 once and they did not hire me; and they waited over a month to let me know.
which can only mean that they are all morons and this thing will sink faster than a polish submarine (the one with screen doors).
oneMadRssn,
Really? you interviewed with them? I don't think so. In fact, I know so.
J
I did. They had snowboard bindings and other plastic crap all over the walls. Downtown Boston, near South Station. Some guy tight jeans interviewed me.
Wrong eleven. Go to designby11.com to get it right.
J
Use the reply-button, brah.
get it right? i don't see any difference; apparently all 11's are full of d-bags.
So you're going to drive it with only a steering wheel? I don't see an instrument panel, UNSAFE!!!!!!!!
also, can you lie out nude on the panels?
Pontoon boats go fast these days. This won't go anywhere.
Fail
will cost a loonie.
(Canada what?!)
"we're hoping they're not thousands of dollars"
Well it's a BOAT, a pontoon BOAT, but a BOAT never the less. And for the uninitiated BOAT is an acronym; it stands for Bring Out Another Thousand. And this BOAT will cost many thousands.
call me simple-minded, but i'm still amused by the idea of running things in water on electricity
General Dynamics would like to have a word with you...
http://www.gdeb.com/
The electric boats are really great on rivers that ought to be quiet, like the (upriver) Thames. Think it was a few years ago I saw the first electric launches - they go fast enough (don't know what the speed limit is in the river, but it's not much), they look great (traditional varnished wood style) and they're nearly silent. Of course, these weren't solar-powered (as far as I know - maybe the owners set up a solar charging station back at base - but probably not, this is england and we don't have sun). They're about big enough to carry a few people and a picnic...
If you've got a lot of money and you want to flash it, that's the way to go - in style. Not with an enormous-arse boat that makes a horrible noise and stinks up the area...
As for this one, it looks fine, I wonder how long you have to charge it for and how much range you get... also duh the price will be well over a thousand, I would assume over $10k too...
I've always wanted to drive a boat from the shitter.
In Poland we have this boat real
http://www.pablik.pl/index.php/264/solar-lodz-pasazerska-zasilana-energia-sloneczna.html
;) look..
A three hour tour...
As a former Florida resident, I can tell you that regular pontoon boats with 10 horsepower gasoline engines sometimes cannot move against a stiff oncoming breeze. I would not want to use this thing on anything bigger than a pond at a golf course.
It's cool, but I have a 30' pontoon with a 90HP Mercury on it, it is fast enough to pull two tubers or skiers. It has a kick ass 6 speaker stereo/cd/mp3/ipod player and built in coolers for the brewskis. I have no desire to top out at 8mph, but still this is pretty cool.
A typical new 20 foot pontoon runs in the $13,000-14,000 range, nearly half of which is the engine (ex. a 40 HP 4 stroke Mercury outboard).
The Loon will probably be less, but not much less (I disgree with poster above that says it's $4200.00).