Those engineers have also faced up to the scary monster in all-electric boating: range anxiety. If you think running out of juice in your Tesla on the highway is frightening, imagine going dark aboard your boat 30 miles offshore. The dream becomes a nightmare.
The Hinckley Company of Portsmouth, Maine, has been slowly solving the electric riddle for years. The builder boldly launched the all-electric Dasher concept boat in 2017. While it was expensive and only a few were sold, Hinckley’s resolve and can-do attitude led to lots of press and, more importantly, knowledge gained.
That wisdom and experience helped create the SilentJet Propulsion system, a diesel-electric hybrid combination. In the Hinckley Picnic Boat 40 S, the SilentJet offers customers the best of high-performance diesel running, coupled with battery-electric cruising at 7 knots.
“Customers leave their marina in total silence and experience one to two hours of peaceful, sailing-like running,” explained Scott Bryant, who noted the hybrid version retails for about 30 percent more than the diesel-only boat.
The boat carries a single 80 kW battery which weighs 1,200 pounds. Adding more batteries would increase the all-electric cruising range, but Bryant said that wasn’t an option they pursued.
“The ninety minutes of harbor cruise running time on the battery is the sweet spot for our customers,” Bryant said. “Our customers want that quiet experience, and that’s why this new project is using water-jet propulsion, as opposed to propellers which we had in the 2017 Dasher. By design, jets have superior vibration resistance because of their impeller/nozzle geometry and built-in thrust bearing.”
