Usage of e-boats on inland waters (part I)

Electric boating is continuously becoming more and more popular. The primary reason of this phenomenon goes back to the automotive industry. By the mass production in the automotive industry the production quantity of electrical components is enormous, which causes a decrease in their costs but increase in production volume, therefore this progress is detectable in other fields of vehicle electric propulsion.

Despite of zero emission technology it has always been surrounded by skepticism, the shipping industry has adapted very well to this new energy supply system which provides a drive that ensures clean operation and quieter conditions. Of course, we, at eKraft also see pro and con arguments, but one thing is obvious: The development of boat engines overall lags far behind the development level of automotive engines, which among other negative effects causes releasing a large scale of exhaust gas into the water.

Many official tests and evaluations declare that the Li-ion battery system - what we also use - even if it is broken down, includes 70-80% operational battery cells. To reuse these battery cells, it is needed to disassemble the battery pack and sort out the usable cells, which process is highly expensive and time-consuming. Nowadays there are only a few companies dealing with this, but in the long term, eKraft is also thinking of reusing battery cells. Our goal is not only to develop an e-powertrain system, but our plans also include working on energy storing solutions as a separate field.

In the second part of our writing, we are going to deal with the maintenance of the electric powertrain systems and the banning of internal combustion engines from inland waters.