Edison Marine combines Old World wooden boat charm with zero emission electric drive technology
Open Access Article Originally Published: October 12, 2007
The author is the president and founder of Portland, Oregon-based Edison Marine, builders of electric classic wooden boats.
For over a century electric boats have been gracing our waterways. These quiet gently moving vessels are loved by many but have taken a back seat to their petroleum powered brothers of gasoline and diesel. Their time may be coming.
Concerns over waterway pollution, global warming and significant improvement in battery technology is creating a resurgence in these quiet, clean running vessels. Historically the achilles heal of electric vehicles has been the energy capacity of the battery system. This is changing. The need for a better battery in a host of applications has stimulated work world wide to find a better battery solution. From cell phones to laptops to solar, wind, wave energy storage nodes to electric vehicles (EV), the need for a lighter battery with more energy capacity is evident. The market is responding. New battery offerings are being introduced quarterly, world wide improving a host of applications.
Edison Marine in Portland Oregon (see www.edison-marine.com) has jumped into the mix with a unique electric boat offering. Edison Marine has designed and developed a classic, solid plank mahogany runabout with a quiet, zero emission, electric drive system. This runabout is fashioned after those sexy barrel back runabout of the early 1940s and is getting rave reviews. Tapping over 40 years of boat building experience and over 30 years of electric engineering experience Edison Marine is proud to bring to market this stunning blend of old world wood boat charm and clean running electric drive technology.
Most, if not all, electric boats on the market are significantly different than Edison’s offering. They are in most cases standard fiberglass hulls with slow running, ‘golf cart’ electric drive systems.
The Edison offering has true world class craftsmanship. Handcrafted using tradition solid plank over batten wood boat construction techniques with the best epoxies the Edison is a site to see. Using solid mahogany throughout, she is finished beautifully with 13 coats of marine varnish and urethane to a stunning, deep, rich, glass like finish, fitting a boat of her character and beauty. Her 1940 barrelback runabout style features twin cockpits forward with twin hatch doors aft.
The Edison features true ‘EV’ performance. Featuring twin high performance 9” DC motors, twin 500 amp controllers and twin propellers (that’s right, twin props on a 17’ inboard boat), Edison moves faster and more powerfully out of the water than a Mastercraft ski boat. She is a true inboard, running direct drive shafts directly coupled to the 9” DC motors. The current implementation features a 144V AGM battery pack with 15kw hr of energy. Weighing in at 840 lbs, the 15Kwhr AGM battery pack can be upgraded to a 15kw hr Li Ion pack saving over 500lbs!
The on board Manzanita Micro battery charger can top off the 15kwhr battery pack in 4-5 hrs.
Edison is incredibly unique in the sense that it offers twin 13” drives/propellers in a 17’ boat. Normally twin ‘screws’ are reserved for large vessels that can handle the space required for twin motors. The physical advantage of an electric motor over a traditional internal combustion engine is evident and makes a twin drive 17’ boat possible.
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Reader Comments
10 comments so far...
02-Aug-2008
63058
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It looks great, could you give more specs on the unit. I have an electric outboard motor made by
Outboard Electric, whisoer xt. Do you think your motor could used in fishing boats.
Posted by: keith magnusson
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18-Nov-2008
64948
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I already have an electric car and I've had the best gas mileage cars with that car of mine. It is another dream of mine to own an electric boat but just like what Peter said they are very expensive. Anyways, it is still good to know that these boats are environment-friendly and elegant at the same time.
Posted by: Matthew Thomas
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03-Jan-2008
59825
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I have been obsessed with two things lately, electric vehicles, and classic wooden boats. I think it is great that they have been combined so elegently in this vehicle. I am also impressed with how efficient newer two stroke engines have been. I'm also very unimpressed / disgusted with how much pollution diesel engines produce. I would also take issue with the claim that there are zero emissions, unless the batteries are recharged with either solar or wind power.
Posted by: ec 133
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04-Jun-2008
62070
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AS the VP of design and manufacturing for Edison Marine I am in a position to answer some of your issues. First and most important. We use only African Mahogany which is plentiful. There are many species of Mahogany re: Honduras for example which are now protected in many countries and while I would love to use it, we decided even certified plantation grown material was to contraversial and we want to be as environmentally consious as possible.
We have positioned the most of the batteries under the seats with the balance as far forward between the motors as possible.
We do offer a single prop model.
While we realize that the power to recharge comes from traditional sources, The carbon foot print of a single charge is far less than burning 30 gallons of gasoline. @ .10 per KWH it takes about $1.50 to charge the boat for all day cruising. We are reasearching solor charging options for those who have their boats on lakes with boat houses and such.
We designed this boat from the ground up specifically for this application. We use state of the art adhesives along with old world handcrafted pride to build a vessel that will far out last the projected life of the original boats of this design. The original Chris Crafts were never intended to last more than eigt to ten years!!!!
I would be happy to address any questions
tom@edison-marine.com
Posted by: Tom Wicke
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15-Dec-2007
59603
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Ban all 2 strokes huh ? That go for your kid's fancy illegal street pocket rocket/razor scooter, yard guy's tools, dirt bikes accross the world, your STUPID. There is more crap going out the back drain of every business on your block in a day than any 2 stroke emits in a year... COMMI!!
Posted by: Bob KnowsBest
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12-Oct-2007
58726
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The article was a little repetive and gave limited info on the drive system and performance. I wish they said more about the location of batteries. It looks beautiful. I wonder what the range would be for a single motor in this boat although the drive shaft would have to run through the keel. Another possible setup would be to have an I/O with a single motor but that might add more weight. With an electric motor you get the full torque on the first revolution meaning the boat would get up on plane in a few seconds.
Posted by: Jim P
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12-Oct-2007
58727
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I would love to own one of these but I suspect they are very expensive.
I'm also concerned about their use of mahogany. For an environmentally friendly boat, I would have thought that they would have found another more sustainable wood to use.
Posted by: Peter W
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13-Oct-2007
58734
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What a beauty! I saw her at the Wooden Boat Show on Lake Oswego this summer. At first I didn't realize she was electric until six people took off in it and all I could hear was WOOSH. The craftsmanship goes beyond the classics of the past.
Posted by: Bob Johnson
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14-Oct-2007
58739
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That is absolutely the best news I've seen in motor boating. Having grown up on the Great Lakes and seen the collapse of our international fishing industry (from the Great Lakes - 1950's) I appreciate any attempt that could treat what's left of our lakes better. I wonder if anyone could address what the performance of a high efficiency electric propulsion system would be paired with the high altitude kite sails? Double, triple the performance?
Posted by: Ben Brown
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15-Oct-2007
58747
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Electric boats are a fantastic solution to the massive amounts of gasoline and oil that dumped into our waters through the use of personal watercraft. I would be pleased if all fossil-fuel powereed watercraft were banned. At the very least, the removal of all 2-stroke engines needs to occur.
Posted by: Durandal Roland
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