Elco Electric Outboard

[Dave-in-RI]

Hi. Does anyone have experience with Elco brand electric outboards? I've read what I could search on the forum for Torqueedo and ePropulsion, both the smaller 3hp ones and the larger Cruise/Navy ones, but haven't been able to find anything about Elco. https://www.elcomotoryachts.com/product-category/electric-outboards

[Dave-in-RI]

Found this on another forum, can't speak to its truthfulness: "So got off the phone with Elco. Very helpful people. They advised that the frame was Yamaha as well as the transmission (as far as that is for electric)."

[Dave-in-RI]

What I like about them is they are "battery agnostic", meaning they're not beholden to proprietary designs and instead need user-supplied batteries in either lead-acid or lithium format. The 5hp is a 24v system (125 amps / 3000 watts), so that's two 12-volt lead acid batteries (granted that's heavy at 50-70lbs a pop) or one 24V lithium, which you can source from whatever cheap supplier you prefer (eg, Ali Express, Walmart). Another user wrote the outboard itself is Yamaha parts, meaning if parts break while cruising about, chances are better a local marine mechanic can fix it than compared to a Torqueedo or ePropulsion. Update- seems ePropulsion lets you bring your own batteries, though you lose some features of battery monitoring etc. I also started thinking about how the Elco is water cooled, and did I really want to stick with excessively complicated parts vs a direct drive ePropulsion. I'm leaning heavily toward the ePropulsion Navy 3.0 (6hp equivalent) for my Sun Cat, which will have to fight pretty strong river currents, based on another member's experience with his Torqueedo Cruise and speed/ranges, but my own preference for not that brand.

[bruce]

I don't have any experience with Elco, but they have been around for a while. This site lists electric outboards currently available. Not all require proprietary batteries.
https://plugboats.com/electric-outboards-less-than-5-kw/

There's a reason lithium is popular. Lead acid batteries can only be used to 50% capacity routinely without reducing battery life significantly. LA batteries are much heavier. Life expectancy is about 300-400 cycles, lithium can be 10 times that. LA require maintenance (sulfation). Lithium batteries can be charged faster. 12 volt systems require heavier cables to transmit the power.

Lots of good content at the groups.io Electric Boat Group, including building your own batteries. An EE license would be handy, but not required to join! There is a current thread about alternatives to lithium, for inboards though.
https://groups.io/g/electricboats