I have heard of these over the years, seen them around electric-only lakes around GA, but never known anyone personally with one.

My FIL just bought a small sailboat dinghy for his retirement home on a large GA reservoir. He bought the Torqueedo that has the built-in lithium battery, the "travel" version, I forget the model name, needs no external battery. It advertises 17 hours of battery life at "cruise" which I assume is "low".

Is this realistic? How can a glorified trolling motor run for 17 hours (even on low) with just a built in lithium ion battery?

ETa- I just saw on FB they rowed back home recently after the battery died, so I'm guessing my intuition is correct or they were running it WOT.

This post was edited on 2/17/19 at 12:58 pm

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Posted by lsuson

Metairie

Member since Oct 2013

12134 posts

Posted on 2/17/19 at 1:00 pm to deeprig9

They are nice, but are way too damn expensive. Very small market for them. I have not seen one used in south la

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Posted by Purple Spoon

Hoth

Member since Feb 2005

17773 posts

Posted on 2/17/19 at 1:31 pm to lsuson

Unless You lived or were a regular on an electric only lake it’s just not practical. The batteries and the cost vs performance just isn’t good enough to justify.

Maybe the tech will catch up but it’s not there yet.

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Posted by deeprig9

Unincorporated Ozora, Georgia

Member since Sep 2012

63894 posts

Posted on 2/17/19 at 1:47 pm to Purple Spoon

quote:
Unless You lived or were a regular on an electric only lake it’s just not practical. The batteries and the cost vs performance just isn’t good enough to justify.

Maybe the tech will catch up but it’s not there yet.

Meh. A little outboard motor in excellent condition isn't much cheaper than a torqueedo, and then there's all the maintenance.

For my FIL, it's a sailboat dinghy and the torqueedo is for getting into a slip or trailer, or "there is no wind today but we want to fish in the cove"...

Vs getting a brand new gas motor, I'd say the cost is in line, and definitely less hassle and maintenance.

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Posted by keakar

Member since Jan 2017

29911 posts

Posted on 2/17/19 at 3:37 pm to deeprig9

they got to the point of making decent power to rival gas outboards but still havent solved the battery life part.

but its common sense, just like you keep a spare emergency gas tank on board, you have to keep a spare battery as backup power to get you home in an emergency

the videos i saw, they push a boat just as good as any gas outboard will LINK

This post was edited on 2/17/19 at 4:20 pm

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Posted by The Torch