30 Kt Solar Speedboat

The world's first solar speedboat: 30-knot, 80kw Czeers Mk1
[They said it couldn't be done]


The Czeers MK1 solar speedboat
Image Gallery ( 4 images )

May 23, 2008 Electricity and water: we usually do everything we can to keep the two apart, but it seems the electric engine revolution is moving through the boating world as well. And when you're out on the water enjoying a speedboat, what more appropriate power source is there than the sun? The Czeers MK1 prototype solar speedboat is a 30-knot photovoltaic dream in delicious shades of carbon fiber, solar cell and lush orange leather. Solar boats for environmental warriors eh? Next thing you'll be telling us they're making wind-powered ones.
The Czeers MK1 prototype is, as far as its Dutch creators are concerned, the world's first solar speedboat. The Delft Technical University Solarboat Team built the original platform as an entry in the 2006 Nuon Frisian Solar challenge, which it easily won - and in the process, attracted serious investment power from Rabobank to get a full scale test boat built.
The resulting test boat, made from 100% carbon fiber inlaid with leather trim, photovoltaic cells on almost all horizontal surfaces and an LCD touch-screen control system, launched at the Millionaire Fair in 2007, and has since proven itself up to 30 knots on the water.
The 10-meter boat manages to pack in 14 square meters of solar panels and an 80kw electric motor. It uses no oil, produces no fumes or engine noise, and quietly generates all its own power in a completely sustainable fashion. Here's a youtube vid of the test boat in action.
Czeers hopes to produce between 4 and 8 boats per year. The price? Undisclosed, but probably rather a lot.
Loz Blain
http://www.gizmag.com/the-worlds-first-solar-speedboat-czeers-mk1/9372/

 

Yep, pretty amazing from us non-solar country... better make it a rain speedboat.... but running on water has been hold back by the heavy oil industries right ?

And the price: 700.000 EURO !!! ex VAT, that is why it was on a millionaire fair.....

See below text in Dutch:

26-03-2008

Toen uw reporter (strikt privé) zijn jaarlijkse gang maakte naar de Miljonairs Fair (Je moet toch met je buurman kunnen wedijveren niet waar?) kwam hij op de stand van Michael Beers (IVA’07). Michael heeft samen met twee compagnons onder wie Wubbo Okkels, een bedrijf, CZEERS en heeft een speedboot de Czeers MK 1 ontwikkeld die uitsluitend op zonne-energie vaart met een accupakket als back-up. Topsnelheid 30 knopen (55km) gedurende 30 minuten en men kan met 10 knopen de aarde rond, mits de zon schijnt.
De Czeers MK1 heeft 14m2 aan zonnepanelen en levert 80 kw met een piek tot 150. De boot is van carbonfiber en 10 meter lang. Prijs € 700.000 (let op, excl. BTW!)
Voor IVA-studenten ligt een "krachtige" beloning klaar indien men een klant aanbrengt die een speedboot koopt!

 

700k Euro is pretty steep, but not for something that is a prototype. Mass production can reduce the costs to a small fraction of that.

 

30 knots on batteries, thats amazing from 14m2 solarpanels that deliver 80 kw with 150 peaks.
trick must be in the expensive solar cells probably similar to cross austarlia race they won
makes sence too becouse who goes boating in the rain, yah i like it (not the tag)

 

Well 80 kW is equivalent to the performance from a 240 HP internal combustion engine. Boats tolerate the weight of batteries well, because they need ballast anyway. And the really great thing is that your boat tanks itself up when you are not using it. Definitely a winning combination for a recreational boat. These first boats will become collectors items like the early automobiles (Duisenberg, Daimler, Benz and others) I am sure they will be a good investment for millionaires over the long haul. And there is always the added advantage to be first mansion on the block to show off your new toy.

 

thats 80.000 Watt against 240 horses, well i'm not good in that but as my math teacher told me
always make a quik head check to see if your in the ballpark, so say a little over a 100 hp witch is still a lot
i checked these ramblings on hp to watt to trust its 746 watts to one HP but cant find my calculator in vista yet
man ive gotto shape up so thanks for the well meant translation but think one of us has been in the sun to long

 

Curious how you came up with that 240 hp figure, Jonathan, since by my math 80 kilowatts is equal to 107 horsepower. I've worked with several ultra-efficient solarcar motors, and there is most definitely no "electric superiority horsepower" when compared against a combustion engine of similar output. The only difference is where in the RPM band that power appears, an issue easily modified with gearboxes in both cases.

From what I can tell, the boat gains its apparently remarkable performance by being very long (10 m) and very light. Let's assume, for illustrative purposes, an overall propulsive coefficient of around 0.7 (I do not know the exact value for this craft, but this seems a reasonable approximation). That would suggest that at 30 knots, the actual thrust from that 80 kW motor's propeller (and thus the total drag) is around 3.6 kN. That's hardly unreasonable for such a craft, but it does necessitate very lightweight construction and limited payload. I would expect similar performance from the same boat with an approx. 110 hp internal combustion engine.

The coolness factor, of course, simply can't be beat.

 

14 square meters is not going to give you anywhere near 80kw - more like 2kw.

Even if their panels are double the efficiency of typical panels and everything is sweet you are pushing to get over 5 kw. So the 30kt speed is obviously on batteries - how long can you draw 80kw from batteries? not very long I say

 

Just like a solar car. Your full-power sprint is on batteries and of very limited range. For long range, you can cruise for as long as the sun shines on array power, but at reduced speed. 14 square metres of the same GaAs triple-junction cells used on top solar racers is about 3.6 kW, hardly sprinting capability but enough for a decent day's cruising if you aren't in a hurry the whole time.

 

Too funny. I hope we can keep track of who pays that huge sum for a boat in which to bounce uncomfortably around the Med at 10k. Actually, it will likely sit atop a superyacht and run 25k the 1/2 mile to shore on batteries to buy more caviar from those of us who actually need to weigh the usefulness of items we purchase. As usual with green tech that makes the MSM, this green machine is only for the rich to show-off and not really help anybody. (The "Millionaire Fair"? jeesh) It's a limosine liberal's dinghy.

With the resources taken to build that retardmobile, you could probably power Al Gore's mansion for a month...and that's some serious power!

 

At my latitude there is a total insolation of about 6KW per sq meter per day in June. If the panels are 15% efficient in converting that to electrical energy, there is 6x14x.15 = 12.6kw/day available to run the motor. If the effective exposure is 6 hours, then 12.6/6 hours = 2.1KWH. From that we have to subtract any losses in the controller and motor.

It should drive that little beauty about as well as a 3hp outboard during the hours when the sun shines. Otherwise, better have a big recharged battery.

I probably made a silly error somewhere but I think the basic claim is probably correct.

 

Tom, I am not sure I follow your math.
kw is not amount of energy but power - so if you get 6kWh per day /sq meter then 14 sq meter * 6 kWh would result in 84 kWh - a little over an hour of full power drive.

If we do assume that the 6kwh is collected in 6 hours the sq meter would give you 1 kw. 14 sq meters would give 14kw - however this seems unlikely. the panels that I checked were 15% or so efficient and 1 sq m panels are rated in in the 130w range. This is close to what marshmat estimated - top of the line cells give around 20% efficiency.

 

There actually are some GaAs triple junction cells that will go to 30 - 40 % efficiency (measured at end of life). They are commonly used in space applications due to launch weight, and a few on earth as well - mostly for concentrator applications.

The market leaders that I am aware of in case you are curious:

www.spectrolab.com

www.emcore.com

Not cheap, but then again, for a really expensive boat prototype - maybe.

 

I was talking about energy use when comparing electric motors to internal combustion engines. In energy usage an electric motor is comparable to a much larger horsepower motor. Internal combustion engines are very inefficient because much of their fuel is burnt in RPM ranges that have much less torque than their peak rating (not to mention the friction of all those moving parts). Electric motors (one moving part) develop their peak torque nearly instantaneously where an internal combustion engine only does so at a relatively narrow range of RPMs. Electric motors are typically in the 85-95% efficiency range, whereas internal combution engines are in the 15-25% efficiency range. Now if you have a Internal Combustion Engine that you run at a constant RPM in order to power an electric motor (the basis of hybrid systems pioneered in the 30's and 40s with diesel electric locomotives), then you get the superior energy storage of liquid fuels, an internal combustion engine running at its most efficient RPM and an electric motor that essentially is an electric transmission but that also enable battery storage for regenerative braking and that can be charged when the system is at rest from outside sources.

 

while it is true that electric motors deliver their power at broad range the efficiency (or lack off) has little to do with the shaft horsepower of a internal combustion engine. While the efficiency might be 25%, 50 hp at shaft is 50 hp. Also 50hp is 50hp whether it is electric or diesel.
Electric might have more usable power in broader conditions but if boat is optimized to the combustion engines top power RPM range 80 kw is 80w no matter whether is steam, turbine, gasoline or electric.

Electric system sales people make a lot of claims that are not very realistic.